New member

[campersmom]

Hi, my beautiful girl, Camper, is a 5 year old Eastern Box I was given as a hatchling. We live in Northwest Florida. She is in an outdoor habitat and is currently still hibernating. She is a very healthy, happy contented tortoise and probably would prefer that I not make any changes to her home but I want to improve her water quality by adding a filter system of some type. She currently has a water basin she loves that is only 15"x20"x3" but requires at least daily water changing. Her 7'x3' habitat sits on a protected, shady concrete patio. Any suggestions?

 

[Jacqui]

Hi and welcome! I would enjoy seeing pictures of her.

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome

 

[luvpetz27]

Hi and welcome to the forum!!
I have eastern's too! Aren't they great?
When yours wakes up, can you post
some pics?

 

[cemmons12]

Welcome. You may want to post some pic's of your setup to better show us what you are working with.

 

[campersmom]

Welcome. You may want to post some pic's of your setup to better show us what you are working with.

If I did the attachment correct you should see Camper climbing into her water basin. I've been looking at other member habitat pic's and they all look similar to mine. So my question is, is it possible to have a shallow water basin filter?

 

[campersmom]

The picture was taken 2 years ago. Camper is bigger now and no longer uses a cover.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi "Mom" and welcome to the Forum!

Does Camper have any dirt to dig in? Box turtles love to bury themselves. I wouldn't worry about cleaning out one waterer once a day. Just wait until you have 15 or 20 of them to clean out. I have my waterers sunk down into the dirt so the turtles and tortoises don't have to "cliimb" to get into them. This also brings a lot of dirt into the water. But every morning I'm out there with the hose, dumping and re-filling. Its just a fact of turtle life!

 

[surie_the_tortoise]

hello and welcome. as said above easy water access and a place to dig

 

[campersmom]

Camper has a large dirt/hay pile, about 3'x3' that she digs into during the summer and hibernates in in the winter. I cover it with carpet in the winter. But the temperature and weather around my yard is so hot and unpredictable here in Florida in the summer that the covered patio is really the best location.(note the temp in pic 80 degrees in October) She loves her water basin, carries her food in with her, lounges and toilets. I just thought it would be worth a little effort to make a shallow filtered pond.
I've been reading many posts and learning a lot. Hopefully I'll have pics of my new filtered system soon.

 

[kanalomele]

Can't help with your questions, but I wanted to say welcome to tfo!

 

[mainey34]

Hello and welcome ....

 

[pam]

Welcome

 

[AZtortMom]

Welcome