Invasive wildlife - Terrapins

Invasive wildlife - Terrapins

Terrapins (Trachemys scripta). Terrapins, also known as sliders, are reptiles that have historically been imported from the USA as pets and farmed for human consumption. There are several subspecies which include the red-eared slider, yellow-bellied slider, Cumberland slider and common slider. They are often bought young as pets, only a few centimetres in size, but soon grow to the size of a dinner plate. Their owners are often unprepared to keep large adult with strict husbandry requirements which results in them being released into the wild. In Jersey they can be seen around our reservoirs: most noticeably Queen’s Valley although it is now illegal to own them or release them into the wild under the Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2021.

The red-eared slider subspecies is listed on the Global Invasive Species Database’s‘100 of the World's Worst Invasive Alien Species’ and has been given a Vertebrate Pests Committee (VPC) Threat Category of Extreme. Although their actual impacts on our local environment are not yet fully understood, they are known to be opportunistic omnivores and have been described by local experts as ‘ecological hoovers’. They feed off any aquatic species they can find which includes plants, tadpoles, amphibians, young fish, insect larvae, bird eggs and young waterfowl.

 

Terrapin on a lake
Author
LouiseJWhale