# Red Earer slider in water garden. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 29, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-earer-slider-in-water-garden/501310 "2009-06-29T02:58:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-earer-slider-in-water-garden/501310/1 "2009-06-29T02:58:19Z")
Or, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. She’s been eating water lilies, or rather biting the leaves and buds off. I have plans for a turtle trap and she will be headed for the Arkansas River where the zoo guy assures me she will do fine. Today I saw her out of the pool. “Aha!” thinks I, “Into a basket and on to the river!” She’s laying eggs. I leave her to finish, and when I return she is of course back in the lily pool. Tonight I went out with a flashlight, and she is biting them off like a kid in a candy store. She doesn’t eat the leaves or buds, she just bites the stems off. Tomorrow I buy the PVC pipe and wire mesh for the live turtle trap. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-earer-slider-in-water-garden/501310/2 "2009-06-29T13:19:20Z")
Yeah, get that sucker outta there as soon as you can, or your plants are toast! How close are you to the river? Cause if it happened once … ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-earer-slider-in-water-garden/501310/3 "2009-06-29T13:25:57Z")
They eat everything. I have one. He ate all of the plants in his tank. I complained to the pet store guy, he said, “Use this leaf, they never eat it. Tastes bitter.” Damn turtle ate it. I put in plastic plants. Darned if he didn’t take a nip at those, too. Now he lives with no plants in a barren wasteland, whereas his little brother, the snapper, gets plants in his tank, because he doesn’t eat them. Get her out of your plants! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-earer-slider-in-water-garden/501310/4 "2009-06-29T13:28:58Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > How close are you to the river? Cause if it happened once … Miles and miles. There is a park with a lake closer, I believe I’ll take her there. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-earer-slider-in-water-garden/501310/5 "2009-06-29T14:44:38Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Miles and miles. There is a park with a lake closer, I believe I’ll take her there. I was mainly wondering how she got into your pond in the first place. Probably 20 years ago there was some HUGE rainfall/flooding in the Chicago area. Afterwards I was in my back yard - probably a mile or more from the nearest pond/stream, and was surprised to see a 6" slider strolling along. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-earer-slider-in-water-garden/501310/6 "2009-06-29T15:39:54Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I was mainly wondering how she got into your pond in the first place. There is a creek behind the garden that’s dried up for the Summer, and stock ponds nearby.