Habitat - Outdoor :: Thinking about setting up a pond in the Middle East

[filfilksq]

I'm an American living in the Middle East. We "adopted" a RES a few years ago; he started out the size of about a silver dollar and his shell length now is about 5 inches.

We have him in a decent-sized aquarium (recently upsized), but I was thinking to make an outdoor enclosure for him. I need help with several issues.

First, I need to know if this is even a good idea. We aren't here during the summer, we usually leave him with a turtle-sitter, so we miss the hottest months of the year. Even so, when we come back in August the temps are still in the 110 Fahrenheit range. How hot is too hot for a RES to be outside (with shade)? It generally stays uncomfortably hot until October, when temps are closer to 90-100 degrees. In winter the low temps don't go much lower than 48 degrees. Where I am we actually do get rain, but it is pretty limited to a 1-2 month period.

We also have a healthy population of feral cats in the area. Would they mess with a turtle of that size? Are there other predators I should worry about? The only other wildlife I've seen out there are lizards, skinks, rats, and a range of birds.

Second, regarding equipment, I was simply going to get a kiddie-pool or something similar. How high of a barricade do I need to have around the outside? I was going to have a water area (the pool sunk in the ground) and a land area. Also, I was looking into solar filters, has anyone used something like this? We get a ton of sunshine, it seems logical. I did see some solar fountains that looked reasonable cost-wise, but wasn't sure about solar filters and how well/effectively they really run.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!

[steve]

How long does it stay 110F during the day? Generally, I think that it would just be too hot and it would be an issue keeping the water temps down as well.

[marisa]

Welcome. If you had a true pond that was sizeable, predator proof and escape proof, I'd say go for it (I'm thinking of something like an oasis). But sinking a kiddie pool into the ground, even with shade, doesn't sound like it would cut it in that temp.

I don't think I'd try anything like that unless I was around, at least for the first year, to deal with any problems that might arise.

[filfilksq]

At night in July-August the temps on average only go down to 85-90 degrees (yuck), and since I'm on the water humidity can get up to 80% (double yuck). I don't know if humidity is an issue.

What I could do is set up the pool initially as a water feature and keep a thermometer in there and record the temps over a given period (good project for the kids). Actually, the kids' first comment was how was I going to keep water in there and not have it all evaporate every day; I think a good part of the water area would have to be in the shade.

What range of water temp is good for the turtle, and does the intensity of the sun outside matter?

Just for the sake of knowledge, there are native turtle species here, like the Caspian turtle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_Turtle Unfortunately when we got our turtle I didn't know much about turtles at all.

[marisa]

If you truly have a RES, this is a temperate, not tropical species. If the kiddie pool is like the one I'm thinking of, even a larger one, it's not going to be that deep. It will heat up more slowly in the ground, but it will heat up nevertheless, even if most of it is in the shade. The intensity of the sun would matter. How big of a pool were you thinking of getting?

This winter, my RES has been in water that's been kept at just about 70F. He'll go out into a stock tank for the summer, as he did last summer. I tried not to let the water get much above 80F, and spend a fair amount of time bringing down the temp to the mid 70's or lower with partial water changes. Your turtle sitter is going to be around enough to keep down the water temp?

[filfilksq]

We have RESs back home (I'm originally from Kentucky) that live in the woods so I'm aware of the climate differences, that has been my main concern. That and the cats.

I was originally thinking of a kiddie pool, like those shallow plastic tubs, but now I'm re-thinking that. Maybe I could get something smaller circumference-wise but deeper. From the turtle's standpoint (disregarding water temps), would they rather have shallower but wider, or deeper but narrower?

I would actually be nervous to leave the turtle outside when we're not around, I would probably transfer him back to the tank for a sitter. And I was also thinking I could keep him in the tank until the weather cooled down enough, but wasn't sure how cool that needed to be.

Thanks for chatting with me about this; unfortunately the pet stores here are no help as they are incredibly bad and I have to hold myself back from "rescuing" all the poor turtles they have. (We did not get ours from a pet store.) They looked at me like I was crazy for even wanting a tank with a filter -- "All you need is this little plastic box and a little water in the bottom."

[evlock]

Kate, I am also in the Middle East, and have had the same idea and concerns that you have. I have decided to be happy with Fred in the living room until we move back to the US. Then I can put in a proper pond for him. As it is, I have a hard enough time with increased water temp from the tap in the house during the summer months. And I agree with you about pet stores here..."No, madam, they need only a small amount of water."...as I am buying the biggest (55 gal) tank they have.