1 year check in for the pond

[Paschendale52]

I was working on the new egg laying/basking area for the pond in the dark (once baby is asleep) and I noticed that with the flashlight in the dark Fatty swam right up to me.

Early spring she would come up to feed pretty regularly, but for the last several months I only occasionally see her. I'll see her basking or eating from time to time, but she doesn't come hang out at surface a lot like she used to. I don't know if thats just getting used to the pond/feeding or if the new giant mexican musk turtles have changed the pond dynamic some.

In either case, since she was right at the surface saying hello I decided to pick her up for some quick photos and a weigh in.

Since she went back into the pond after a winter indoors, she has gained about 0.6 oz. Up to 7.85 oz or so. She is almost exactly 4" SCL and about 7 years old.

You can strongly see the Eastern integrade characteristics in the photo of her carapace. I recall @Markw84 bringing that up when they were a couple months old. The scutes all line up horizontally like the Easterns rather than the perfect halfway offset you see in the other painted turtles.

I always refer to Fatty as she, because where she and Granny were in an aquarium together when we lived in CA I found an inert egg on the basking dock. Fatty doesn't have super long claws, and the tail looks female to me, but I'm no expert. Can anyone tell from just the photos here? I meant to get a photo of her tail close up and claws, but she never comes out of her shell when I have her out of the water.

 

[jeff kushner]

The scutes all line up horizontally like the Easterns rather than the perfect halfway offset you see in the other painted turtles.

Wow, 4:46AM and I've learned my "new thing for the day" already!

It's embarrassing to admit, I have never noticed that before, despite having at one time, the same number of turtles you all have had!

Thanks P and glad to see your friend Fatty still comes around, kinda cool isn't it? She's protecting her charms pretty well so it's hard to tell but that she is, says girl to me. I don't know the species-specific traits for nails, etc so I'm not any kind of authority....think more "guess"!

 

[Paschendale52]

I finished the new basking/laying area I mentioned before.

Since I have never seen the turtles use the old basking area, I removed it. But the turtles might still eventually need somewhere to lay eggs in the future. I don't expect this new area to get used all that much, but it looks neat and gives the opportunity for them to get out and play in the sand/dirt mix if they want to.



The area is about 5' x 1' x 1', so not huge. But like I said, I don't expect it to be used much. The cover for it to keep the local cats and such out is about 18" high and wrapped in 1" chicken wire.

The little platform to get out of the water up on to it is just a scrap piece of cherry lumber since I've read that fruit lumber tends to be the least impactful for long term submersion.

Technically its not done since I havn't added the 1/2" plywood painted white on the exterior to hide the substructure, but its good enough for government work.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I finished the new basking/laying area I mentioned before.

Since I have never seen the turtles use the old basking area, I removed it. But the turtles might still eventually need somewhere to lay eggs in the future. I don't expect this new area to get used all that much, but it looks neat and gives the opportunity for them to get out and play in the sand/dirt mix if they want to.

View attachment 361655View attachment 361656View attachment 361657

The area is about 5' x 1' x 1', so not huge. But like I said, I don't expect it to be used much. The cover for it to keep the local cats and such out is about 18" high and wrapped in 1" chicken wire.

The little platform to get out of the water up on to it is just a scrap piece of cherry lumber since I've read that fruit lumber tends to be the least impactful for long term submersion.

Technically its not done since I havn't added the 1/2" plywood painted white on the exterior to hide the substructure, but its good enough for government work.

That just looks fantastic