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Post by wayne020668 on Aug 12, 2011 15:48:47 GMT
hello fellow turtle lovers, just a quick note for all keepers of turtles in ponds, you should be offering your turtles high calcium and vitamin foods that also contain a slightly fatty intake as these turtles need to be putting on enough weight and vit and calcium to see them through the winter months when their asleep,  we see here only to often the effects this has on these animals if this is not met, please bare in mind that its these body fats that they rely on in hibernation. i would recommend you feed or offer them slightly more food to so this happens over the next month and a half when most will start to slow down and getting ready for the big sleep when this happens they won't be able to take the foods so please start now...  foods to offer them can be fish, prawns and shrimps with the heads and tails on, ham, cooked chicken, crayfish, treat mix, good quality turtle mix etc... many of these can be found either around the house or from our site shop or e-Bay under "turtle food from rescue centre" please ensure all the turtles are ready, this will give them the best Chance of waking up healthy..  please note this will not be needed if your turtles either come in for the winter or are in tanks indoors all the time as they won't be sleeping, should you need any more info on this please just contact me..  regards Wayne. |
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Post by jaysere03 on Oct 9, 2011 21:45:48 GMT
where can I find information about setting up a pond to house my all male collection of yellow bellies. (i do have a female but she prefers to be left alone and shes 4 times the size of the males) I'm planning for next year to sell on my koi collection and concentrate on my turtles,(mainly because i keep taking in from idiots who didnt know they grew bigger that a match box) im still pretty much a novice and read new stuff everyday.. Now my pond is some 5 feet deep 14 feet long and 10 feet wide. it has no shelvs so is pretty much a large tank,it is filtered by a bottom drain (gravity fed) into a vortex through 5 differant filter bays then pumped through a heater and uv then back into pond also have a gravity to pump sand filter helping out. (due to heat its also on a self fill system). now to create a basking area i will need to hang from above some sort of dock (im thinking a large log of some sort (still undecided).. as im forwad planning for when the sun comes to leicester (some point next year),im gathering as much info as i can and hoping I wont have to change too much. any thoughts suggestions and mistakes that have been made in the past will be greatly listenend to. my main concern is the water levels as if i have shelves nr edge they will be able to climb out. thanks in advance for any advice offered Jay |
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Post by wayne020668 on Oct 11, 2011 19:32:21 GMT
jay welcome to the family here at turtle rescue, one very easy idea for a basking area in a big pond would be to make a platform like or use a pallet you can pack the pallet with polystyrene and nail a hard board top to the top of the pallet and on all edges using wood like ramps. the whole thing can then be decorated with what ever you want we used plastic green plants and then you will need to weigh it in place, we did this by attaching some thin combat rope with a weight on the bottom of the pallet set to the depth of the pond, the whole island can then be placed in the center of the pond allowing the turtles the safety of having water all around them for cover when startled and will take the weight of loads of turtles and this will also raise and fall with water loss. another idea we use all the time is to use or make a garden table as in picture and have the water level to the height of the table, these can be used to create a sand island which we find works really well...  if you need any further help please feel free to ring me... regards, wayne... Attachments:
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Post by jaysere03 on Nov 24, 2011 23:53:17 GMT
Sorry for the long delay in responding (slight bit of trouble rembering passwords). ive decided NOT to use the koi pond but to make a new pond just for them. adding sand and a veg garden alonf with a decent swim area.as natural as it could be ( with the exception of fake sun ) Ive also been very busy with rehoming 1 or 2 yellow bellies (7 to be presice) 2 mapps and 3 red eared. could really do with sorting out a safe temp home for reds as there all around a foot dimeter all were apparently kept in a 3ft tank!! how they survided is beyond me but they each have a 4 ft tank as a temp fix until i can get something bigger for them. im certainly jumping into this project both feet first and hopefully all will be sorted by spring.im hoping no more turts come my way until then as I really carnt say no to anyone. thanks for the advice so far and i hope to be posting pics for your site very soon. |
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Post by farmersbone on Jun 4, 2012 21:31:01 GMT
I have read all the details about the outdoor ponds. I currently have 9 Yellow bellied sliders and two red ears housed in a purpose built shed with water and land, as well as filtration, heating and lighting. I am hoping to build a larger accomodation block for them within the next two years, but would like some advice about acceptable temperatures for their water and general air temperatures. I currently keep the water at 21C and the lowest air temperature is 15C. I am based in Bellshill near Glasgow, so the length of time they can have outside I feel is limited.
By the way, I rescued all my babies from various people and the Scottish RSPCA as, yet again, people do not realise the commitment required to these wonderful creatures. I hope to rescue many more once I have established my extra facilities.
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we see here only to often the effects this has on these animals if this is not met, please bare in mind that its these body fats that they rely on in hibernation. i would recommend you feed or offer them slightly more food to so this happens over the next month and a half when most will start to slow down and getting ready for the big sleep when this happens they won't be able to take the foods so please start now... 
foods to offer them can be fish, prawns and shrimps with the heads and tails on, ham, cooked chicken, crayfish, treat mix, good quality turtle mix etc... many of these can be found either around the house or from our site shop or e-Bay under "turtle food from rescue centre" please ensure all the turtles are ready, this will give them the best Chance of waking up healthy.. 
if you need any further help please feel free to ring me...