Turtle Pond project - advice welcome

[scott_tanya]

HI All,

first time poster, but have been reading your great site for awhile. We have a little long neck named 'squirt' (shell about 3' in diameter). He currently lives in an 3 foot aquarium in the house, where he seems happy enough. However we have decided to put a water feature in the backyard, so thought that we might make it turtle friendly to give him a new place to hang out with more space and more sunlight.

We are limited in the amount of space we have, so it still wont be huge, but deifnifly better we hope. here are some sketches of the plan.

Basically the enclosure will be made of brick and covered in black slate from the outside and up the feature wall. The height of the enclosure is 30cm all the way around and i also plan to make 1 brick deep so he doesnt dig his way out.
We plan to have the water trickle down over the slate and into the pond. There will be a suitable pump and filter added, as well as all the cool things Squirt likes eg. logs, rocks, places to hide and ramp to get in and out of the pond etc.

Never made a pond before (or a brick wall for that matter) but looking forward to the challenge. So far the area is cleared, the pond, slate, and bricks have been bought. Over the coming month or two will get the filter, pump and water cascade thingy.

Is there any pond or filter any ones particular recommends or anything i should steer clear of? once some of this stuff is in it will be hard to pull back out, o want good quality.

any other tips or suggestions? Am i going wrong anywhere?

Thanks ageveryone.

 

[ally_pup]

Wow, if only I owned my own house.
Good lcuk and keep us posted on the progress.
Im sure squirt will love it

 

[Australis]

Something to consider is Turtles are actually able to climb
better than their credited for, im not sure 30cm brick wall
would contain a turtle for long.

 

[mckellar007]

build the wall higher, my turtle climbed about 50 cms up my wall

 

[Jay84]

My friends turtle climbed out of its enclosure and escaped..... and after seeing its enclosure i would never have thought it would be agile enough to manage that! so i suggest u make a 'lip' at the top of the wall creating an overhang. also id make the wall go down more than course of bricks. better to be safe than sory cos they are good diggers.

keep us updated!

 

[mcloughlin2]

Looks awesome. What you do need is a overhang on the brick wall, hanging into the enclosure if you get me? I'd suggest building the wall sitting height which i think is aout 50cm or so and then place a large flat brick on top that over hangs the wall by about 15cm, making it impossible for the turtle to climb over.

 

[scott_tanya]

Thanks for the advice, so far guys.

Ok build while higher - got it

Slight overlip - should be accomplishable.

Will let you know how i progress, and keep the comments coming. I also forgot to ask, i live in brisbane. Will he be alright during winter or do i need to do something about heating?

 

[RedEyeGirl]

sounds great he'll love it

 

[Colletts]

I suggest you visit Rock Around the Block.
http://www.rockaroundtheblock.com.au/default.asp?c=30357
They have heaps of filters, pumps, fittings, liner etc. I'm buying a filter/pump pack off them soon for my 4000L turtle/Merten's Water Monitor enclosure.
With heating, it depends on how much water the pond will be holding. The less water the colder it will be in winter but the easier it will be to heat up. My turtles are currently living in a bath tub which i heat during winter with an aquarium heater (the largest one you can buy). But i doubt you'd be able to heat a body of water any greater than a bathtub.

Good luck.

Collett's

 

[mcloughlin2]

There is no need to heat the pond providing he has someone to brumate in winter. What will be the diamensions of the actual pond?

 

[Kirby]

google search Australian freshwater turtle forum

 

[beardy_boy_6]

wow that looks great think i might have to build some thing like that for my turtle and ewds

 

[waruikazi]

Don't use bricks!!! Use besa blocks because they can be core filled and reinforced which is an absolute must with a large pond.

Here's one i built
http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/general-herps/my-new-pond-47414

And this is what it looks like now

 

[kakariki]

Here's the link to Australian Fresh water turtles. It is a great site with heaps of info. http://www.australianfreshwaterturtles.com.au/index.php
I would suggest put wire down first & then covering with a few inches of dirt. That way he wont dig out. And when you have finished building it, remember take some pics to show it off! :lol:

 

[beardy_boy_6]

Don't use bricks!!! Use besa blocks because they can be core filled and reinforced which is an absolute must with a large pond.

Here's one i built
http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/general-herps/my-new-pond-47414

And this is what it looks like now

y? carnt you use bricks i have heaps at my place that i was going to use im not going not make it like yours and fill the whole thing with water. i was going to use the bricks to make like a big box and then dig and put a pond in the ground would this be ok? thanks

 

[waruikazi]

Yeah that sounds alright, i thought the bricks were going to be used as a retaining wall for the water. If this was the case the bricks wouldn't be strong enough, but yeah as long as they aren't under pressure they should be ok.

 

[scott_tanya]

. Same thing im doing as per my sketch. The bricks are just for the enclosure and the water feature. the pond will hold the water.

The pond isnt huge only about 100L, i think, but bigger than what he has now.

Thanks for the links guys will check them out, need to elarn how the whole pump, filter thing will work. I think i will get a [FONT=&quot]Pond max 4000 pressure filter with built in U/V clarifer light, it sits outside the pond.

I then need to sill get a pump on the side, and waiting to hear back about that

Will keep you posted
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