Send pictures of your turtles and set-ups and I will post them on the site! E-mail them to turtleandtortoiseclubofflorida@gmail.com and please include your ZIP .
Marvin Bennett
This is a view of my living room and a turtle pond which borders my house. It is walled in by my house on three sides and an eight foot wall extends along the back side of the enclosure. The enclosure is 25 feet long and 17 feet deep. The pond has a gradual slope to one corner where the water depth is about three feet. This makes for easy draining if necessary. Moss has grown on the walls of the pond which helps prevent algea growth and eliminate the need for draining and cleaning. I haven't cleaned the pond in over a year and the water is still clear. Eventually the pond will need cleaning, but be careful entering the pond area since moss on a sloped surface can be very slippery. Draining the pond and hosing it down from the perimeter is recommended.
The caged in enclosure and pond is where I keep my breeding turtles. There is considerable debri in the water, but the water is clear, and I believe it is more suitable for breeding turtles. They do well and their health is excellant. There are many predators out there above and below ground so creating a secure area for nesting turtles is necessary.
This pond is viewed from the roof of my house. It is walled in on all sides and the pond takes the shape of a meandering river about 40 feet long. I use a shock wire around the pond to deter predators, but be sure people and especially children do not touch the wire when it is on. Some form of security is needed for all outside turtle ponds. An ever present big dog can work, or a screened in area will also work. It is not recommended to use a shock wire directly by the pond, but if needed it can be installed a short distance away on a fence or wall.
Celeste Clark
We have turtles, tortoises, and terrapins so we had to figure out how to accomadate all three in one area.
We have a screened porch. We opened up one end of it and screened in a large area like you would screen an outdoor swimming pool. We built two ponds, a large one with a filter waterfall, a small one with a filter waterfall, and the small one waterfalls into the large one giving us 3 waterfalls and a wonderful sound when we sit in the scrreened porch. Our liner is the black flexible liner, the kind you buy by the yard in Home Depot. The ponds are 1' deep in some areas and 2' deep in others. We have 2 - in the pool pumps (Aquascape) that return the water to the two main waterfalls continually filtering it. We also have water from the outdoor faucet going into the filters. We have a continuing trickle of water going into the filters to combat evaporation. The water is well water. Lining the liner, we used 8" X 12" "Old World" blocks from Home Depot. Then for asthetics, we used Tennessee ledge rock around all the edges of the ponds and to make the waterfalls. Between the turtle area and the tortoise area, we have a walkway, then a stone wall made of the ledge rock. It is high enough so the tortoises can not get to the turtle ponds. We have a ladder built of the ledge rock so our Ornate Wood turtles can climb back and forth to the two areas. In the tortoise area, we have a very shallow pond made with a liner and pebbles in it. We have a continuous trickle of water in to that pond. Behind the water area, we have a philodendrum. Behind that is a muddy area. The Ornate Wood turtles and the Burmese Black Mountain tortoises love that muddy area to wallow in. We have a house in the tortoise area for the tortoises at night. In the winter we have a pig blanket in the house for warmth. The lower 2' of the screened area is solid white metal with latice work outside it. This is for safety. We have horse fencing and "no climb" wire around our property so we hot wired the horse fencing that surrounds the area where we have turtles and torloises for safety sake. The hotwire is about 18" off the ground. It is operated by a solar powered system we bought in Tractor Supply.
If I were doing it over, I would, naturally make everything larger. I think everyone feels that way. My ponds are only about 18" from the house. I would put them a little farther from the house, I think, but I wouldn't change anything else.
Our terrapins are in a large acryllic (5' x 2' x 2') aquarium made by Glass Cages in Tennessee. We are very happy with that set up. The aquarium is on the screened porch.
We also have a table and two chairs in the tortoise area where we can sit and watch both the tortoises and the turtles.
The whole turtle - tortoise area is about 27' x 33' with an angle that makes it a little alarger than that. The screened porch is 12' x 26'. The opening to the turtle tortoise area is 12'. There is a waiste high wall and small door between the porch and the turtle - tortoise area so no one can get into the porch and maybe iinto the house.
We would love to invite anyone who wants to build their own pond to visit us. I am 73 and Peter is 83. Other than the building of the screen room, we did all the digging and construction ourselves. It was hard work, but loads of fun. I would do it again in an instant!!
Harry & Christi Straub
Click here for a movie depicting the construction of this awesome turtle habitat! - http://picasaweb.google.com/christistr/MOVIETURTLEHAVEN#
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