Habitat - Indoor :: Indoor Pond

[Michele]

A few years ago we decided to close in our back porch as a sunroom. Not wanting to look through glass to see the pond we had enjoyed for several years, we decided to enclose the pond as part of the room. Half the room is natural area, dirt floor, plants and a larg pond with two waterfalls. The other half is "people living space" . We now have two red Eared sliders, and a Yellow eared slider, several Koi, some Shubunkin, and some goldfish. All are thriving and happy. Please check out the pictures:




[url]Watch show: http://www.photoshow.net/watch/Ds7Ji5En





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[TNTurtles]

aww i hope you fix the pics, cuz i really would love to see that!

[sonyj]

Very cool pics! Do they get along together? There seems to be a large difference in size that I'd be afraid the larger one would hurt the little one. But they looked very happy in their photos.

[missibsu]

That is an awesome slideshow! How many gallons are in your pond? I have dreams of doing that sort of thing some day. Thanks for sharing that!

[steve]

Do you have any shots further away? I was wondering how you have it all laid out.

[Michele]

This is so exciting. I will try to take more pictures and submit them next week. I was not expecting to see a site on Turtles this popular. The Pond is approximately 600 gallons of water. The size is 4ftx8ft with depth ranging from 3 feet to 6 inches. There is an area of shallow water about 1.5ftx1.5ft that we origionally planned to have baby fish hide. The Turtles were an afterthought. We bought our first RES about 4 years ago. The first winter we brought him inside, we then went back to the pet store a year later and got a water heater to go with the Heat Lamp and another Turtle to keep him company. At that time we thought we had two females, but when the newer smaller turtle started growing biger than the big turtle and the were doing the little turtle dance we knew otherwise. The baby turtle we found on the road last July at Cape Hatteras. There was one point this winter where we thought the baby was in trouble since we hadn't seen him for a week or so so we went hunting and brought him inside. He did not like the aquarium much. We now have him back outside with the two big turtles and the three are often seen on the same rock. The baby usually dives as soon as he sees us.
We would like to see about raising babies, but need more information on what they need to breed. My husband says they need a pan of sand. I don't know if they are yet at breeding age but the Female's shell is pretty scraped up in the back and the Male keeps doing the "turtle dance" in front of her at times. I don't know what the baby turtle is yet, I am hoping for another female but it is too small to tell.

[missibsu]

This is the site that Carol gave out...I've just picked up on it. So, thanks Carol! http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/Nestsites.htm

Most people don't actually recommend breeding RES because they are already so over populated. If you are keeping them for your own pond, then I don't see a problem with it personally. Where most people havea problem is when others breed them and then expect to sell them.

Just a side thought, and I looked at your pics but I don't remember. Do you have UVB light set up? I know that you have a sunroom, but the glass in the windows will filter out the UVB from the sun. Then you also mentioned taking them outside too. So, anyway, I was just checking.

Oh...how would you like to travel to Ohio and set up a pond for me, lol! Just kidding, but awesome!

[cam722]

This is the site that Carol gave out...I've just picked up on it. So, thanks Carol! http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/Nestsites.htm

Actually the thanks should go to marisa, she's the first one I saw post that site awhile back .. I just bookmarked it for future reference

[missibsu]

Well whomever it goes to! Thanks to Marisa, too! My memory is lacking and I'm what? 23? That sounds about right! It is a great resource, I enjoyed reading it.

[Michele]

I did read some of the site on breeding. I am not interested in selling turtles but I am concerned that we do have a Male and a Female and they look like they may be close to breeding age. It was a little scary reading about potential problems with females retaining their eggs when they do not have a place to lay them. We did set up two large grow lights in the ceiling for the plants but have not been using them. How many hours a day do they need to be on. The lights are 7 feet from the water and we wonder if they would help anyway. At one time we had them on timers hoping that the water plants would do better. I had dreams of exotic water lily's but soon discovered that between the Koi and the Turtles the only plants the thrive sit above the water. They love water Hyacinths and will eat all we give them. We have not taken the Turtles outside because we were afraid they might get out of the other ponds and try to run away. I have never seen them outside the pond inside, although they probably could climb out. Maybe we will take them out more this summer.

I added some mor pics to the Photoshow:




[url]Watch show: http://www.photoshow.net/watch/Ds7Ji5En





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[missibsu]

The lights should be on a day/night schedule. Putting them on the timer would be fine. Between 8 and 12 hours a day, but not on any longer. When you say growing lights, what kind of lights are they exactly? I won't mention what I was thinking, lol.

[Michele]

The lights are long flourescent lights special for plants to grow. The turtles seem to be doing fine and most of the plants we have are growing fine without the lights. We haven't put them on for months. I am not sure we need the lights. Our windows are single pane regular glass. They seem to get enough sunlight.

[marisa]

I forgot to say that I watched your show. Wow. VERY nice.

The glass filters out a lot of the UVB rays, which your turtles need to metabolize Vit D3 which is needed to be able to absorb the calcium in their diet. Unfiltered sunlight would be best, but in the absence of that, some UVB lights would ensure that they stay healthy. How long have they been in that lovely pond with the lighting as it is?

[Michele]

We have not had any additional lighting in over a year. All three turtles have been growing, are very active, and beg constantly for food. They lay on the rocks in the sun for long periods in the day if undisturbed but scurry into the water when they see us come into the room. Then they usually come to the side to see if they will get fed.