Habitat - Outdoor :: Turtle Playground ~ Ideas?

[penelope]

My RES, Penelope, is an indoor turtle and I wouldn't want it any other way. However, with the weather out here in California I would love for her to get out and enjoy some genuine sunshine. My husband and I are in the yard nearly eveyday, so we thought we'd build Penelope a little "playground."

Here's what we got...A 4' x 4' fenced in area, with the fencing wrapped underneath the frame and buried a few feet under the dirt (no escapes).
A little tiny pre-formed pond (about 2' x 1.5" by about a foot deep) ~ we figured she can take a dip if she needs to cool off. I didn't think we needed heat or a filter (it's too shallow).

We plan on planting some red leaf lettuce along the edge of the water for nibbling. A few large rocks to hide under, and...
Now we are stuck...

Any ideas on what type of edible plants we can use (the pond is too small for plants) or safe plants for her to "romp" in?

Am I fogetting anything (we have a cover)?

Again, this is just a place to play during the day while we're outside, and not a full-time home.

Don't you just love Spring?

[Tenodera]

Turtles cannot eat outside of the water, so you don't need to worry about planting edible plants...But don't plant any toxic ones either!

Do you have a shady spot in the water AND land? Water, especially when there is not a lot of it, can heat up very fast and that could be dangerous. Make sure you provide a dark, cool shelter on land and cover a bit of the pond.

and yea, its so nice to let turtles go out and get some sunshine!