Gulf Coast Box Turtle Question:

conservation

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I have a large outdoor enclosure with a pond that is about 8-10 inches deep. My box turtles are subadult size. I had fish in the pond for mosquito control and I noticed today all the fish are gone. The enclosure is covered and there are no dead fish floating.

Some of the box turtles spend 90 percent of their time in the pond. They sit on the edge of the pond and dive into and under the water when startled.

I am wondering if anyone has had Gulf Coast Box Turtles catch and eat fish in their ponds?
 

Yvonne G

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Sounds reasonable to me, but my guess would be avian. I had a heron eat all my fish.
 

conservation

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Thanks for the replies! The enclosure has a hardware cloth top so no birds can get in. I am thinking the Gulf Coast Box Turtles are more aquatic than I had thought and can catch the fish. The last theory is the heat wave killed the fish and then the turtles ate the fish. That seems unlikely since the fish survived other heat waves.

As the Gulf Coasts get bigger, I am starting to really enjoy them. They sit on the edge of their pond and when someone walks by they dive into the water like a slider.
 

Tom

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I had a CG for a while a few years back and mine had very aquatic tendencies. I never fed him fish, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him catching them if I had.
 

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I bought a group of feeder goldfish and we will see what happens.
 

turtlesteve

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As a kid I remember finding gulf coast box turtles on vacation trips to the beach. Most of the time they were either in water or next to water. We found some on the beach, or sitting in brackish or salt water. I remember being shocked at how big they were too.
 

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Wow that is an amazing story! I have never seen them in the wild. They are great turtles!
 

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