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Reptilegirl

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rockvalley... Far North Coast... NSW
G'day all..
i just thought i'd share with you's my soon to be outdoor turtle enclosure. it's not quiet finished... needs the door put on, and the rest of the cage fixed up a bit, the sand put in, the pond put in, pond filled up with water, plants.... hmmm... have i forgotten anything... oh yeah i still have to get some turtles to put in it too... :wink:
i'll put some photos here but for the others.... click here

Cheers
Megz
 
Well done its looking great. What species of turtles are you putting in there? I keep an Oblong turtle who will soon have to go into an outside pond.
 
Intresting idea Reptile girl, hope you planned the aspect well, how much sun itll get etc.
Dosent look like much pond room/land room ? where is the pump/filter going?
dont mean to sound negative, just wondering :D
 
Intresting idea Reptile girl, hope you planned the aspect well, how much sun itll get etc.
Dosent look like much pond room/land room ? where is the pump/filter going?

exactly what i was thinking.
 
Hey Megan, when you get plants, as your local nursury for local aquatic plants, and you can also pick up a native water weed called ribbon weed from aquarium stores, also try and steer clear of exotic plants, especially elodea and foxtail/hornwart.
Good Luck
 
Whats wrong with elodea Dicko, provided its not disposed of where it can end up in waterways?, mine love munchin on it, also valisneria or val weed. Some kid of potted lillies might be better in a pond though.
looks a bit smallish? (pond) may not be deep enough in summer, just a thought. :wink:
 
I just beleive it's better to encourage using local native plants, although if you can get rid of any nasties from it I'd encourage people to get some of the stuff from their local water ways. Oh, and valisneria is the word I was looking for for the Ribbon weed, thanks inny. Oh, and do you have any dams on your property Megan?
 
Cheers all...
ok now to answer the questions....

What species of turtles are you putting in there?

you might find this funny.... but i dont have any turtles yet :) i'm hoping (if all goes to plan) to get some adult saw shelled turtles in the not so distant future..

hope you planned the aspect well

Me too!!!! i have picked four different sites for it and there was always something wrong with it... too close to the house... not enough sun... wouldnt fit.... didnt look anygood there...

how much sun it'll get

well it has a north eastly aspect... gets sun early in the morning... bout 8 or so... till umm i dont know... i did check it a couple of times.. i think it gets sun till about 2 or 3 but it could be a bit early or a bit later i'll check tomorow and tell ya.

Dosent look like much pond room/land room ?

its a bit more then 2mx2mx2m and i can always add a flight (not really the right word for it but eh) onto the back if i need more room.

where is the pump/filter going?

if you have a look at the second pic you will see a white pipe commin up through the cement... that is the electricity... is that what you ment???
or are you talking about something like what turtlehermit had??
i asked my local petshop about a filter/pump for turtles and she said i could use my aquiarum filter thingy... or is that a no no???
anyway hope that answers everything...
cheers dicco for that little bit of info..
Megz
 
lol i just finished answering question... just cant get a break here hahah
looks a bit smallish? (pond) may not be deep enough in summer, just a thought.

yeah i had that thought too after someone said they need to be deeper then 60cm.... but its ok the pond isnt in there yet.. and i have been keeping an eye out for a deeper pond so... but the one i have now is... dam it is kinda small....... oh well i can put that away and use it for some water dragons or somthing..... what is the recomended pond size???? or would building my own pond be a better idea????
keep picking at it inny i need someone to make me think :mrgreen:

Oh, and do you have any dams on your property Megan?

yep yep... i got me a spring fed dam... and all my neighbours have them too (and im sure they'd let me raid them.) i also have a creek across the road...
my friend lives further up the creek (about 20km) and gets saw shelled turtle up there.. so there must be some good stuff to eat up there...
Megz
 
Ah, great, get yourself a funnel trap from a fishing store for around $10 put some bread in as bait and chuck it in the creek. You'll get yabbies, shrimp, feral fish and native fish and maybe even snails, free turtle food. Try to only use feral fish for food as opposed to the Native ones, and beware, yappies love helping theselves to the fish in the trap with them :) .

PS, try get some big yabbies and chuck em in a tank and breed them for turtle food. Just make sure only smallish ones are put in with your turtles, big ones can cause a bit of damage.
 
asked my local petshop about a filter/pump for turtles and she said i could use my aquiarum filter thingy... or is that a no no???

Generally a tank filter (excepting largish cannister/drum types) wouldnt be sufficient for a pond, no. Really depends on how large/how many turtles your housing and in how large a volume of water.
Turtles are messy eaters and poo ALOT more than fish, hence good filtration is a must.
Glad your getting sorted BEFORE you aquire the turtle/s. :D

P.S Megan, heres a great place to start! :wink:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AustralianFreshwaterTurtlesandFrogs/
 
Sorry this is a little off topic although there seems to be a light brown coloured algae on the glass in my tank. Does anyone know of an easy way to get rid of it? Every time i clean my tank i rub it off although it seems to grow back after a few weeks. My filteration is good and the water is clean. Most of the algae is on the side of the tank where the light shines through the water (i have duckweed which blocks all the light from getting into half of the tank... if that makes sense?).

Cheers
 
I dont really have a problem with algae at all in my tank. Is yours getting light from a window Jonathon? Thats the most likely explaination right after high nutrient content in the water, maybe the water isnt as clean as it looks? clear does not mean clean. If you dont clean your gravel often you end up with lots of 'mulm' broken down waste among the gravel. A really complete cleanout every 3 months or so, gravel out n all, youll be surprised how much muck is really there.
Nutrients in the water not takewn up by live plants will be used to the max by algae instead. More plants, more light/nutrients taken up, less algae.
also, aquarium salt (for freshwater fish, not marine) added at one teaspoon per 10 litres helps controll algae and helps ward of funal infections in turts n fish alike. :D
 
so can anyone recomend the type of filter/pump i should get for turtles?? at the moment the the filter i have is an "OTTO internal power filter with two canisters, 360 directional flow, and it's called a PF400N" does anyone know if thats suiltable??? and how may turtles would be best in a 2mx2m enclosure???
ummm what else.... what size pond would be best in a 2mx2m enclosure??
Cheers for the help.
Megz
 
For a Pump/filter, If your handy, you can use a washing machine pump, from a hoover twin tub and hook it to your own filter made from a large plastic drum with your media inside. If not so mech minded, Id suggest a largish @Eheim or fluval cannister type, which can be houses inside the lil shed thing out of rain. (be very careful with water and Electricity.
Barring that try a garden centre or the like near you, there bound to have pond pumps n filters suitable. Some of those merely circulate the water, have a fountain etc. Those could be used for circulation but wont effectivetly clean the water, thios would have to be done manually.
As I mentioned to somebody in the other pond thread, You need to take incount drainage/what kind of pond you'll use.
You will need to drain it, aleast partially from time to time for maintainence, the cement 'footage' may retain drained water, unless you manually syphon by hose or similar.
How many turtles?
Id suggest its not big enough for two adults alowwing for land area, perhaps if your getting hatchling or small turtles then you might house say 3 of them...(for a while).
Atleast half the avail space should be pond, take into account easy access to and from the water aswell, i.e ramps or better, gently sloped sides., not too rough (plastron abrasion) or too smooth (no purchase) .
2mx2m would be the smallest pond I would attempt personally, which would leave you no land room, no good really im afraid.
Maybe put a pond half the size and use the whole thing for ewd instead, replan the turtle pond. :D
Meanwhile you could have two or three hatchling inside instead, where you can enjoy watching them for atleast 18 months to two years in a 4 ft aquarium. by which time you can plan better and build a really optimal pond. :D
 
for a filter you could go DIY and build your own trickle filter. pump pumps water up water goes through filter media then goes back into the pond. could have several types of media like gravel or a sponge. gravel would be good biological filtration and the sponge would be good mechanical and a bit biological. just a thought. looks cool reptilegirl,

andrew
 
Sick enclosure I want to eventually have something like that but also with water dragons...would water dragons eat yabbies too?
 
ok well i guess i should change the thread title to outdoor eastern water dragon enclosure.. :lol: How much do water dragons go for these days and how old/big do they have to be before they go outside?? thank you instar for making sure i do this right.
my dad and i plan to build alot of enclosures up the back (should be done before christmas but who knows)... some for his finches and lots for my reptiles :mrgreen: so i'll be sure to make the turtle enclosure big!! but how big?? what size do you recomend??
Cheers all.
Megz
 
awsome reptilegirl...good to see you going the work aswell...lol....ok so you know what animals for the bottom of the cage, so planning on putting anything else in the cage...like some water dragons maybe....cant wait till we see the finished product

Marc
 
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