Habitat - Outdoor :: New abandoned RES hiding behavior

[Castle Turtle Pond]

Hello. I volunteer at our works RES turtle pond. We received a new abandoned turtle who is hiding a lot at the bottom of a part of the pond. She has come up for pellets, though. Been here a week. Seeems to be a female, odd black symmetrical spots, two, on upper plastron. 5 blackish areas on upper shell, also.

Do u think she is just afraid? We have 14 other adult RES's. So, i am guessing she is just sort of freaked out by new habitat and the others. Do u agree? Nthanks! Paul

[steve]

I agree, give her more time. Do you have pictures of her? How big is the pond?

[apondfortimmy]

Oh wow, where do you work that has an RES pond? (that's awesome!)
I think she's just scared too. Maybe overwhelmed. (What Steve said.) I know mine start out timid and don't come up to bask when I first put them into the pond. The other turtles monopolize the basking areas too, so I have had to constantly improve on my basking spots.

I, too, would enjoy pictures of her. I love a good turtle pic.