Habitat - Outdoor :: Moved Thelma and Louise outside

[animal_lady]

Hello everyone - I am back. The last time I was here I had just adopted my 2 turtles. They are 6 and 7 inches in length. They were doing great inside in the tank - eating out of my hand and responding to my voice. I built them a beautiful 9x9 pond outside with nice fence to protect them.
I gave them 1 place to hide and that is where they are. They don't come out ! I put 20 feeder fish in the pond and they ate them all. I am worried because they are not coming out to bask. How long should i wait til I bring them back in or make them bask in the sun ? I thought I was doing such a nice thing for them.

[Nettle]

They might be afraid to go bask because they're in a new area. When I first put my turts in a bigger tank, they wouldn't come out for 2 days. The only thing that'll get 'em to get used to it is time. If after a week they still don't like it, then I'd say to bring them back in.

And 20 feeder fish is way too many to be feeding them at one time.

[steve]

What kind of basking setup do you have? Any chance you can post a picture of the area?

[animal_lady]

They have a 9x9 pond with fence in the back yard.
I don't have any pictures right now but if you go to
www.lookingforthingsonline.com and click on the turtle pond page there are pictures there. They have rocks all around the outside of the pond.
Do you think it would help if I put a rock in the center of the pond ?

[steve]

I think so. It should be partially submerged and easy to climb onto. You might even want to consider some driftwood in there.

Overall, it looks great!

[laturcotte]

Animal_Lady
Here is a picture of my pond. My 4 yo RES was put into it 2 weeks ago and somehow she got out. We have searched and searched every nook and cranny. The ledges/rock walls are pretty steep or overhanging. When you look at the picture there is a beached area straight ahead but that area is totally fenced in with rod iron which is in the ground 4-5 inches. OUr entire yard is fenced in because we have 4 mini schnauzers. Don't know how or why she left but when they decide to escape they will. Please know that if their claws can reach the top of the pond they can lift themselves. We measured everything but she is gone. To the left is beach area but the rock is as high as my knees. Then she had the rock in the middle for basking. The pond was 1 foot at the tip, half way in the middle 4 feet then 5 feet closer to you. She spent 2 years in the small front pond during the summer and came in every Fall.

Take care, you have a beautiful pond. They love hyacinth, you'll probably get lots of frogs which produce tadpoles which they also love.

Good luck

[Nettle]

That's a beautiful pond! I'm very envious.

Sorry about your lost turtle. It's happened before where a lost turtle showed up a few weeks later, so maybe he'll come back.

[mat012]

Laturcotte,

Your pond is gorgeous. I have some serious pond envy. If I thought we could keep up with the maintenance I would put in a pond in a heartbeat. But we are so haphazard with our lawn work already. I dont think we could manage. But if we could this picture would give us a place to start. I love the evergreen trees in the background. They make a very pretty backdrop.

So well done!

Melissa

[PcBuilder14]

That's the coolest pond ever!!!

[kevol4]

Wow, in my next life I'm coming back as a turtle and come live there.