In the Pond??

[shelley66]

I've just saved a terrapin from a 'friend' who had him in a bucket in the back garden. He has septacemia and is on antibiotcs from the vet and is now a lot better! I have bought him a lovely new tank with all the lights and heat sources he needs. I have sent a photo in on the competition and ordered some food off your site. I have looked at your photos and wondered how you manage to keep them in a pond?

[wayne020668]

hi shelly, keeping these animals in a pond is pretty straight forward really the only choice you have is do you let them hibernate all winter or keep them active all year round.. the differance is one you do nothing and they will sleep all winter as the water temp will tell the turtle / terrapin that its time sleep and if all goes well you will see them in the spring when the temp rises again we find here on the coast this is around 13%c but we here at turtle rescue tend to keep the pond active all yr round by keeping the water heated whilst covered and well filtrated, hence keeping them active all yr round and we can help you through this if you decide to go with this... the time this begins depends on where you live i.e we find winter comes a little early in the northern area's whilst later in the south... if you want or need to take this further please contact me... regards wayne at turtle rescue..

[leewild]

I would like abit more information Wayne please as i will be starting my pond build soon

[wayne020668]

hi members... keeping these animals in a pond is just the same as a tank set up only on a bigger scale... all the BASICs remain the same but this type of set up gives these animals the natural feel of the out door's with the sun shine and rain & nights coming and going... we cheated a little in using a 15ft swimming pool as their new home for a number of reasons not at least its easier to clean repair and we can get to the turtles / terrapins when we need to check them over for the vets check and administer any control measures i.e medications should they be needed... and by putting an island slap in the middle of it the turtles have safety from predators... at night... we use two filters one a very large type to control the water quality with added pond u.v light and a smaller one that purifies the water from the side... the heater is installed in to the side filter and only used through the winter months when the temps drop. we use a cover in the winter months to keep any leaves / debry off the pond and to keep in the heat in but the turtles then use the u.v strip heat light in the day time to bask in pure glory on the big beach sand island which they adore... smaller ponds will require the same things only on a smaller scale... if your pond holds a lot of water like ours does then you can't go far wrong with buying a swimming pool heater & filter, the heater only being needed in the winter and the filter on all the time as these are cheap enough from ebay and so easy to maintain a few things to bare in mind when or before building like we did when we built our smaller one with a beach on the side of it... 1. PLEASE ENSURE THE WHOLE THING IS TURTLE FRIENDLY i.e THEY CANT GET OUT OR PREDATORS CAN GET TO THEM.... 2. MAKE SURE YOU CAN RETRIEVE THE TURTLES AT ANY TIME IN CASE OF INJURY ETC... SO NO HIDING PLACES YOU CANT ACCESS... 3. PLEASE PROVIDE SOME SHADED AREA SO THE TURTLES CAN GET AWAY FROM THE SUN LIGHT OR SLEEP AT ALL TIMES... 4. WHEN SETTING UP THE POND FILTRATION PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU GET GOOD WATER CIRCULATION AS POOR CIRCULATION WILL CAUSE THE FILTER NOT TO DO ITS JOB PROPERLY OTHERWISE THIS WILL CAUSE UNEATEN FOODS AND ANIMAL WASTE TO GO BAD AND GIVE YOU ALL SORTS OF PROBLEMS... should you need any further help please just ask...

regards wayne...

[leewild]

thats good information have you any specs on the filters heaters etc and any rough prices please