HUH??? new turtles in my pond

[Yvonne G]

The property line between me and my neighbor to the east is only a foot or so outside my pond, separated by a 6' privacy fence. The gulf coast box turtle pen is also on that property line.

So this a.m. I was out at the pond feeding them some chicken. I had a few pieces left over and stepped over the fence into the box turtle pen to offer the morsels to them. WHAT?? How did that water turtle get in here? I picked it up and it was a very large (red belly, yellow belly, painted?????) turtle that I had never seen before. I have only female RES, some Florida soft shells, an Argentine side neck and several pond turtles, but none that look like this large specimen. I didn't think to get my camera, I just tossed her into the pond. Then I continued through the tall clover looking for the box turtles. WHAT???? How did that water turtle get in here? I picked it up and it was a VERY large male melanistic RES. I KNOW FOR SURE that this isn't one of my turtles because I only kept female RES so there would be no breeding.

I have a sneaking suspicion my next door neighbor is helping me populate the pond, not knowing there's a separating fence between the box turtles and the pond. Who know how long those poor turtles have been out of the water!

Now I have to find a home with a pond for this male RES. In the meantime, he's in a water trough. He's very wild, and wouldn't be still for a photo shoot:

 

[bouaboua]

What a neighbor you have. Bit over zealous.

 

[Yellow Turtle]

I wish i have a neighbor with wandering albino turtle lol

 

[AustinASU]

Def an RES but not a true melanistic, melanism can only be determined as a hatchlings and the plastron would be grey/black as well. The darkness seen on this RES is created from large amount of tanins and hard water over many many years.

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't know enough about water turtles to dispute what you say, but I really doubt its due to water. All the color is gone from the skin too. The red stripe on the neck is now black and all the green on the skin is various shades of grey. I don't think water would be able to change the skin's coloring. Maybe melanistic was the wrong word to use. I've seen quite a few of these older male RES that have changed colors to black/grey, but never in the females.

 

[Diamondbacks4Life]

This is a true melanistic res that has turned later in life. Not hard water or tannins. Very common for older male res for their bodies to start producing more melanin with age causing their coloring slowly to darken to black.

Plenty of photos out there of res keepers that have documented the turn.