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I have two painted turtles, they are, I guess, about two years old, their shells are about 4" long. They live in a 20 gallon tank (I know, they need more space), and are quite docile. They are both male. We're looking to move, and the house we're looking at is way out in the woods, and has a pond. Do you think the turtles would adjust very well to the pond, or do you think it'd be best to keep them in tanks? Do you think they will run away? Loss of pets is a big fear for my son.

Is this a pond in the woods where other wildlife exists, or is it a constructed pond that's located in the back yard? If its the latter, there should be a fence around it, both to keep your turtles from wandering and to keep predators (racoons, etc.) from getting at your turtles. How big is the pond?

If it's a pond in the woods, it's not a good idea to release them to be on their own where other wildlife exists.

It's a backyard pond constructed in the woods. So lots of wildlife nearby. I'm not sure of the size of the pond yet, but it's not too large. We surely don't want to lose pets, but an outdoor habitat would be lovely.

Thats a pretty decent sized pond haha. Way larger then most backyard ponds. If you can fence it in your turtles will be fine. You probably can hibernate them in it too if you wanted too.

That pond is about the size a turtle breeder would use.

I will say this, my turtles are very docile but when they get put outside for the summer in stock tanks. They really do lose the docile act and start diving in water and hiding from me when i get near.

Painteds4life i know has a picture of when he visited some guys house of a turtle habbitat thats fenced in and has like 3 ponds and land areas bc it is also homjw to box turtles.

rsour24 wrote:Painteds4life i know has a picture of when he visited some guys house of a turtle habbitat thats fenced in and has like 3 ponds and land areas bc it is also homjw to box turtles.

I think his setup is a little too fancy for the average person lol.

That's a pretty sweet setup! When we went to look at the house, they said that they had had a turtle "problem"(!) when they put the pond in, so someone came out and put something in the bottom of the pond that the turtles don't like? It's stocked, so I'm not quite sure what they did.
If we do get this house (which is a very strong possibility), I plan on gardening the pond. If there is indeed a turtle "problem", we can always throw up the wall, right?

Perhaps a sinking turtle trap for snappers?

Hmm thats weird. I wonder what they did. I would get more detail on what they actually did.

That's a sweet spot. I suggest you remove this turtle trap thing. If you're scared of losing the turtles here's what you should do. Firstly, don't fence the place up UNLESS you have predators and snappers in that area. Dump some huge rocks in the middle so that there are basking areas for them. If you want, buy more adults and create your own habitat there. However I'm aware of them being invasive etc. but unless the females need a nesting spot, they will stay there. Make some nice nesting areas and they'll stay there. Fence up not to near to the pond so they get some space apart from the water. You could have your own potential RES community there. Just make sure they don't leak out too far.

that wold be so sweet i would fence around it but like aal said bring it out farther and get more turts