Edit: I've decided to do major pond logistics and research at the Pond Boss forum, and use the Turtle Talk forum for... turtle talk.
I have never owned turtles before.
Have always lowkey wanted to, have always thought that they're grand,
but i've never before been close to a situation in which I could properly care for turtles.
Backstory? Backstory.
When I was young, I attended (and eventually worked as a CIT at!) a nature camp in Northern Virginia which had several RES turtles in a grand 250gal setup with many fish.
One of the counselors (his name was Rich or Rick or something but that's not important) had this rant he'd do to every new group about how it's cruel to keep animals in inadequate habitats
and how evil the RES pet trade is. That's stuck with me from the first time I heard it, and spent a lot of my downtime in the basement of at that nature center staring into that tank
(People would be like "why are you staring at them, they've been stacked for 20 minutes doing nothing??"
like, I don't know, leave me alone, i'm weird/just thinking. I also really enjoy the sound of water, it's relaxing.)
But that experience kind of cemented in me a sureness that I will never have turtles unless i'm in the situation to do something as nice as that for them.
Flash forward two decades and now we're here!
For a couple of years now, I've been playing around with the idea of having a large turtle sanctuary/retirement-type pond.
RES has always been the focus of my idea, simply because they are so widely mistreated, discarded, and abandoned.
In the next 2ish years, I plan to become a homeowner where I live now, in Ohio.
In the next 5ish years, I would like to start construction on this pond!
Which means now is the time to start researching and saving!
Oh boy, we're down to the business part!
I'm looking to figure out where I should start researching what the ballpark creation,
and then the monthly upkeep for a large pond would be, taking into account crucial things like vet care.
The home I buy will almost definitely be on well water, Ohohoho, believe it or not,
partially to avoid crazy water bills that something like this would incur. that's not really necessary.
I'm trying to figure out the basic logistics, such as how many turtles can live in what size pond.. 120gal per adult turtle,
And what size of pond I should be aiming to create. Something like 12'x18'x6'.
As well as, obviously, how one would care for a large pond of turtles.
The goal/dream would be a large psuedo-natural biome-type pond that could house many turtles,
that after cycling and becoming established wouldn't need /a ton of/ human interference for upkeep.
TL;DR :
I have never owned turtles before but I want to make maybe a 9 thousand gallon pond in the next 5ish years!
Help me out with the logistics of making this a reality?
Thanks for your time! Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Edit:
I guess I am going to store my research and resource links here! Why not, right?
- "10 gallons per inch of turtle" means ~120 gallons per adult turtle. Pond calculators: 1, acres 2, volume
1. #goals, I will have to contact him.
2. good to think about, but makes my head hurt..
3. I might need to buy this book, almost definitely tbh.
4. This guy might be worth contacting for advice, too.
5. These guys seem like they do this stuff all the time..
6. Advice about evaporation from the pond boss himself!
7.More pond boss, this time the forum..
I still need to learn about:
- Will I still have to feed the turtles, after my pond is all established?
- Would the turtles be o.k. to hibernate by themselves or would I need to do anything? These guys are native to my state so I assume yes as long as the pond is natural-esk????
- Signs of common illness in RES turtles? Is veterinary intervention always necessary or is home health care an option for some of the more minor ailments?
- I don't want them to reproduce. Need to figure out a way to dispose of eggs without hurting the turtles.
- Plants??? Plants.
- Other fauna in the pond? (Before anyone asks, No Koi!!! Lol. I want this to be as natural as possible.
I miiiight also make a modern koi pond at some point, but that's a different #goals project that's actually way smaller and easier than this one )