I am now getting ready to build a pond for my turtles. They have been
living indoors, but are now huge and need the freedom. I live in
Cambridgeshire in the UK.
Can anyone provide me with any help or information on building a haven for
my little fellas, and possibly point me in the direction of some good
sources?

Thanks

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Victoria Concordia Crescit

Hello kerplunk,

I've kept painted turtles (two at a time) in my pond here in
the Pacific Northwest. We have fairly mild
winters most of the time.

My pond is 3,000 gallons. We have a 150 gallon
stock tank filter with black vinyl window screening
(50 yards) and topped with plants (water hyacinths)
in the summer. The water exited over rocks planted with
water cress. This filter setup seemed to keep up nicely
with turtle business and a pond full of fish.
The yard is securely fenced (especially after the first
turtle showed up on the neighbor's stoop).

My pond is fairly messy around the edges to give
cover. Several areas of sloping rock for ease of
turtle exit and basking. Most important, I think for
the turtles, is the island in the middle. Nice and safe
from the labradors (who it should be noted do *not*
swim and are very lazy). The turtles felt very safe there. I tossed land
snails and food on the island and that kept it safe from the
pond's fish.

The island is built out of builder's brick. On top of this tower
of builder's brick is a low, wide kind of oil filter shaped container.
This was placed so the edge was flush with the water. We laid
several branches off it, angled into the water. The turtles had
no trouble getting up on the island. We planted the island with
iris and lizard's tail. Creeping jenny was planted around the edges
to give it a natural look. You can see a picture of the island on
my webpage link below.

The turtles felt at home in the pond.
They would leap in and swim around with the koi to get
some of the koi kibble.
I never noticed much plant damage. I keep lots of lilies and
water hyacinths in the pond and they were welcome to what
they wanted to eat of it. Still never noticed much damage.

A favorite turtle game was to toss land snails on the lily
pads. The turtles would lay in wait below the lily pad
for a snail to crawl over and look out off the lily pad. The
turtle would then make like Jaws and rise up out of the
water and *snap* all gone snail. Call it the gardener's revenge.


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A