My Russian likes his new pond

[negrtalk]

I dug a pond in my turtle enclosure, and Igor here will actually go swimming in it from time to time. The pond extends back behind the wood a few feet. It used to be two separate enclosures for awhile, but now the pond connects the two areas.

 

[wellington]

Do you have turtles in the pond? If so I would not let the Russian have part of it. Mixing species is not a good thing and mixing the pond water between the two would be like them living together, even worse as the pond is the potty area for the turtles. If you don't have turtles then is should be fine.

 

[negrtalk]

Do you have turtles in the pond? If so I would not let the Russian have part of it. Mixing species is not a good thing and mixing the pond water between the two would be like them living together, even worse as the pond is the potty area for the turtles. If you don't have turtles then is should be fine.

No, I don't have turtles living in the pond.

 

[RhodaE]

I clicked on this as we are about to put in a small pond/water feature in our yard where our 30 yr old leopard tortoise roams. We had a larger one at our previous home, and he could walk through the little stream; we had koi fish in that pond...our new home backs up to a huge forest and our tiny pond will surely be visited by critters during the night, and we'll get frogs (a small swimming pool, now filled in, had frog visitors). We dug a small pit as we envision the location for pond basin, and it fills with rain water and our tortoise loves to go in there so we know he'll go in the little pond coming soon. Question - is it not a good idea to let him have access to both the tiny stream and the pond basin? We will not attempt to keep fish in our new pond. Birds, frogs, squirrels and raccoons will visit.

 

[negrtalk]

I clicked on this as we are about to put in a small pond/water feature in our yard where our 30 yr old leopard tortoise roams. We had a larger one at our previous home, and he could walk through the little stream; we had koi fish in that pond...our new home backs up to a huge forest and our tiny pond will surely be visited by critters during the night, and we'll get frogs (a small swimming pool, now filled in, had frog visitors). We dug a small pit as we envision the location for pond basin, and it fills with rain water and our tortoise loves to go in there so we know he'll go in the little pond coming soon. Question - is it not a good idea to let him have access to both the tiny stream and the pond basin? We will not attempt to keep fish in our new pond. Birds, frogs, squirrels and raccoons will visit.

What's your concern about access to both?

 

[negrtalk]

Also, here's the full pond. It's about 45-50 gallons, I would guess. The enclosure goes up to (and in some places under) my deck. Still a work in progress, but it's looking good to me.

 

[RhodaE]

What's your concern about access to both?

Someone mentioned water quality, basically. If other animals are using the water.

 

[negrtalk]

Ok. That should be fine for your tortoise. It would probably make sense to get a pump/filter setup, and water plants will also help with the water quality. But there's no inherent issue with your tortoise having access to water that fish may be in. Is that what you were asking, or did I miss the question?

 

[RhodaE]

Well, we won't put in fish because it will be a very small pond, we plan to build it shallow sloping so he can walk into it and soak. I just expect we'll have birds bathing in it a LOT, raccoons squirrels will visit, skunks (!!), and frogs and toads. We're in a very new environment on edge of forest. I don't know if there's anything I need to be concerned about. We'll have pump and filter and expect to clean it out a lot.

 

[negrtalk]

Well, we won't put in fish because it will be a very small pond, we plan to build it shallow sloping so he can walk into it and soak. I just expect we'll have birds bathing in it a LOT, raccoons squirrels will visit, skunks (!!), and frogs and toads. We're in a very new environment on edge of forest. I don't know if there's anything I need to be concerned about. We'll have pump and filter and expect to clean it out a lot.

Nice. Do you have any safety concerns about raccoons and your tortoise?

 

[RhodaE]

Nice. Do you have any safety concerns about raccoons and your tortoise?

Oh yes. Now, we had raccoon visitors at our old house in town, but never during day and we always locked our tort into his hut at night. But now, I worry about everything from skunks to bears to eagles, so we only put him out while we're home and we go into the yard a lot while he's roaming. And then he comes inside the house at night, we built a big enclosure with hut in the walk-in garage. We don't leave the house with him outside. I've not seen raccoons or skunks during day though. There's an eagle sanctuary being built very close to where we live. I'll just always be very cautious.

 

[negrtalk]

Oh yes. Now, we had raccoon visitors at our old house in town, but never during day and we always locked our tort into his hut at night. But now, I worry about everything from skunks to bears to eagles, so we only put him out while we're home and we go into the yard a lot while he's roaming. And then he comes inside the house at night, we built a big enclosure with hut in the walk-in garage. We don't leave the house with him outside. I've not seen raccoons or skunks during day though. There's an eagle sanctuary being built very close to where we live. I'll just always be very cautious.

That's really smart. Garden State Tortoise also has a video about turtle security on YouTube that I found helpful. If you need any tips, I'd look that video up.