Habitat - Outdoor :: Some questions about setting up a 100 gallon stock tank pond

[Pugwinkle]

I have the stock tank pond all ready for my turtle. I would like to bring him out during the day but not sure what the temps have to be for him during the day and how low they can go at night. He is a Mississippi Map turtle. The temps here hover around the mid seventies during the day (sometimes hotter) and go down to around 60 overnight right now. I will be buying a heater for the stock tank to keep the overnight water temps at 75 so hopefully he can stay outside all summer. Is that okay?

Until I get the heater I would like to take him outside during the day to benefit from the UV rays. Will this stress him out, going out during the day and coming in at night?

One more question. My husband built a lid for the stock tank to keep out predators like raccoons and cats. He built a frame with wood and then he stapled that hard plastic hardware cloth to the frame. Do you think that a raccoon could pick it up and move that type of lid? If so, do you have any suggestions on how I could secure it even better? I thought of putting some tent stakes in each corner and securing it with rope or bungee cords but it will be a huge pain having to take them off each time I want to access the pond.

Thx!
Denise

[Jeremiah]

Daytime temperatures can be similar to those of RES. Low to mid-70s in the water, 80-100 on the basking area (you get the +/- 10F due to being outside, both extremes are safe if your turtle has easy access to water). If you do use that water heater, be sure to hook it up to a timer. You don't want it running at full power during the daytime. It's waste of energy, and will probably make the water too warm.

By "take him outside during the day", do you mean for swimming or for walking? If it's the latter, he will still need access to clean water to avoid dehydration/overheating. If you're letting him into the pond during the day and taking him in during the night, then it shouldn't stress him out. That's what I do for my turtles, and they only get mildly irritated. Think of it as taking your child home from a birthday party with a Moon Bouncer. S/he may be dismayed about having to leave, but being at home isn't a stressful experience.

That lid should be okay. Raccoons don't like putting more than a paw into water. (I'm assuming that the tank isn't full, and that the lid will be resting on top of it. Am I right?).

[Pugwinkle]

Thanks Jeremiah, yes you are correct, the lid is resting on top of the stock tank and the water does not go all the way up. Sounds like Percy will be safe if they only like putting a paw in the water. When I was talking about taking him outside I meant putting him in the stock pond during the day and bringing him in at night because the evenings are pretty cool. Do I really need a timer on the heater? I thought the heaters automatically go off once the temperature of the water has reached whatever you have the heater set at?

[Jeremiah]

If you're letting him swim outside during the day before bringing him in at night, that's no problem at all. Sorry about the timer mistake, I forgot that a lot of them regulate themselves (I use older ones that I just have to watch manually).