Reptiles Magazine Community / Reptile Forums / Into The Wild / Up from the depths..... / Latest Posts

RE: Up from the depths.....

Turtle Boy — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 05:55:48 GMT

GreenAnole09 (8/15/2008)

It would be bazar to squish a fish undernethe your car.It would be funny and slightly disturbing.

what do you mean by funny?!

RE: Up from the depths.....

GreenAnole09 — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:07:35 GMT

It would be bazar to squish a fish undernethe your car.It would be funny and slightly disturbing.

RE: Up from the depths.....

Bill Love — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:08:20 GMT

The original walking catfish that got the species started were probably all albinos, but somewhere during their population boom they reverted back to normal-colored stock, which is now about all I usually ever see. Occasional pale and white ones still show up in my pond, though, because that gene is still fairly prevalent in Florida waters.

I used a Nikon D200 with 105mm macro lens to take the pics in this post. I was laying on my belly on my dock with the water was just inches below so I was literally looking the turtles in the eye down at their level.

RE: Up from the depths.....

lilcherna — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:40:50 GMT

yeeuck, i hate walking cats. i caught some babies in my canal one year and they were fun to raise until they were canabilistic, and killed my cichlids, that was the last straw for them. i had one left and it finally died last year. then i found out they were illegal to own. they will take over your pond if you dont watch out.

oh, and amazing pictures, i always love your pics. what kind of camera do you use?

RE: Up from the depths.....

SNAKE CHARMER — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:02:58 GMT

i've got a pond in my backyard that has a breeding colony of bullfrogs,goldfish,& some small skinks the frogs i got as tadpoles & one big 5inch one i call goliath snuck into the house one time & at 3:00 in the mornin my grandma screamed

RE: Up from the depths.....

Crested Man — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:33:35 GMT

That would be cool to see. But, I though they were white.

RE: Up from the depths.....

Bill Love — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:49:59 GMT

Are those the ones that can walk on land?

YES. They squirm over land during rainy weather to seek new sources of water when times are tough, or their original home gets too crowded. I've seen small 'schools' of them slithering up my driveway at least twice. It's pretty bizarre to squish a fish under the wheels of the car in one's own driveway!

RE: Up from the depths.....

Crested Man — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:12:00 GMT

Are those the ones that can walk on land.

RE: Up from the depths.....

Bill Love — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:42:11 GMT

The walking catfish established in southern Florida is the Asian species, Clarias batrachus.

RE: Up from the depths.....

GreenAnole09 — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:28:54 GMT

Bill Love (7/20/2008)

That 'gray thing' is the face of a walking catfish, an exotic from Asia that's been established in Florida waterways for many decades. They 'walked' into my pond within a few years of it being dug and have lived here ever since. I even see an occasional albino show up, but most are the natural gray. They almost resemble tiny nurse sharks (if you let your imagination wander a little).

Oh.In the picture you just put up it looked like a catfish but,in the first one it looked like aliens were invading earth and stealing our turtles.It does look a little like a nurse shark!

RE: Up from the depths.....

Crested Man — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 17:00:26 GMT

Or a Spotted Catfish.

RE: Up from the depths.....

Crested Man — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 17:00:00 GMT

From that last picture it looks like a Ictalurus punctatus. Refering to the catfish

RE: Up from the depths.....

Bill Love — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:42:28 GMT

Here's another shot of one stealing food from in front of my 'pink-headed' softshell. That light, round thing is a floating fish food pellet....

RE: Up from the depths.....

GreenAnole09 — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:07:51 GMT

Bill Love (7/11/2008)

My peninsula cooters and Florida softshells in the backyard pond have competition for the food pellets I give them several times per week. Here's one of the monstrosities swiping a pellet practically out of the mouth of a big female cooter that comes to be fed every time. Recognize the beast? It's an alien.

Does anyone else on the forum have wild herps that can be counted on appearing at certain places or times on their property?

OMG what is that grey thing in the pond!?

RE: Up from the depths.....

Bill Love — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:07:32 GMT

I've got softshells in my pond too -- Florida softshells Apalone ferox --in fact, more of them than peninsula cooters like in the first pic with the walking catfish surfacing next to it. Here are more pond turtle pics I took just this afternoon (July 18th) laying on my belly on my backyard dock. With all the recent rain, the water level is almost level with the dock, so my elbows are practically in the water as I was shooting these close-ups.

This last one, an almost mature male about 10 - 11 inches long, has had bright pinkish-orange lines on its head since it appeared as a hatchling several years ago.

RE: Up from the depths.....

blkfirecrystal — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:34:53 GMT

Scary!
Well, there's a big lake in the middle of Research Park at A&M, and it's chock-full of Red-ears, Western Spinies, and Painteds. It has some Ambystomids, tigers and marbles I think. And some ducks, short spined catfish, some type of minnows, and tons of insect larvae. In one of the levels of the lake, you can literally net turtles with a butterfly net, there's just so many, and small.
Here are two pictures of a Western softshell.

Up from the depths.....

Bill Love — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:54:00 GMT

Does anyone else on the forum have wild herps that can be counted on appearing at certain places or times on their property?