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Well for those who don't know, we found Speedy under a clay mask outside when I was prepping my house for a Hurricane. We took him in since he was just a baby (inch in length) and we destroyed his home, and he's doing great ever since. He's grown a bit now and he's fun to look at, and take care of. He's playful and seems to enjoy his little home.

We only have 10gallon tank for him right now, but we're looking at upgrading. We're considering a pond, but we don't know if he'll be ok out there.

We live in sunny south Florida, where it normally gets as high 90 degrees in the summer and as low as 60 degrees in the winter. I'm pretty sure this climate is perfectly fine for him, as he is native to the area. We live on a 131 acre lake and we have a decent sized back yard(for Florida, lol) that is north-eastern exposure.

I want this pond setup to look as attractive as possible. I don't intend on running a chiken wire fence around it. I have a Homeowners association that wouldn't care too much for that. How can we make him safe out there? I haven't really seen any predators around besides birds. Do we have to put a screen up to protect him? The only thing I can think of is laying a clear screen flat across the top of the pond so predators can't get in.

Any advice? Thanks again everyone!

There are several posts concerning habitat protection. What kinds of rules does your homeowner's association have? It would help to know what we're working with.

Are you thinking in ground pond, or above? Either way, chicken wire will need to be small enough that racoons can't get through it, but large enough not to block the UVB. With a large lake near by, you don't want your turtle to have access to that either.

yea if your turt escapes im sure he will just run for the lake and you wont see him again how many gallons were you thinking?

I was thinking at least a hundred gallons. I'll most likely be putting it in ground, although I could do either.