Pond Predators & Snapping Turtles

[AGeese]

I dug up an area to turn into a shallow pond for the geese. My neighbor has a fairly large pond and keeps finding snapping turtles almost yearly. Does anyone have experience dealing with snapping turtles? Just wondering if I should bother with filtration just to keep it clear enough to see into or would it not be too appealing for a snapper to take up residence in a small pond only 2 to 3ft deep at best? I usually encounter snakes so I expect that too. Anything else I should be concerned with?

 

[Penpal]

Your pond will probably freeze solid in the winter. You can put small fish in it that you bring inside during the winter, then put them back in when it warms up again.

I'm not sure snappers would be interested in your puddle. I never had turtles until we didn't have ducks. The turtles like a quieter environment.

If you leave them alone, they will leave you alone. Always pick them up from behind or they will reach out and bite you.

 

[AGeese]

Oh I don't intend to pick one up heh those can bite through a baseball is what I've heard. I'm not too worried about it freezing, for now this is just a watering hole for the fowl. Maybe later I'll get a little fancier and add a pump or a fountain.

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These are some early pics from last year showing the basic outline. I've got more digging and filling in on the banks to do.

 

[Penpal]

Are you using a liner. We used a liner with our first wee fish pond. For aeration we used a water pump and two horse troughs (water falls). The current pond uses the existing clay and is quite a bit bigger.

 

[AGeese]

End of last summer I laid down a tarp over one end so they could play. The water gets pretty dark quick. I'm not sure about buying a liner right now as I'm investing in fence at the moment. But I have considered going with what I have and using some tarps, netting and fibrous concrete.

 

[McChooky]

Back in the 90's we had a 100 ft wide 6 ft tall chicken run (both sides of a creek) that ran from the house to the barn and back so we wouldn't have to carry water out to the animals .Mud turtles ate our baby chicks fast as we got them until we got rid of a few of them.

 

[centrarchid]

Snapping turtles are hard to keep out. Larger ones will go after largish fish and amphibians and small fowl while smaller snappers can even go after insects and other smaller eats. Bigger turtles will prefer water at least a couple feet deep to use as cover. Otherwise, they will move out at night.

 

[Sally PB]

This snapper is in our side yard right now. I'm guessing it's a female, looking for a spot to lay, or maybe laying right there? Hubby says he's never seen one that big in Michigan before. The head is easily the size of my fist.