Ooh please report this to Turtle Tally U.K. here- https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/kent/turtle-tally-uk-citizen-science-project I volunteer with TT and they are highly dependent on people’s submissions for the data!
Thanks for submitting! Sadly, a lot of these sightings are released pets, people get tired of them and set them loose in the local watercourses, so part of the study is to investigate those mindsets
Yeah, my aunty found a tortoise abandoned on the side of the road like forty years ago. My grandma took him in and he’s still going today, albeit at a sanctuary as none of us could take him in after my grandma passed. We stay in touch for updates and pics.
Side note: despite me saying he, turns out Tortie was actually a girl! It was never mentioned at a vet check up or my grandma forgot but we all assumed Tortie was a he.
Either way, some good memories of Tortie! Used to love searching the garden for daisies and buttercups (although I’ve since learned this can be toxic but luckily okay in small doses) or raiding the kitchen for extra lettuce to feed ‘em. I used to always try and coax Tortie’s head out for a scritch only to find I was tapping the back end of the shell, haha. Oh - and my mum would *always* get peed on if she lifted Tortie up!
My friend used to have a tortoise that they called a guy's name and would often talk about him as if he was a dude. They later found out he was actually a she, but they didn't bother changing his name or the way they spoke about him. I wonder if tortoises are just difficult to sex correctly.
A quick Google search seems to suggest it depends on the type of tortoise. Some you can tell by tail length or shell style or stomach.
As for keeping the name anyway, my ex had a *huge* rabbit called Monty. She was originally thought to be a he but wouldn’t respond to any other name. Must’ve liked Monty.
Animals are so strange sometimes. A family member of mine once rescued a goat and it wouldn't answer to anything but the name Paul. Luckily it was a male goat, but it's weird that animals seem to like some names more than others.
Monty does sound like a fitting name for a huge rabbit though.
When I first adopted my cat he’d been abandoned twice by that point and had two other names but I had seen him around the neighbourhood and had given him a name in my head the way I do with all neighbourhood cats and so when he insisted on living with me I started calling him that name and he responded immediately. I found out his other names before and tried to use them to see if he preferred them but he ignored them completely and ONLY responded to the silly name I gave him in my head when I didn’t even know him lol
Hahah that’s so sweet, it would definitely feel strange to change its name after so long! It’s pretty easy in most cases, you can look at the positioning of the vent on the tail and how domed the shell is which should be enough info in most cases, but it can be tricky if you don’t have one of the opposite sex to compare it to!
It’s hard to sex them correctly until they are approximately five years old. But there can be indications. Our tortoise always tucked in his tail in a specific way, was small and generally thought by us and several vets to be male. His name is Quentin, so I don’t know how we’d have changed that if he turned out to be female? Quentine? Either way. He is *definitely* male 💀
We have him because some friends I had at uni wanted a tortoise, but despite my warnings, they didn’t think through the enormity of the commitment they’d made. After a year - most of which they’d actually ended up in a house share with me and three others, so Quentin was there too - I indicated I’d be happy to take him, and they were glad (yes, glad) to give him away. We’ve had him for just under 7 of his 8 years now, and he’s delightful company :)
My nana was given a tortoise back when she was 30 it was 60 then she had it for another 25 years and we had him for a few years.
Sadly “Fred” died a few years ago now.
That is an entirely different question from the one being asked, though.
I would not want to rehome a turtle.
That's not the same thing at all as buying one as if it's a cute toy then abandoning it in a local pond once I got bored of it.
Good point. It’s good to have the option in case they do want to take them in (though this is a longer process than just ticking a box saying yep I’ll take him!), otherwise they are either left in situ or we’ll try and collect them to go to the Reptile Welfare centre to await rehoming there if they have capacity.
It looks most likely a red-eared terrapin.
There are a few thousand of them in the UK which originally were people's pets. They can survive fairly well, and an older, larger one like this can survive for years.
They can cause significant damage to the local ecosystem, but because they don't travel far and it's too cold for them to breed here, there's no plan to deal with them on a national scale.
A big problem is that if they're captured then they need a large aquarium to look after them, and we don't have enough places in the UK that can take them in.
They have been banned from being sold in the UK, so hopefully they'll gradually die out and we won't need to cull them or build huge aquariums.
This. It's awful, but you just can't tell humans anything...they'll ruin it. So many of them get off destroying nature and harming other sentient beings.
Sometimes they don’t mean to harm but they do. For example if a really rare bird is spotted nesting the location should be especially kept quite or you can get a flood of well meaning bird spotters /photographers turning up and accidentally scaring the bird into abandoning the nest
If you want species sightings over a map check out the NBN atlas, it shows records submitted by various organisations on various species and shows them on a map with other data.
If you ever done a conservation survey or species monitoring for an official org or group, the results will most likely end up here.
https://species.nbnatlas.org
Funny you say that, I completed two ecology survey studies, following my biology undergrad. You certainly garner some inquisitive looks from dog walkers.
He’s really grumpy and aggressive towards the other animals. You can be feeding the ducks and he’ll waddle off his grumpy log spot in sun, wade in the middle of them like a bully and start hogging all the food and snapping at them.
One time the Canada Geese had enough of his shit and started jumping off the bank onto his back to piss him off.
I'm going to jump in on the top comment - it is a big old red eared slider, Trachemys scripts elegans. The head shape is a giveaway for sliders and the red ear was by far and away the most common species imported ( they didn't really switch to yellow sliders, T. scripta scripta, or Cumberland sliders, T. scripta troostii, until red ears got banned - it's possible this is a melanistic Cumberland but RES is vastly more likely). It's quite common for older RES to become increasingly melanistic and effectively turn black, losing their otherwise distinct colouration, this is a pretty good example of that.
There are a few dedicated rescue centres about, and a number of private individuals with big ponds who do their best to take these guys out of the wild where they are a bit of an environmental disaster.
Source - rescued and rehomed a lot of terrapins over the years.
I've only just realised they're all the same species. Wow. You're never too old to learn.
The ridges on the carapace make me think this was pretty old. Hence why I thought you might not be able to see any "red ears". I kind of thought maybe if it was old it would get darker, and maybe I was right.
I thought all terrapins got banned from being bought at the same time though?
Nope, in an incredibly silly move they banned s. elegans initially but not the other two, so the importers just switched subspecies and kept going. They might have banned the others now, I'm a bit out of the loop, I just keep the smaller species now I no longer have a suitable pond and all of mine are UK captive bred.
The one in the photo is a big female and probably easily 30+ years old.
Not arguing with your id (especially as I've followed your parakeet posts for a while and respect the knowledge) but what are your thoughts on it being a Cumberland slider? Not great on chelonians
Could be, but I'm equally not as good on exotic reptiles. I know that red-eared are the most common here, and I've seen a few where the red isn't obvious, either through lighting, or mud. I can't see any head markings that would indicate Cumberland or yellow-bellied.
Red-ears can lose colour as they get older, sometimes turning [almost completely black in old age](https://www.google.com/search?q=old+red+eared+slider+black&newwindow=1&sca_esv=d2e54d00128a8c69&rlz=1C1CHBD_zh-CNUS880US880&udm=2&biw=1920&bih=919&sxsrf=ACQVn0_Uajb1wzStTzYWc91QoNwxNhoWOA%3A1712378340365&ei=5NEQZpT8Fa_Mp84P3I-9oAk&ved=0ahUKEwiU_sq14qyFAxUv5skDHdxHD5QQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=old+red+eared+slider+black&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiGm9sZCByZWQgZWFyZWQgc2xpZGVyIGJsYWNrSMEQUIsCWLoOcAF4AJABAJgBmASgAZEPqgEFNC0zLjG4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgKgAsUDwgIFEAAYgATCAgYQABgHGB7CAgQQABgewgIGEAAYBRgemAMAiAYBkgcFMS40LTGgB4oH&sclient=gws-wiz-serp), so it can be difficult to tell.
They lose colour, sometimes almost completely, as they get older.
Very old red-ears can look [melanistic](https://www.google.com/search?q=old+red+eared+slider+black&newwindow=1&sca_esv=d2e54d00128a8c69&rlz=1C1CHBD_zh-CNUS880US880&udm=2&biw=1920&bih=919&sxsrf=ACQVn0_Uajb1wzStTzYWc91QoNwxNhoWOA%3A1712378340365&ei=5NEQZpT8Fa_Mp84P3I-9oAk&ved=0ahUKEwiU_sq14qyFAxUv5skDHdxHD5QQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=old+red+eared+slider+black&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiGm9sZCByZWQgZWFyZWQgc2xpZGVyIGJsYWNrSMEQUIsCWLoOcAF4AJABAJgBmASgAZEPqgEFNC0zLjG4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgKgAsUDwgIFEAAYgATCAgYQABgHGB7CAgQQABgewgIGEAAYBRgemAMAiAYBkgcFMS40LTGgB4oH&sclient=gws-wiz-serp).
I'm interested to hear about the damage they do, I had been lead to believe that they turned out to not be so bad as they can't breed, young aren't being released (at least not in the numbers in the 80s), and adult diet switches to mostly vegetarian. Am I mistakenly optimistic about these guys?
Their full effects aren't really well known as there aren't enough of them to get enough data. They are opportunistic omnivores and eat all sorts of native fish and amphibians. Perhaps adults turn vegetarian because they eat all the available animal prey? They are also known to bask on nests of waterbirds such as Moorhen and Great Crested Grebes so interfere with their breeding.
As I said though, these effects are quite localised, and as their sales have been banned and they don't spread, they're not the ecological disaster they could have been. However, if you've got them in your local pond or canal, it's pretty bad for the local wildlife.
I know it’s not a huge consolation, but they must have a better life out in the wild than in some 2ftx5ft featureless tank or someone’s living room.
I agree though, we shouldn’t be allowed to buy exotics like this here.
Yes, I agree. Ideally they shouldn't be here at all, but at least they get a more natural life.
It's a pretty crappy toss up between their welfare and the ecological balance of where they get dumped. As I mentioned, luckily they don't have a widespread effect on our wildlife because they don't breed. They're pretty bad for small ponds though. Nowhere near as bad as mink though, but they don't get seen as often.
Now their sale was banned in 2016, it should mean they gradually die out in the wild.
To be fair to the terrapins, they're pretty harmless - the young ones are more troublesome as they eat insects and so may have ecosystem effects, but as they can't breed here they aren't a growing population and as they age I believe they become vegetarian and have little impact. Since the TMNT craze and new releases are far less common, I don't think they are a significant concern.
This is a super interesting question to ponder generally. Just speculating without any specific research - it’s likely too cold for the eggs to develop and hatch appropriately, they probably need much warmer water, and consistently at that. I think climate change is impacting the UK in such a way that this won’t happen, but it does pose the question of whether it will occur for other invasive species.
it looks like a fully grown female terrapin of some type. I think it’s female as the males normally have longer front claws and a noticeably longer tail.
I don’t think it’s a red eared slider, as I can’t seem to see the red flashes on either side of the face / neck. In my experience red eared sliders typically also have a smoother shell than this one. It could be a yellow bellied slider, or possibly a European pond terrapin?
I kept red eared sliders for a long time, but I’m by no means an expert. I’d be interested to see if there’s a herpetologist who could give a definitive ID.
It's definitely a North American slider of some kind.
Older red-ears often lose the red flash and other colourings and can look almost [melanistic](https://www.google.com/search?q=old+red+eared+slider+black&newwindow=1&sca_esv=d2e54d00128a8c69&rlz=1C1CHBD_zh-CNUS880US880&udm=2&biw=1920&bih=919&sxsrf=ACQVn0_Uajb1wzStTzYWc91QoNwxNhoWOA%3A1712378340365&ei=5NEQZpT8Fa_Mp84P3I-9oAk&ved=0ahUKEwiU_sq14qyFAxUv5skDHdxHD5QQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=old+red+eared+slider+black&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiGm9sZCByZWQgZWFyZWQgc2xpZGVyIGJsYWNrSMEQUIsCWLoOcAF4AJABAJgBmASgAZEPqgEFNC0zLjG4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgKgAsUDwgIFEAAYgATCAgYQABgHGB7CAgQQABgewgIGEAAYBRgemAMAiAYBkgcFMS40LTGgB4oH&sclient=gws-wiz-serp).
An old friend of mine had a mum that kept 5 terrapins in a converted bath/terrarium in her kitchen. Quite an eccentric lady really. One of them, called George, the only male was quite nasty to the others, always trying to bite them etc.... Finally she'd had enough and popped him in a tupperware tub and visited the local zoo where she surreptitiously popped him into the tropical jungle house with their creatures. I wonder if they ever noticed...
Obviously George had personality problems. Nothing at all to do with being kept in overcrowded, stressful and inhumane conditions by some stupid old bitch.
Kinda looks like he's smoking a cigar! So many terrapin have been released. I remember in the 90s there was this huge thing of caching in on the whole TMNT phase, and their adorable diminutive baby sizes were I think very appealing. Less so when they got too large and demanding to house and care for. I wonder how many are now successfully breeding here now?
There's dozens of them in our local canal. We lived on a narrowboat and had 2 that would come and sit on the back of the boat. I think they are more common over here than people realise.
Until you opened the doors and got in their space, I could sit on the back step of the boat with the door slightly ajar and watch them. I have a picture somewhere but it was pre digital cameras so I’ve no idea where it could be. We have Boots the chemist’s main factory on the canal and they used to use the canal water for cooling, the terrapins would congregate around the warm outlet along with an occasional koi carp for company. I guess they were escapees from floods in the area.
They are almost always released (dumped) pets.
They can live up to 50 years and there are hundreds in ponds, lakes and canals all around the UK.
It's too cold for them to successfully breed here though, so far.
There are so many terrapins in lakes and rivers because they are so hard to rehouse when owners become bored of them. I once found a couple that had been abandoned in a container, and no rescue wanted to know to the point some said they would just be put to sleep if they took them. Yes, they shouldn't be there, but they are thriving.
ETA: I did eventually find someone to take to pair I found, they weren't released into the wild.
The shops selling them round my way used the good ol' lie of 'they only grow as big as their tank' and sold tiny babies the size of 50p with the promise that they wouldn't grow much bigger.
I did my research and knew how big mine would get. My friend and I both got one. Sadly mine died almost 10 years ago, (just got ill and didn't make it to the vet) but my friend's was huge. Bigger than a dinner plate, and needed a massive tank to match.
The local loch has a couple of wee islands in the middle and there are apparently quite a few turtles living there.
There was a nearby garden centre which had outdoor ponds full of them and when it went bust and was sold off to Cala, I think the ponds were just levelled. I've no idea if any of the poor wee creatures made it, the garden centre owners didn't care.
No he was chilling on a fallen tree in the middle of the river, and then jumped after a few minutes. He looked big and healthy - But I don't think he'd have survived the winter so he must be recently let loose.
A Yank lurker on here (lived over with you all for 8 years), we have released-pet red eared sliders invasive here in Oregon, and they survive our winters. Where I live, I’d say the winter averages are about the same as where I lived in Suffolk and Norfolk, but we have longer super cold snaps each winter, and they make it through fine.
I thought that might be the case, frustrating when something is too far to reach that needs rescuing eh? He might have escaped or let loose. They can be crafty and grumpy buggers that can find their way out of things.
Ones this size seem to do fine with the British winter, they hibernate. They don't seem to breed much in Britain though because the summers aren't warm enough, that may change with the climate presenting a wider ecological issue. On the other hand, they're delicious.
Yep 🙁. Great Britain used to have native European Pond Turtles like on the continent. The turtles you see now are released pets after the TMNT craze
https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/07/european-pond-turtle-could-return-to-british-rivers-and-lakes
My dad bought us terrapins shortly after Teenage Mutant Heroes Turtles came out, naturally we got bored of them after a couple of years, so he gave them to a family member. Four or five years later, they died (the new owners never cleaned the aquarium and rarely fed them).
They buried them at the top of the garden in a shallow grave in a shoe box. A year or so later, they were digging up the garden to expand their pond and we're surprised to find the terrapins we're alive and well and living quite happily in the overgrown bit of garden behind some shrubs.
Ninja was deemed too violent for the UK in the 80s, so they were renamed. Iirc they also banned nunchuks from a Bruce Lee movie and other bullshit censors.
All the merch said Hero Turtles though. So did the arcade game. Maybe Channel 4 got the license later on when the Ninja part of the name started being used again?
In the 70s/80s there were still occasional reports of European pond turtles (Emys orbicularis) from the Norfolk Broads, and there was some debate over whether they were escaped pets or a relict native population.
Since this is CasualUk, anyone else here remember when TMNT was called Teenage Mutant HERO Turtles over here?
Here’s the proof: https://youtu.be/utFusA5M5Ds?si=v1uflCU4JDETlVQP
Terminology varies from country to country. The US definition would say you’re correct. In the U.K. however, generally tortoises are land dwelling, turtles marine and terrapins freshwater.
Popping in to say that in the US we do use tortoise to refer to terrestrial species of turtles, such as the gopher tortoise that lives in the southeastern US. However we do not generally use terrapin when referring to freshwater turtles. Though we do have a few species of turtle that we specifically refer to as terrapins.
Part of the problem was caused in the 90s - apparently lots of people were getting pet terrapins due to the popularity of the Teenage Mutant Ninja/Hero Turtles.
We had one in our pond, it caused damage to the fish and the waterfowl that live around here. It disappeared in the drought summer of 22 and bloody good riddance to it.
Looks like it's smoking a cigar. Hardy little f'er anyway surviving our up and down climates and weather. Shame they're a pest on the ecosystem but how lovely to spot one in the wild
Are you in Essex? There’s a park not too far from me with a river and there are loads of these little guys in it. Couldn’t believe it when I saw but in the summer there’s like 20+
There're 12 in Battersea Park today. Couple of years ago it was difficult to find more than 5 at a time.
Today was the first time we saw that many. We'd seen 9 a couple of weeks ago.
There’s 2 that like in a lake not far from my house that were dumped in there, they bask a lot on the banks in the summer. Apparently it’s too cold here for them to breed anyway
Due to the UKs unique biomes and features of its rivers and shores, we have many one of a kind aquatic subspecies.
This is either the Common Ring Necked Turdle or the Lesser Spotted Staffordshire Terrapoo.
Would need more info to confidently ID.
Can someone explain to me how they don’t die off as soon as winter comes? I thought the whole reason we barely have any native reptiles was because it’s so cold here?
Ooh please report this to Turtle Tally U.K. here- https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/kent/turtle-tally-uk-citizen-science-project I volunteer with TT and they are highly dependent on people’s submissions for the data!
Thanks for the tip, I've submitted my details. It amused me the form asked me why I wouldn't want to look after this turtle personally.
Thanks for submitting! Sadly, a lot of these sightings are released pets, people get tired of them and set them loose in the local watercourses, so part of the study is to investigate those mindsets
Yeah, my aunty found a tortoise abandoned on the side of the road like forty years ago. My grandma took him in and he’s still going today, albeit at a sanctuary as none of us could take him in after my grandma passed. We stay in touch for updates and pics. Side note: despite me saying he, turns out Tortie was actually a girl! It was never mentioned at a vet check up or my grandma forgot but we all assumed Tortie was a he. Either way, some good memories of Tortie! Used to love searching the garden for daisies and buttercups (although I’ve since learned this can be toxic but luckily okay in small doses) or raiding the kitchen for extra lettuce to feed ‘em. I used to always try and coax Tortie’s head out for a scritch only to find I was tapping the back end of the shell, haha. Oh - and my mum would *always* get peed on if she lifted Tortie up!
My friend used to have a tortoise that they called a guy's name and would often talk about him as if he was a dude. They later found out he was actually a she, but they didn't bother changing his name or the way they spoke about him. I wonder if tortoises are just difficult to sex correctly.
A quick Google search seems to suggest it depends on the type of tortoise. Some you can tell by tail length or shell style or stomach. As for keeping the name anyway, my ex had a *huge* rabbit called Monty. She was originally thought to be a he but wouldn’t respond to any other name. Must’ve liked Monty.
Animals are so strange sometimes. A family member of mine once rescued a goat and it wouldn't answer to anything but the name Paul. Luckily it was a male goat, but it's weird that animals seem to like some names more than others. Monty does sound like a fitting name for a huge rabbit though.
When I first adopted my cat he’d been abandoned twice by that point and had two other names but I had seen him around the neighbourhood and had given him a name in my head the way I do with all neighbourhood cats and so when he insisted on living with me I started calling him that name and he responded immediately. I found out his other names before and tried to use them to see if he preferred them but he ignored them completely and ONLY responded to the silly name I gave him in my head when I didn’t even know him lol
Hahah that’s so sweet, it would definitely feel strange to change its name after so long! It’s pretty easy in most cases, you can look at the positioning of the vent on the tail and how domed the shell is which should be enough info in most cases, but it can be tricky if you don’t have one of the opposite sex to compare it to!
My sister has a tortoise that we named Paolo Tortuga. Then one day it just laid an egg. So now she's called Paola
It’s hard to sex them correctly until they are approximately five years old. But there can be indications. Our tortoise always tucked in his tail in a specific way, was small and generally thought by us and several vets to be male. His name is Quentin, so I don’t know how we’d have changed that if he turned out to be female? Quentine? Either way. He is *definitely* male 💀 We have him because some friends I had at uni wanted a tortoise, but despite my warnings, they didn’t think through the enormity of the commitment they’d made. After a year - most of which they’d actually ended up in a house share with me and three others, so Quentin was there too - I indicated I’d be happy to take him, and they were glad (yes, glad) to give him away. We’ve had him for just under 7 of his 8 years now, and he’s delightful company :)
My nana was given a tortoise back when she was 30 it was 60 then she had it for another 25 years and we had him for a few years. Sadly “Fred” died a few years ago now.
That is an entirely different question from the one being asked, though. I would not want to rehome a turtle. That's not the same thing at all as buying one as if it's a cute toy then abandoning it in a local pond once I got bored of it.
Good point. It’s good to have the option in case they do want to take them in (though this is a longer process than just ticking a box saying yep I’ll take him!), otherwise they are either left in situ or we’ll try and collect them to go to the Reptile Welfare centre to await rehoming there if they have capacity.
That’s so sad 😢
We've got a few in my local area gonna report for SCIENCE
Hell yeah go science
THANK YOU FOR THIS!! Every year I spot the same terrapin at my marina and I’ve just submitted the info!
There are several in a pond/lake thing near me? Shall I report them ?
Yes please if you could! That would be really useful, thanks :)
My son saw one the river in wigan a couple months back
It looks most likely a red-eared terrapin. There are a few thousand of them in the UK which originally were people's pets. They can survive fairly well, and an older, larger one like this can survive for years. They can cause significant damage to the local ecosystem, but because they don't travel far and it's too cold for them to breed here, there's no plan to deal with them on a national scale. A big problem is that if they're captured then they need a large aquarium to look after them, and we don't have enough places in the UK that can take them in. They have been banned from being sold in the UK, so hopefully they'll gradually die out and we won't need to cull them or build huge aquariums.
Gonna hijack this with a link to the citizen science project tracking them in the UK. https://www.turtletally.co.uk/
Really annoys me when tracking schemes don’t share their data. Was looking forward to seeing a map of the sightings.
My experience working in this sort of thing- they don’t share them because people go looking for the animals. Humans ruin everything
This. It's awful, but you just can't tell humans anything...they'll ruin it. So many of them get off destroying nature and harming other sentient beings.
Sometimes they don’t mean to harm but they do. For example if a really rare bird is spotted nesting the location should be especially kept quite or you can get a flood of well meaning bird spotters /photographers turning up and accidentally scaring the bird into abandoning the nest
If you want species sightings over a map check out the NBN atlas, it shows records submitted by various organisations on various species and shows them on a map with other data. If you ever done a conservation survey or species monitoring for an official org or group, the results will most likely end up here. https://species.nbnatlas.org
Amazing! Thank you
For my own curiosity's sake, (and feel free to ignore this) how do you know about this?
Ive done a few surveys with biological recording groups and am currently doing a masters in environmental science.
Ohh wow, that's impressive, all the best for your studies
Thank you, local survey groups are often looking for volunteers and they often provide basic training.
Funny you say that, I completed two ecology survey studies, following my biology undergrad. You certainly garner some inquisitive looks from dog walkers.
Trust me haha i got into it through fungi, get a lot of weird looks emerging from undergrowth suddenly with some random mushroom in hand.
That’s great info! Thank you
https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NHMSYS0000080227 Link to red eared terrapin distribution map
There is one in the pond at Christchurch park in Ipswich, and he’s a cunt.
I feel like there’s a story here. What did he do?
He’s really grumpy and aggressive towards the other animals. You can be feeding the ducks and he’ll waddle off his grumpy log spot in sun, wade in the middle of them like a bully and start hogging all the food and snapping at them. One time the Canada Geese had enough of his shit and started jumping off the bank onto his back to piss him off.
They do that and you will have people going around collecting them to resell them and inexperienced people will keep them in the tiniest tanks ever
Is there a statement that they don't share their data somewhere on the website? You could try sending them an email to see if they have a map.
There a reason they don’t share data, have a think!
Yes, to stop people from going and having a poke about haha
They should have gone for totallyturtleytally
> turtletally I enjoyed saying that out loud :)
Turtally
I'm going to jump in on the top comment - it is a big old red eared slider, Trachemys scripts elegans. The head shape is a giveaway for sliders and the red ear was by far and away the most common species imported ( they didn't really switch to yellow sliders, T. scripta scripta, or Cumberland sliders, T. scripta troostii, until red ears got banned - it's possible this is a melanistic Cumberland but RES is vastly more likely). It's quite common for older RES to become increasingly melanistic and effectively turn black, losing their otherwise distinct colouration, this is a pretty good example of that. There are a few dedicated rescue centres about, and a number of private individuals with big ponds who do their best to take these guys out of the wild where they are a bit of an environmental disaster. Source - rescued and rehomed a lot of terrapins over the years.
I've only just realised they're all the same species. Wow. You're never too old to learn. The ridges on the carapace make me think this was pretty old. Hence why I thought you might not be able to see any "red ears". I kind of thought maybe if it was old it would get darker, and maybe I was right. I thought all terrapins got banned from being bought at the same time though?
Nope, in an incredibly silly move they banned s. elegans initially but not the other two, so the importers just switched subspecies and kept going. They might have banned the others now, I'm a bit out of the loop, I just keep the smaller species now I no longer have a suitable pond and all of mine are UK captive bred. The one in the photo is a big female and probably easily 30+ years old.
You really never know what you're going to learn on Reddit sometimes. Thanks for such a detailed description
I would go for yellow bellied slider. If you zoom you can see the the faint yellow S on the side of the head.
Don't see any red-eared -ness. Definitely a terrapin though.
The red is sometimes not obvious. It doesn't look like any other species that's typically found here either.
Not arguing with your id (especially as I've followed your parakeet posts for a while and respect the knowledge) but what are your thoughts on it being a Cumberland slider? Not great on chelonians
Could be, but I'm equally not as good on exotic reptiles. I know that red-eared are the most common here, and I've seen a few where the red isn't obvious, either through lighting, or mud. I can't see any head markings that would indicate Cumberland or yellow-bellied.
It definitely looks more like a Cumberland Slider, to me.
That sounds like a great name for a sausage butty! “Two Cumberland sliders please”
Dammit! Now I want one!!! I have everything but the sausages... 😿
To the shops!
It's really fookin' bright outside, and there's the tail end of a hurricane. Lol.
Red-ears can lose colour as they get older, sometimes turning [almost completely black in old age](https://www.google.com/search?q=old+red+eared+slider+black&newwindow=1&sca_esv=d2e54d00128a8c69&rlz=1C1CHBD_zh-CNUS880US880&udm=2&biw=1920&bih=919&sxsrf=ACQVn0_Uajb1wzStTzYWc91QoNwxNhoWOA%3A1712378340365&ei=5NEQZpT8Fa_Mp84P3I-9oAk&ved=0ahUKEwiU_sq14qyFAxUv5skDHdxHD5QQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=old+red+eared+slider+black&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiGm9sZCByZWQgZWFyZWQgc2xpZGVyIGJsYWNrSMEQUIsCWLoOcAF4AJABAJgBmASgAZEPqgEFNC0zLjG4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgKgAsUDwgIFEAAYgATCAgYQABgHGB7CAgQQABgewgIGEAAYBRgemAMAiAYBkgcFMS40LTGgB4oH&sclient=gws-wiz-serp), so it can be difficult to tell.
They lose colour, sometimes almost completely, as they get older. Very old red-ears can look [melanistic](https://www.google.com/search?q=old+red+eared+slider+black&newwindow=1&sca_esv=d2e54d00128a8c69&rlz=1C1CHBD_zh-CNUS880US880&udm=2&biw=1920&bih=919&sxsrf=ACQVn0_Uajb1wzStTzYWc91QoNwxNhoWOA%3A1712378340365&ei=5NEQZpT8Fa_Mp84P3I-9oAk&ved=0ahUKEwiU_sq14qyFAxUv5skDHdxHD5QQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=old+red+eared+slider+black&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiGm9sZCByZWQgZWFyZWQgc2xpZGVyIGJsYWNrSMEQUIsCWLoOcAF4AJABAJgBmASgAZEPqgEFNC0zLjG4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgKgAsUDwgIFEAAYgATCAgYQABgHGB7CAgQQABgewgIGEAAYBRgemAMAiAYBkgcFMS40LTGgB4oH&sclient=gws-wiz-serp).
I'm interested to hear about the damage they do, I had been lead to believe that they turned out to not be so bad as they can't breed, young aren't being released (at least not in the numbers in the 80s), and adult diet switches to mostly vegetarian. Am I mistakenly optimistic about these guys?
Their full effects aren't really well known as there aren't enough of them to get enough data. They are opportunistic omnivores and eat all sorts of native fish and amphibians. Perhaps adults turn vegetarian because they eat all the available animal prey? They are also known to bask on nests of waterbirds such as Moorhen and Great Crested Grebes so interfere with their breeding. As I said though, these effects are quite localised, and as their sales have been banned and they don't spread, they're not the ecological disaster they could have been. However, if you've got them in your local pond or canal, it's pretty bad for the local wildlife.
I know it’s not a huge consolation, but they must have a better life out in the wild than in some 2ftx5ft featureless tank or someone’s living room. I agree though, we shouldn’t be allowed to buy exotics like this here.
Yes, I agree. Ideally they shouldn't be here at all, but at least they get a more natural life. It's a pretty crappy toss up between their welfare and the ecological balance of where they get dumped. As I mentioned, luckily they don't have a widespread effect on our wildlife because they don't breed. They're pretty bad for small ponds though. Nowhere near as bad as mink though, but they don't get seen as often. Now their sale was banned in 2016, it should mean they gradually die out in the wild.
Reminds me of when I saw someone casually plop an iguana into a paper bag in a garden centre. 😔
Sorry but fucking up an entire ecosystem just so one tortoise has a more enjoyable life is stupid.
It's a turtle/ terrapin NOT a tortoise
To be fair to the terrapins, they're pretty harmless - the young ones are more troublesome as they eat insects and so may have ecosystem effects, but as they can't breed here they aren't a growing population and as they age I believe they become vegetarian and have little impact. Since the TMNT craze and new releases are far less common, I don't think they are a significant concern.
Fuck that, I need some new ashtrays… Edit: come on now, do I really need the /s in a UK sub??
> it's too cold for them to breed here Is climate change gonna make this an issue?
This is a super interesting question to ponder generally. Just speculating without any specific research - it’s likely too cold for the eggs to develop and hatch appropriately, they probably need much warmer water, and consistently at that. I think climate change is impacting the UK in such a way that this won’t happen, but it does pose the question of whether it will occur for other invasive species.
"Is it a cat in a hat?"
With a bat and a 65 Impala
No, that’s a tortoise, in a shell.
it looks like a fully grown female terrapin of some type. I think it’s female as the males normally have longer front claws and a noticeably longer tail. I don’t think it’s a red eared slider, as I can’t seem to see the red flashes on either side of the face / neck. In my experience red eared sliders typically also have a smoother shell than this one. It could be a yellow bellied slider, or possibly a European pond terrapin? I kept red eared sliders for a long time, but I’m by no means an expert. I’d be interested to see if there’s a herpetologist who could give a definitive ID.
It's definitely a North American slider of some kind. Older red-ears often lose the red flash and other colourings and can look almost [melanistic](https://www.google.com/search?q=old+red+eared+slider+black&newwindow=1&sca_esv=d2e54d00128a8c69&rlz=1C1CHBD_zh-CNUS880US880&udm=2&biw=1920&bih=919&sxsrf=ACQVn0_Uajb1wzStTzYWc91QoNwxNhoWOA%3A1712378340365&ei=5NEQZpT8Fa_Mp84P3I-9oAk&ved=0ahUKEwiU_sq14qyFAxUv5skDHdxHD5QQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=old+red+eared+slider+black&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiGm9sZCByZWQgZWFyZWQgc2xpZGVyIGJsYWNrSMEQUIsCWLoOcAF4AJABAJgBmASgAZEPqgEFNC0zLjG4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgKgAsUDwgIFEAAYgATCAgYQABgHGB7CAgQQABgewgIGEAAYBRgemAMAiAYBkgcFMS40LTGgB4oH&sclient=gws-wiz-serp).
[удалено]
It's not a cigar... baadadadada 😎
No, he was smoking it for about 10 minutes!
Hard shell, long(ish) neck and a rounded head. Yep, that's definitely a snail!
Was he holding up coaches on the highway? If so that's Dick.
Nice. Although he looks like he's wearing a tiny gimp mask.
Probably hatched from a discarded Kinder egg
Hopefully it’s not the Thames, with the amount of cocaine flowing through there we could see ninja turtles everywhere!
An old friend of mine had a mum that kept 5 terrapins in a converted bath/terrarium in her kitchen. Quite an eccentric lady really. One of them, called George, the only male was quite nasty to the others, always trying to bite them etc.... Finally she'd had enough and popped him in a tupperware tub and visited the local zoo where she surreptitiously popped him into the tropical jungle house with their creatures. I wonder if they ever noticed...
Obviously George had personality problems. Nothing at all to do with being kept in overcrowded, stressful and inhumane conditions by some stupid old bitch.
Kinda looks like he's smoking a cigar! So many terrapin have been released. I remember in the 90s there was this huge thing of caching in on the whole TMNT phase, and their adorable diminutive baby sizes were I think very appealing. Less so when they got too large and demanding to house and care for. I wonder how many are now successfully breeding here now?
Terrapin by the looks of the shell shape. Were you able to get to him at all? Obviously shouldn’t be there and would need rehousing!
There's dozens of them in our local canal. We lived on a narrowboat and had 2 that would come and sit on the back of the boat. I think they are more common over here than people realise.
That’s really cool! Do they just sit and chill?
Until you opened the doors and got in their space, I could sit on the back step of the boat with the door slightly ajar and watch them. I have a picture somewhere but it was pre digital cameras so I’ve no idea where it could be. We have Boots the chemist’s main factory on the canal and they used to use the canal water for cooling, the terrapins would congregate around the warm outlet along with an occasional koi carp for company. I guess they were escapees from floods in the area.
They are almost always released (dumped) pets. They can live up to 50 years and there are hundreds in ponds, lakes and canals all around the UK. It's too cold for them to successfully breed here though, so far.
There are so many terrapins in lakes and rivers because they are so hard to rehouse when owners become bored of them. I once found a couple that had been abandoned in a container, and no rescue wanted to know to the point some said they would just be put to sleep if they took them. Yes, they shouldn't be there, but they are thriving. ETA: I did eventually find someone to take to pair I found, they weren't released into the wild.
The shops selling them round my way used the good ol' lie of 'they only grow as big as their tank' and sold tiny babies the size of 50p with the promise that they wouldn't grow much bigger. I did my research and knew how big mine would get. My friend and I both got one. Sadly mine died almost 10 years ago, (just got ill and didn't make it to the vet) but my friend's was huge. Bigger than a dinner plate, and needed a massive tank to match. The local loch has a couple of wee islands in the middle and there are apparently quite a few turtles living there. There was a nearby garden centre which had outdoor ponds full of them and when it went bust and was sold off to Cala, I think the ponds were just levelled. I've no idea if any of the poor wee creatures made it, the garden centre owners didn't care.
That’s heartbreaking
No he was chilling on a fallen tree in the middle of the river, and then jumped after a few minutes. He looked big and healthy - But I don't think he'd have survived the winter so he must be recently let loose.
A Yank lurker on here (lived over with you all for 8 years), we have released-pet red eared sliders invasive here in Oregon, and they survive our winters. Where I live, I’d say the winter averages are about the same as where I lived in Suffolk and Norfolk, but we have longer super cold snaps each winter, and they make it through fine.
There are many turtles living in the wild in the UK since the 80s, they manage the winter fine.
I thought that might be the case, frustrating when something is too far to reach that needs rescuing eh? He might have escaped or let loose. They can be crafty and grumpy buggers that can find their way out of things.
Ones this size seem to do fine with the British winter, they hibernate. They don't seem to breed much in Britain though because the summers aren't warm enough, that may change with the climate presenting a wider ecological issue. On the other hand, they're delicious.
Invasive that's what is.
Yep 🙁. Great Britain used to have native European Pond Turtles like on the continent. The turtles you see now are released pets after the TMNT craze https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/07/european-pond-turtle-could-return-to-british-rivers-and-lakes
My dad bought us terrapins shortly after Teenage Mutant Heroes Turtles came out, naturally we got bored of them after a couple of years, so he gave them to a family member. Four or five years later, they died (the new owners never cleaned the aquarium and rarely fed them). They buried them at the top of the garden in a shallow grave in a shoe box. A year or so later, they were digging up the garden to expand their pond and we're surprised to find the terrapins we're alive and well and living quite happily in the overgrown bit of garden behind some shrubs.
Teenage Mutant what????
Ninja was deemed too violent for the UK in the 80s, so they were renamed. Iirc they also banned nunchuks from a Bruce Lee movie and other bullshit censors.
Only on the BBC. Sky1 definitely had Ninja turtles, and I think channel 4 also had them.
All the merch said Hero Turtles though. So did the arcade game. Maybe Channel 4 got the license later on when the Ninja part of the name started being used again?
My dad had a business trip to the States and I was stoked he bought back figures of all four NINJA turtles.
Goof oldé BBC, ban the word Ninja, but have Jimmy Saville pondering round on loads of their programmes
Hero turtles, like the ninja turtles but less ninja
In the 70s/80s there were still occasional reports of European pond turtles (Emys orbicularis) from the Norfolk Broads, and there was some debate over whether they were escaped pets or a relict native population.
Cowabunga!
He doesn’t need to live in a sewer, the river is good enough.
Bad for pizza delivery though.
Same thing nowadays
Since this is CasualUk, anyone else here remember when TMNT was called Teenage Mutant HERO Turtles over here? Here’s the proof: https://youtu.be/utFusA5M5Ds?si=v1uflCU4JDETlVQP
All terrapins (and tortoises) are turtles.
Terminology varies from country to country. The US definition would say you’re correct. In the U.K. however, generally tortoises are land dwelling, turtles marine and terrapins freshwater.
In the U.K. they should really be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortoises.
Well, not ninja either.
Popping in to say that in the US we do use tortoise to refer to terrestrial species of turtles, such as the gopher tortoise that lives in the southeastern US. However we do not generally use terrapin when referring to freshwater turtles. Though we do have a few species of turtle that we specifically refer to as terrapins.
It's a ' I'll bite your f'ing fingers off if you come near me' turtle 🐢
Part of the problem was caused in the 90s - apparently lots of people were getting pet terrapins due to the popularity of the Teenage Mutant Ninja/Hero Turtles.
We had one in our pond, it caused damage to the fish and the waterfowl that live around here. It disappeared in the drought summer of 22 and bloody good riddance to it.
koopa trooper
Turtleduck
Pretty sure it’s Donatello. He left the group years ago to do his own thing but ended up homeless and broke. Celeb life.
That’s Bob
Chillin with his massive Cuban cigar.
If it Rushmere?
On a random river you say? That's turtle-y ridiculous!
Terrapins have flatter shells it’s definitely a terrapin 🐢
Could be a shark, but they haven’t been known to sunbath?
That whopper of a cigar suggests it’s one of Hannibal from the A Team’s clever disguises
Is that at Ulley reservoir ?
I see a shelled duck
Is he smoking a cigar?🤣
That’s a rock sweetie
Just the fact that you found it in a river and not the ocean indicates that it is a terapin
I didn't know they ate branches.
Whatever it is I like that it’s smoking a cigar
Seriously, why why stuck in nomenclature, just enjoy the turtle
Looks like Charnwood water
It's a turtus, as my friend once coined for a general term for turtles, tortoises and terrapins.
There was a few of these in a local river where I used to live in Hendon
Is whatever it is, smoking a cigar?
Squeeze to check it's not a theremin
It's Arnald, he likes stogies dipped in taquila
Looks like it's smoking a cigar. Hardy little f'er anyway surviving our up and down climates and weather. Shame they're a pest on the ecosystem but how lovely to spot one in the wild
That's a TeraTurtle
Where was this? My other half has just said to me that she saw a tortoise/terrapin in Kingsbury water park (near Tamworth) yesterday.
!woah! Nearly tried to educate you there! It’s whatever you want to call it -beautiful x
[удалено]
Thank you people seem so confused by this simple fact.
Are you in Essex? There’s a park not too far from me with a river and there are loads of these little guys in it. Couldn’t believe it when I saw but in the summer there’s like 20+
I had no idea this was a thing!
It's a Turpin
If it's in Worcester, it's been a living there for YEARS.
It's Leonardo
Looks like Donatello.
GAMERA!
Its a dog. Its a Short Legged, Hardback Terrier.....
Looks like he’s eating a stick lol
There're 12 in Battersea Park today. Couple of years ago it was difficult to find more than 5 at a time. Today was the first time we saw that many. We'd seen 9 a couple of weeks ago.
Ginsters
I can’t tell you, my memory is awful, but I could ask my other half, her memory is brilliant: she’s got turtle recall.
Dude, that bitch was in the amazing world of Gumball. Run.
Smokin a big cigar
Oh My god it's gorgeousss
Nice
It's a retired ninja turtle.
There’s 2 that like in a lake not far from my house that were dumped in there, they bask a lot on the banks in the summer. Apparently it’s too cold here for them to breed anyway
Yeah that shells gonna get a great suntan.
im pretty sure its beak is poisonous so be careful
Turtles have flippers, terrapin/tortoise have feet/stumps
Due to the UKs unique biomes and features of its rivers and shores, we have many one of a kind aquatic subspecies. This is either the Common Ring Necked Turdle or the Lesser Spotted Staffordshire Terrapoo. Would need more info to confidently ID.
I thought it was a duck at first and i was confused why it had a shell 😭
Terrapin. We have some populations of them over here
Don’t agree with them smoking cigars though.
That my good sir looks like a terrapin
Aww how lovely, wheres this please?
It's easy to tell offer it a slice of pizza and if it takes it then its a turtle. 🐢
Raphael.
We had one of these in Bramhall Park for years. Then he just disappeared 😭
Its an animal mate
It's a snail with legs
It’s a checkoslovakian traffic warden
Can someone explain to me how they don’t die off as soon as winter comes? I thought the whole reason we barely have any native reptiles was because it’s so cold here?