Ornate - Water depth

[Kirkie]

Hi,

I've had Pru, my female Ornate Box Turtle for a month now and so far everything is going great. She is active and feeding well

I have a question as to the water depth of her outdoor pool. She is an adult, the pool I've created use's a 2' x 18" seed tray. It has a large flat rock in it forming an entry and exit point for her and is sunk into the ground so she can get out all the way round. When in the deep end the water doesn't quite cover the top of her carapace so I'm guessing its just under 3 inches deep. The water level at the entry point is under an inch.

I'm sure I read somewhere whilst researching that Ornates are poor swimmers, so my question really is what depth of water do other people have for their Ornates?

She has no difficulty exiting the pool and spends some time in there every day. Maybe I'm just being a worrying new dad!

 

[egyptiandan]

Sounds good to me Dave. My water dishes are about 2 1/2" deep.

Danny

 

[Itort]

This should be good. I figure a depth of half up the carapace but if she can enter and exit with no problem it should be good. It's true box turtles in general are swimmers and large deep bodies of water do serve as a barrier.

 

[Kirkie]

Thanks for the responses. Guess I am an over worrying new turtle dad!