A red-eared terrapin has been rescued by Southern Water and kept in a staff member's bath after being pulled from a Totton waterworks.

Senior ecologist Tom Alexander pulled the turtle, who has appropriately been given the name Terri, from its river extraction site at the Testwood Water Supply Works on Brunel Road, Totton.

Tom said: “I saw the terrapin sunning itself at the edge of one of the water points.

“I reached over and picked it up and the terrapin didn’t struggle at all.

“I kept it in my bath at home while I found an animal charity that would agree to rehome it.

“The terrapin was around about the size of a large dinner plate, weighed around 5 kilograms and was around 25cm long.

“My children loved having him at home and named him Terry.”

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It is estimated there are currently more than 4,000 terrapins living in the wild in the UK, mainly in London where the human population is dense, and more terrapin owners live.

Amelia Thomas, Rehoming Manager at Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare said: “Terrapins are often bought as pets as they are small and relatively cheap but there is woefully little information about how to keep them.

“Many owners do not realise that terrapins grow into very large adults.

“We identified this particular terrapin as female and renamed her ‘Terri’.

“Terri is one of our biggest terrapin residents - she spent some time in our isolation unit, being closely monitored by our small animal team.

“She has now been placed into our large, new terrapin sanctuary just in time for hibernation season.

“All our terrapins will live permanently at Raystede and Terri and her friends will live out their years happily here with us.”

The red-eared terrapin is native to southern North America. It is a popular pet and an invasive species in many places.

Nine water companies, including Southern Water, are part of the Aquatic Biosecurity Partnership.

The programme tackles invasive non-native species and helps protect the UK environment.

These nine water companies have invested £125k per annum for five years from 2020-2025.