Habitat - Outdoor :: Dovey's new outdoor home

[aal]

Unfertilized eggs are quite hard to find. What's her basking area? It has to be sand or mud thats about 40cm deep if she's going to burry her eggs in there, not wet just moist. Introduce a male! It'll be cool. Sleeping underwater is what RES do. Sometimes if they feel secure they'll sleep on ground. Thank goodness she's not vegeterian or poor plants are all gone! Its fine if she gets calcium, protein and other nutrients. Pellets usually provide a fraction of the fiber they need. If she wants plants she'll eat them. They can make a huge mess if they wanted to eat plants. I had a horrible experience when my new hyacinths were missing in an hour... Oh and the eggs will sink and die immediately.

[wadd]

I have a RES that lays eggs every year starting around May or June I always forget. They will not lay in the water unless they don't have the proper nesting site. Mine lays in the yard grass but she struggles because of the grass roots and rocks she encounters.
If she hits something she moves on to find another exceptable site. She tries for hours to find the right area to lay her eggs. Don't expect her to lay where you want her to I've tried, you can put her in what you think is a perfect digging area but she won't dig there.
I found great info on nesting sites at Tortoise trust web, go to articles on left, find captive breeding 5 down in center click that, then click on nesting sites great info.
I can always tell when she wants to lay she goes crazy scratching at the side of the plastic pond trying to get out, she even climbed out and fell out that's how determined she is when that time comes.
This year I sat behind her when she started digging and helped her dig between every dig with her hind feet I dug with a pry bar and loosened the dirt so she could get deep enough to lay them. It is incredible to watch.


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[BigGalEmma]

Lovely!
I´m so envious! I wish our Emma would have a place like that during summer.
Absolutely fantastic!

[Mis4Monopoly]

Thats a great looking pond. I wish I lived somewhere warm so that I could make my turts a outdoor pond like that. Is the entire yard fenced so they cant get away?

[erinemcgreevy]

Keep giving her veggies eventually she'll eat them. I wouldn't give her cucumbers as they have no real nutritional value. Have you tried blueberries or dandelion greens (Murphy's favs)? You could also look into getting edible water plants for her.

[Sir Max]

Gota love the frog that spits water *.*

[tolstoy]

http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab293/tolstoy_abq/2-3.jpg

haven't posted in awhile. Dovie hibernated for the first time at age 9 (that we are aware of)

she's been really active this spring and very sociable - here's a photo from my phone (sorry for quality)

[brandonsdad02]

She is such a lucky girl to have a pond like that to live in. That must be the best outdoor enclosure i have seen. I hope that some day I can make something like that for our 3 baby RES.

[steve]

Things look great, thanks for the update -- and looking forward to future pics!

[tolstoy]

I only ever have my cell phone camera handy when i want to "shoot" her so apologize again for the crappy photos...





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[rsour24]

very cool

[apondfortimmy]

I know I'm late to the thread here but man, that's what I wanted my pool pond to look like. Totally plant-y and lush and easy for turtles to live in.

I love this. I don't know why I haven't seen this thread before.