Wayfarin
Member
Hello, folks!
As you may have known from my previous post, we currently have an adult female red-eared slider turtle named Teresa.
She's a medium-sized specimen, small for a female, at about 8 inches of shell length. She's a little over 12 years of age, and at this age I don't suspect she will grow much more in the future.
She's been living most of her life in an undersized glass tank. When we first purchased her from a place called West Hartford Puppy Center (now closed down) in Connecticut, we had a large plastic pool, possibly over 100 gallons, which is where we put her (and several feeder fish, which she didn't actually eat) for the first few days.
It was our fear of raccoons that caused us to bring Teresa indoors.
Since then, she's been living in a glass tank, where she spent most of her life. We occasionally allowed her to roam outside, but not often enough.
After we moved, we moved her to a plastic bin for temporary housing.
Unfortunately, I can't say she's ever lived in a habitat larger than 30 gallons since we moved her from the pool.
After the move, we've decided that it may finally be time to upgrade her enclosure.
The initial idea was to move her to a larger aquarium, maybe a 100-gallon tank. However, I've come to the conclusion that keeping her in an outdoor enclosure would be the overall best investment. Purchasing a 100-gallon aquarium and the needed associated supplies would not cost much less than installing a 1,000-gallon pond, anyway.
And the raccoons? I feel we're finally ready to challenge them. I will post a separate thread about outdoor turtle safety.
However, there are a few questions regarding outdoor housing, that do not involve procyonids, that I intend to bring to attention.
First of all, would a backyard turtle pond require electricity to function?
I initially wanted to install a pond with a waterfall feature. However, I found out something.
Apparently we do not have outside electricity (which also means that we cannot have Christmas lights). 🙁
This leaves us with only a few options if we want to circulate the water. We would have to use solar-powered aerators/bubblers, battery backups, or manually aerate the water with a hose.
The wind and rain might also help with aeration.
Does anyone else have outdoor turtle enclosures without electricity?
Second of all, would it be possible to achieve an equilibrium that's so well established that the pond would not require water changes?
From what I've head, most ponds do not require cleaning more than once a year. And as I've mentioned, we have space for a 900-1,000-gallon pond, which would probably only be stocked with Teresa, frogs, minnows, crayfish, and many plants.
I'm aware of how biological filtration works, and I will probably allow the pond to cycle for months before introducing Teresa.
This may be something that I have to experiment for myself.
Third of all, could a red-eared slider coexist more peacefully with other aquatic creatures in a pond than in an aquarium?
I know that red-eared sliders are renowned for their aggressive tendencies when kept in aquariums.
However, I'm wondering if red-eared sliders are somewhat more peaceful in more natural pond settings. Slider turtles seem to be able to coexist with other animals quite peacefully in nature. I'm aware that this may simply be due to the fact that the smaller animals have more escape opportunities, but it doesn't matter if it works out.
This may also be something that I have to study for myself after setting up the pond enclosure.
I can be expected to post separate threads about these topics, going into even greater detail.
However, any input, especially from experience, would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance! God bless!
As you may have known from my previous post, we currently have an adult female red-eared slider turtle named Teresa.
She's a medium-sized specimen, small for a female, at about 8 inches of shell length. She's a little over 12 years of age, and at this age I don't suspect she will grow much more in the future.
She's been living most of her life in an undersized glass tank. When we first purchased her from a place called West Hartford Puppy Center (now closed down) in Connecticut, we had a large plastic pool, possibly over 100 gallons, which is where we put her (and several feeder fish, which she didn't actually eat) for the first few days.
It was our fear of raccoons that caused us to bring Teresa indoors.
Since then, she's been living in a glass tank, where she spent most of her life. We occasionally allowed her to roam outside, but not often enough.
After we moved, we moved her to a plastic bin for temporary housing.
Unfortunately, I can't say she's ever lived in a habitat larger than 30 gallons since we moved her from the pool.
After the move, we've decided that it may finally be time to upgrade her enclosure.
The initial idea was to move her to a larger aquarium, maybe a 100-gallon tank. However, I've come to the conclusion that keeping her in an outdoor enclosure would be the overall best investment. Purchasing a 100-gallon aquarium and the needed associated supplies would not cost much less than installing a 1,000-gallon pond, anyway.
And the raccoons? I feel we're finally ready to challenge them. I will post a separate thread about outdoor turtle safety.
However, there are a few questions regarding outdoor housing, that do not involve procyonids, that I intend to bring to attention.
First of all, would a backyard turtle pond require electricity to function?
I initially wanted to install a pond with a waterfall feature. However, I found out something.
Apparently we do not have outside electricity (which also means that we cannot have Christmas lights). 🙁
This leaves us with only a few options if we want to circulate the water. We would have to use solar-powered aerators/bubblers, battery backups, or manually aerate the water with a hose.
The wind and rain might also help with aeration.
Does anyone else have outdoor turtle enclosures without electricity?
Second of all, would it be possible to achieve an equilibrium that's so well established that the pond would not require water changes?
From what I've head, most ponds do not require cleaning more than once a year. And as I've mentioned, we have space for a 900-1,000-gallon pond, which would probably only be stocked with Teresa, frogs, minnows, crayfish, and many plants.
I'm aware of how biological filtration works, and I will probably allow the pond to cycle for months before introducing Teresa.
This may be something that I have to experiment for myself.
Third of all, could a red-eared slider coexist more peacefully with other aquatic creatures in a pond than in an aquarium?
I know that red-eared sliders are renowned for their aggressive tendencies when kept in aquariums.
However, I'm wondering if red-eared sliders are somewhat more peaceful in more natural pond settings. Slider turtles seem to be able to coexist with other animals quite peacefully in nature. I'm aware that this may simply be due to the fact that the smaller animals have more escape opportunities, but it doesn't matter if it works out.
This may also be something that I have to study for myself after setting up the pond enclosure.
I can be expected to post separate threads about these topics, going into even greater detail.
However, any input, especially from experience, would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance! God bless!