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Today I did a big clean-up of Willy's tank, and brought her outside. She almost escaped. I had a wooden box which I thought would contain her for sure.. in these pics I didn't prop her up anywhere.. She got on top of the box all on her own.. She's a fairly solid climber. :] and if your wondering about the colouration on her shell.. it's just hard water buildup.. no harm.. just dosen't look pretty..

check them out.

Nice pics! I really like the 5th one. How often do you take Willy out?

I like the fifth one too. It's artistic.

That is the first time Willy's been out on the lawn. All the elements were right for it yesterday. The sun was beaming, and it was mildly breezy. Lately I haven't had much time for anything.. so when I found myself sitting around watching what had at the time been a boring NASCAR Brickyard 400 race.. I decided today was my only chance for a while to tackle a full water change.

Whenever I clean the tank I usually put her in that long wooden box. But I think over time after a constant struggle to get out, she's finally been able to do it. I darn near almost lost her! You can imagine the amount of running up and down the stairs I do with a full water change. Between running the hose out, hooking it up to the faucet outside, then coming back up and putting the end in the tank, and then going back out to turn the water on for suction out, Willy had clambered up onto the corner edge of the box. I was shocked!

So I let the tank drain out while I put her in the grass and took pics. One day I would really like to clean off the hard water stains.. But I don't want to irritate her and cause unneccessary stress, especially considering the fact that I'll continue to use hard water.

For the past half a year, I really have only been adding water. Hard water evaporates quicker than soft, and I find myself adding roughly 10 gallons a week. I've forgotten how long it takes to do a 50g water change.. plus, wait for the temp to get just right. I'd normally run hot and cold into the tank, but with an outside faucet I had no choice but to use cold. So I saved myself room for a couple buckets of piping hot water. That hurried the process quite a bit.

Anyways.. now I'm babbling.. :] Thanks for the compliments!

Have you ever thought about spending like $25 for a Python and just hooking it up to your sink?? would make it a whole lot easier to clean and drain your tank instead of going through all you do

Nice pics. And you had me wondering when you kept calling Willy a "he" in your first post. She's a pretty turt.

I'd rather spend 5 dollars for the water bed drain/filler which you can see in the first pic [blue plastic thingy]. it's essentially the same thing as the python. And it works exactly the same.

And as for using faucets, etcetera. I'd much rather use the outside taps as much as I can. I try my darnest to keep the turtle stuff/water away from our common areas. we have a 4.5 month old boy, so I don't want anything at all turtle related in the bathroom, or the kitchen.. even if it means dumping something, or filling something. it's best to separate it all and keep to a strict program of doing so.

marisa.. thanks for the correction! I just fixed it all.. my god I can't believe I did that. And I'm the one constantly correcting people when they refer to Willy as a He... Thanks again!!!

I like the last one, looks like she is playing roadkill.

she fell of the edge of the box onto her back and just stayed there.. but, I did her a favour and flipped her over and everything looks good. she's thick.

You could make her a pen in the yard and she could run around while you do your change. That would be cute.

I forgot, how big is she, like 7"?

yep.. 7 inches.

that box I'm using is key. long.. lets the sun in, keeps the draty wind out, etc. I've made a lid for it since I posted this message. It's chicken wire built into a wood frame which fits the top of the box. She wont be going anywhere. It latches on and the whole bit.

Thats cool, you hand made the box?

nah.. it's an old antique laundry box type thing with castors on the bottom.