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Turtles/ Terripins


Crow

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Don't know where to post this,and would any one even believe me,   coming back from Boston this weekend on the river witham,we saw 2 big turtles / Terrpins  laying out on a bit of 1/2 submerged bit of plank sunning themselves ,we turned the boat round to try and get a photo ,but by that time they were on panic mode and under the water ,there backs/ shells were 8 inch wide. X  10 long ,At a good estimate, I didn't even know they were any in this country,has any one else seen any,or could they have been flushed down someone's toilet when smaller,any way they looked fit enough to me,and thriving well

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No problem believing it - the damned things are everywhere! They had a mini population explosion after the first Ninja Turtles phase in the late 80s, so those biggies were probably little Damien's - his mum popped them in the canal to be kind to them once the novelty wore off.

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25 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

No problem believing it - the damned things are everywhere! They had a mini population explosion after the first Ninja Turtles phase in the late 80s, so those biggies were probably little Damien's - his mum popped them in the canal to be kind to them once the novelty wore off.

Thankfully there has been (so far) no evidence of breeding.  Hopefully eventually they will all die of old age but not before they have done damage to our native wildlife.

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Hi I believe you crow ,coming from stourport  the other week I took 3photos of 3different turtles within about a mile  ,the one was at least 12inch long ,if I knew how to put the photos up on here I would   ,this is not the first time I have seen these horrid things ,I also think they must be breeding 

 

 

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7 minutes ago, Crow said:

Well Itl be a few more years before global warming gets to 27/30 c for any length of time,by then all the males will have edf 

Interestingly the temperature they incubate at determines the sex.  Males are produced at the lower temperature and females at the higher.

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So how come they are all different sizes if they are not breeding ? I have seen them any Thing from 2inch up to14 inch, they do seem to be all over the canal system far and wide ,I'm told they do more damage then the signal crayfish 

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42 minutes ago, haza said:

So how come they are all different sizes if they are not breeding ? I have seen them any Thing from 2inch up to14 inch, they do seem to be all over the canal system far and wide ,I'm told they do more damage then the signal crayfish 

Ive never seen one on the south Oxford. Perhaps we are too upmarket for them here.

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They are more likely to be terrapins (which have feet) than turtles (which have fins or flippers). Small terrapins were indeed sold as "turtles" during that Ninja craze.

We have one which climbs on to one of the tyres lining our landing stage to bask. He (?) is about soup-plate size, though less circular, and is known as Terence, though he probably does not realise this.

I am not sure what damage they do, though I have heard that they will eat small ducklings. Even so, I thought that the advice offered by a keen ecologist to whom I was talking during the Cropredy Festival, "Cut his head off", was on the harsh side of cruel.

 

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There are a number on the Selby Canal and I am told (note the bit where I say "I AM TOLD" all you people who are going to jump down my throat) that they do breed in the warm water outlet from Drax Power Station.

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17 minutes ago, carlt said:

But the likelihood is increasing especially as the new movie will probably spawn a resurgence in their popularity as disposable pets.

Guardian Clicky

If it turns out to be breeding that is indeed bad news.   I suppose up here in the frozen north they will have to wait a lot longer to get those sort of temperatures.

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6 minutes ago, Jerra said:

If it turns out to be breeding that is indeed bad news.  

Oh I don't know, they may quite enjoy it, bless 'em.

Seriously though, are there enough of them in the wild to make an appreciable difference to the balance of nature in Britain? Surely it would need thousands of them to breed, which appears unlikely, if they were to become a widespread nuisance.

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41 minutes ago, Athy said:

Oh I don't know, they may quite enjoy it, bless 'em.

Seriously though, are there enough of them in the wild to make an appreciable difference to the balance of nature in Britain? Surely it would need thousands of them to breed, which appears unlikely, if they were to become a widespread nuisance.

Mink.......Signal crayfish................grey squirrell..........................

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Just now, mrsmelly said:

Mink.......Signal crayfish................grey squirrel..........................

...all of which, according to the knowledgeable information in earlier posts, find it far more easy to breed in our climate than the terries do - hence my "which seems unlikely".

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1 minute ago, Athy said:

...all of which, according to the knowledgeable information in earlier posts, find it far more easy to breed in our climate than the terries do - hence my "which seems unlikely".

You forget old sport GLOBAL WARMING...........GLOBAL WARMING.............remember within ten years we will all be dying as the temperatures will have risen so the seas will all be boiling and the ice caps melted so we will be drowning as well. It must be happening just look how hot it was here last week in august when I had my webasto on!!

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Just now, mrsmelly said:

You forget old sport GLOBAL WARMING...........GLOBAL WARMING.............!

PIGS FLYING......PIGS FLYING......!

I do think  that Britain is subject to Global Winding. We can't have had a single day in the last month when it was calm. 

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2 minutes ago, Athy said:

PIGS FLYING......PIGS FLYING......!

I do think  that Britain is subject to Global Winding. We can't have had a single day in the last month when it was calm. 

It must be true cos the EXPERTS are all telling us its getting warmer, you know the same EXPERTS that talked most gullible drivers into buying " Less polluting " diesel cars :lol:

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