Can I Have Work Done on My Farm Pond Without Hurting the Turtles

We have had a dry winter in Oklahoma and my farm pond is quite low. I am thinking of taking advantage of the access and having some work done in one area to make the pond deeper and hopefully help control an invasive plant. There are about 5 turtles that I have been feeding for the last several years and I do not want to risk hurting them with this proposed work. Our average temps this time of the year are about 45F during the day and 35F at night. I have not seen any activity yet and probably won't for about 6 weeks. By then we will have hopefully had some rain and the equipment won't be able to access the area.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Turtles usually burrow into the mud during the winter, so yes, there is a risk of injuring or killing them. I dont think they would venture to far from the pond, where the ground wasnt wet/soft enough.

Maybe contact fish and game commision, and ask for any suggestions.

Thanks, any idea how deeply they burrow? I spent lots of time searching online to no avail.

What kind of turtles?

Since they will be buried in the mud to keep from freezing, doing any excavation will likely kill them.
Not only will there be the danger of physically harming them during the work, you will be exposing them to the very conditions that they buried themselves to avoid.

Originally Posted by cyalexa

Thanks, any idea how deeply they burrow? I spent lots of time searching online to no avail.

Probably pretty deep, what ever the frost line is, not sure, The ground only freezes so deep, try and google search or something.
And yeah, merlin is correct, you probably shouldnt try to find them. Maybe wait until you see them swimming, trap them and release them elsewhere.

Originally Posted by LovetheBaruu

What kind of turtles?

Mostly red eared sliders. A couple big common snappers.

Originally Posted by Merlin

Since they will be buried in the mud to keep from freezing, doing any excavation will likely kill them.
Not only will there be the danger of physically harming them during the work, you will be exposing them to the very conditions that they buried themselves to avoid.

Guess I'll be foregoing work on the pond unless it is still very dry once it warms up (and I hope it is not!).

At least all this show will give us some relief from the drought!