Need Help with heating turtle pond (photos included)

[freerider]

Ha, HA did you tear that page out and photocopy it??? I'm not bagging you mate just offering advise based on my own experience?
All you have done is contradict yourself, you said that you wanted to heat the water because you didn't want the turtle to hibernate so as you can still enjoy it :roll: :roll: , then you go on to say that the water doesn't get cool enough for it to hibernate? So whats the problem? I think your being a bit paranoid (not a bad thing) A water temp diffrence of 2 degress? I think that if the turtle can heat up enough in the sun to digest it's food it should be fine, If it's to cool then it will stop feeding. Just my advise take it or leave it mate cause frankly I'm sick of typing
Good luck

 

[SLACkra]

might be a bit expensive but you could always go to a pool shop and buy one of their solar heaters. they are automatic ect and if its sunny it should keep the pond warm.

andrew

 

[TurtleHermit]

Freerider, I scanned it in. Is that meant to be funny?
Yes I am being paranoid. But I don't want him to die.
Yes I contradicted myself because I originally didn't want him to hibernate cause I wanted him to be active all year round and I had been told that it is not healthy for young captive turtles to hibernate in the first few years. But then I realised that the temp actually wouldn't go low enough for him to actually hibernate. The water temp would sit on about 20 degrees, therefore I have no choice but to heat it. So I could risk it like you obviously have with your turtles or I could go to the extra trouble and do the right thing and heat it.
So I think I will leave your advice.

Slackra, thx for the idea. I'll go check out some pool shops this arvo, see what prices I would be looking at.

 

[SLACkra]

expensive probably, they install them on your roof. this black piping stuff. the whole things autmatic. once the wtaer in the black tubing gets warm enough its pumped back into the pool or in your case pond.

andrew

 

[SLACkra]

oh jsut got an idea! insulate the pond area as alot of the heat from the water will be transfered to the ground around it. also probably not possible but a lid would help keep the heat in though i am not sure how much uv/uvb light would be filtered out the glass or acrylic.

andrew

 

[instar]

Most if not all uv is filtered out by glass or plastic, not to mention sun shining thru glass can heat the water more than sun alone, like a magnifying gass. How would they leave the water with a lid? lol
I beleive macquarii's have been found active with a body temp of just 16 degrees (cann) a turtle wont eat if temps are consistantly low or will simply eat much less, warm days provide oportunitys to bask.
At 4 inches across its prolly got enough size to withstand 20 deg easy, it wont hibernate at 20 deg anyway, mine dosent, and it continues to eat as much as it can. Have you actually measured temps in the pond water overnight? if its not dropping below 20c theres really no need to heat it, trust me.
As craig said though, if its not deep enough youll have probs keeping the temp down in summer if it gets 8 or more hrs of sun. consider some carefully placed trees or shrubs near the pond to provide cooler areas of shade.
Darrens book refers to keeping indoors at less than about 4 inches across, but again, 25 is way warm enough in summer, edging toward too warm. Remember no matter the sp or its natural locale, they are ectothermic too, too warm temps means faster metabolism, more food required, faster (too fast quite often) growth, which is not a good thing.
Freerider is correct, hatchlings in the wild manage to survive, folk tend to over sook them in captivity, with too high temps, too much food.
If you keep the water quality at its very best, feed a balanced diet, and they get plenty of uv, your turtle will thrive! These are the three most important factors. :wink:

 

[TurtleHermit]

thx instar,

I might make a cover for it to put over it at night. I have measured temps and it goes down to about 19 degrees at night (about 10pm) and rises to about 21 degrees during the day. Though it could get colder than 19 really early morning.

I still wanna heat it. If I can heat it easily and cheaply then there is no reason not to.

It will overheat in summer but that shouldnt be too difficult to fix. I'll worry about that closer to the date.
I might just leave him in his tank until summer. then he can gradually get used the the colder weather when it arrives next year.

 

[instar]

Turtle hermit, its your pond, heat it if you wish. When I said there is no need to heat it, I meant there is no benifit to the turtle/s from heating it whatsoever. If your planning to keep up a supply of fish for them to eat, and plants, you might find heating it, may not suit the fish or plants, dep on species, you may or may not also find that heated water may boost the growth of certain algaes.
Dont take my word on that one, im no botanist, just a thought. Oh yes, be sure about drainage around the pond, you will need to empty it sometimes to clean out leaves n muck, going by the trees in the pic, and for general maintainance (algae control (physical removal is ALWAYS better than chemical). It will overflow when it rains heavily, so be sure the ground around it is stable, to prevent the pond moving/sinking, and really well drained so it dosent get muddy and waterlogged, that will be important if you breed later, eggs wont do well in ground that stays wet for a long time after rains.
love to see pics when its done. :wink:

 

[freerider]

Some good advise there instar, In the end turtlehermit as instar said its your pond and if you wanna heat it then do it, none of us are absolute experts (well I think expansa1 is pretty close), we are only goin on experience from our own trial and error.
good luck with it

 

[inthegrass]

nice spot for a spa.
cheers

 

[TurtleHermit]

Thx for all the comments and advice. And freerider, thx for the argument No offence intended.
I'll post up some pictures when its completely finished.

 

[freerider]

No worries champ, looking forward to seeing photo's :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[expansa1]

Hi TurtleHermit,
If the temperature of the pond only drops to around 19-20 degreesC overnight then you really do not have to heat it, although it is your decision and is entirely up to you. I have bred thousand of turtles over the years and recommend not feeding them if the water temperature drops to 16deg.C or below.
19 deg.C or above is actually a good temperature for them. Most people recommend around 24-26deg.C if you are keeping them in an indoor aquarium situation.

Regards,
Expansa1

 

[Jonathon]

Try measuring the water temp now as it is winter the water would probably be at its coldest. Just try notto feed it for a few weeks before it goes into hibernation. Turtles are quiet easy to keep. The main things are feeding, water quality and UV. They are hardy animals... keeping a turtle is sort of like keeping a brick that grows lol.

 

[instar]

Are you breeding bricks Jonathon? put me down for hatchies! are they red phase?

 

[Jonathon]

Yep red phase... i've also got an albino for sale, he can be yours for $28,000. The red phase are all fully grown adults going for $250 each.