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So my girlfriend and I are going to a friend's pond to see if we can catch any turtles. It'll be about 70 degrees up here in South PA when we're planning on going but how do you go about catching them? We're not getting them to eat or anything, we want to just see the different kinds and maybe if we find a hatchling we can give my red eared slider a friend and a new home before hibernation. How can I go about catching them? Should I use an actual trap? or should I get a long net? Any advice would help, thanks!

Long net works well.

haha I just went to walmart and got a decent sized net, the pole isn't too long though. yeah like I said were going to my gfs friends' pond tomorrow, and its obviously deep, how do we lure them out?

well i hope you catch and release, i dont think its very cool to take a happy little turtle from his natural environment and life of freedom just to put him in a glass box in the living room for your own entertainment. If you want a hatchling, why dont you rescue a captive hatchling from its horrible living conditions? we all know theres thousands of hatchlings out there that are alreadly captive with horrible living conditions, and they are probably cheaper than a net.

Tokapeli wrote:well i hope you catch and release, i dont think its very cool to take a happy little turtle from his natural environment and life of freedom just to put him in a glass box in the living room for your own entertainment. If you want a hatchling, why dont you rescue a captive hatchling from its horrible living conditions? we all know theres thousands of hatchlings out there that are alreadly captive with horrible living conditions, and they are probably cheaper than a net.

Totally agree, cant stand it when people think its ok to take a happy turtle thats in the wild, and turn it into a show piece (put in a small glass tank), I'm sure the new owner would think its fine, prolly would catch more to let the turtles have more friends, but when the owner and turtles get older, the owner will be looking to spend $50. to get everything, but it will actually cost more than $500. for the bottom end stuff (used tank, decent filter, basking lights, not to mention the food). What alot of new turtles owners dont understand is, that alot of turtles do not get along with other turtles, yea, sure, while there young, there cute and so harmless, but when they get older, you will see the damage they can do to there life long friends. Not sure what the laws are in your state or city, but I think it should be illegal to take a healthy turtle out of the wild, even if you were to move it to your pond.

Also, what alot of people still dont understand is, if you take something (a wild turtle) from the wild, and keep it as a pet, you cant bring it back when your done with it, thats like cutting the fins off a fish in the ocean, cant be even near 20% chance the the turtle will survive, even for a month in the wild.

Not trying to come off a d***/mean.
The way I look at most wild life, is that if you wouldnt want somebody to catch you and make you a pet (and possibly thrown away because your owner doesnt want you anymore), then dont do it to a wild animal/reptile, a

Do not take a turtle from the wild and keep it captive. Release it the same day you find it, and in the same place. There are plenty of captive bred turtles who need loving homes, if you are looking for a pet. Turtles brumate (not hibernate) in cycles and you won't be doing it any favors by forcing unnatural conditions on it one winter, and then letting it fend for itself the next.

On catching turtles, I would use a net, or a float trap. But do not leave the trap unattended over night, bait it and leave it for a few hours and check.

^ agreed, i cant see very much harm in that, probably stressful as hell for the turtles but i think they would get over it.

and money isnt the issue, i dont care if your donald trump and can give that turtle the most elaborate habitat in the history of pet turtles, shouldnt take a turtle from the wild for a pet. One exception i guess is if the turtle is severely injured with little to no chance of survival, and even then you should probably let nature take its course.

you say you are from south PA. i am too. ive caught some turtles down here. a place you may have heard of is Speedwell forge lake. i just row up to em and some of them stay and some run but sometimes you can grab the ones that stay

The ones that stay were probably released by someone that didn't want to take care of it anymore.

Spike 7.62 wrote:...

Turtles brumate (not hibernate) in cycles and you won't be doing it any favors by forcing unnatural conditions on it one winter, and then letting it fend for itself the next.

...

I'm not going to take sides on whether it is okay to take a turtle from the wild, though I will say that I don't think it is okay to release a domesticated turtle into the wild (though they will probably survive). But the fact that they "brumate" is not an argument against taking them from the wild. This is a survival instinct, and they (wild and domesticated) could take it or leave it, it is not a necessary part of their life cycle, they don't need to do it, they don't even choose to do it, it just happens when the temperature of their environment drops slowly enough for their body to make the necessary changes in metabolism. That is why rapid temperature changes kill turtles, and they are much more likely to survive cold temps in large bodies of water, because the temperature changes slowly enough for them to adapt and go into brumation. If you are trying to breed your turtle, then you may argue that brumation is needed to make them more fertile, but they don't really care whether they brumate or not.

I'd suggest some fish as a tank friend/pond friend instead.

I'm not planning on keeping any, the owner of the lake said not to take any. But i still think it would be neat to catch some, and try to identify them. I apologize for stirring up some anger in some of you for thinking about giving my turtle a friend. I now know that its not right to take a living animal from it's natural habitat.