Backyard Turtle Pond

Some history, and a photo essay on the construction of a 12' x 6' x 16" (L x W x H) above-ground, kidney shaped pond for a Yellow-bellied Slider turtle named, "Cooter".

History about Cooter and his original habitat

Cooter is a male, Yellow-bellied Slider (Trachemys scripta scripta) and was hatched sometime during the first part of 2001. He now resides in the western Finger Lakes region of New York state. Because the winters get very cold there, he had to (previous to the pond enlargement project) over-winter in a heated, indoor 30 gallon pond. As of winter 2004-2007, he spends the cold months in a heated (room temperature) 100 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank (Rubbermaid No. 4242). This photo shows Cooter when he was about 4-6 months old during the summer of 2001. That's a cherry lying in the moss. It must have been in early July, because that's when the cherry trees have a lot of fruit on them. He looks a little shy, and maybe not quite sure what to make of his new life in captivity. This may have been the first time he basked in bright sunlight. He may have spent his entire life up to this point indoors. Note how bright and ornate his carapace (top side of the shell) pigmentation is.


This was Cooter's first pond in July, 2001. It was hard to find him inside this "huge" enclosure. Note the chicken wire fence around the pond. This was originally to keep the dogs from munching on the water lettuce and fish food. Even though we no longer have the dogs, we kept the fence in place to keep the raccoons and birds out. This pond was brought inside for the winter seasons and placed near a southern facing sliding glass door, so it got some limited sunshine. The pond plants also survived in this condition from October to May.


Exploring the deep, uncharted wilderness of the back yard. Late summer, 2001.


Detail of the original 30 gallon pond later in the summer of 2001. I think the skull belongs to the postman. Where is Cooter? He was lost in this pond when he was a young tike, but the easy life agreed with him and he just kept growing.

As time passed and Cooter became an adult, he outgrew this tub. In July, 2004 he still had enough (albeit limited) room to bask and maneuver under water, but the time to enlarge his habitat had come.

Pond Enlargement Project / July 5 - 17, 2004

Cooter's new pond will be an above-ground 12' x 6' kidney shape. The foundation will be made of 8" x 8" x 16" cinder blocks stacked two high to give a wall height of 16". The liner is 45 mil EPDM rubber and there is a felt underlayment. The sides will be capped off with the larger, flat field stones. The outside wall will have an earth shelf of about 12" high (up to about the middle of the second cinder block) and almost 12" wide. On this earth shelf, we will stack the remainder of the field stones.



Day 1 (July 5, 2004):
The pallet of flat Pennsylvania field stones was delivered on Monday, July 5, 2004. This is where the truck dumped them. You can just make out the pallet sitting vertically behind the pile of stones. Will this be enough stones for the project?



Doing the grunt work. Moving stones from point A to point B.



We stacked them up over here and separated them into two piles. The pile on the right were stones that would make the best cap stones. The other pile will be used on the exterior wall of the pond.



Day 2 (July 6, 2004):
The pallet of cinder blocks arrived Tuesday, July 6, 2004. We only needed about 50 (out of the pallet of 90), but now we have some extras for other projects?



Day 3 (July 10, 2004):
The basic shape has been laid out and the wooden stakes will be used to help level the blocks. We are not digging down, but rather, building up. We had a large pile of dirt in the back yard which was used to build up the foundation where needed.




Here you can see the basic tools. I also used a 25' tape measure to lay out the size of the kidney shape. The larger yellow gizmo is basically a roll of string enclosed in a compartment for blue talc powder. The small yellow thing is a "line level" (or "string level"). This small level gets supported by the string. When the level's air bubble is in the center, snap the string against the wooden stake to create a mark with the blue talc powder. I then used a "Sharpie" marker to make the mark more permanent on the stakes.


The "line level" and string in use. See the level hanging from the string?



Making sure each block is level. Just look at that concentration!



Starting to build up the lower wall (the south side) of the foundation.



The first layer of blocks have been leveled.


Cooter walking around the inside perimeter of his new pond during construction. "Hurry up, I want to go swimming!" It is interesting to see how much of his original pigmentation was reduced as an adult. He went from vivid green to almost black in three years. His plastron (under side of shell) is still true to his "Yellow-bellied slider" name though.


Laying the felt underlayment. We had two pieces of felt. We had to figure out the best way to install the pieces to get them to cover the entire area.


This is another shot of the felt underlayment installation.



This is the 18' x 10' sheet of 45 mil EPDM rubber liner. It was surprisingly heavy.



Filling the pond. This is the time to fix any creases in the liner.


Taking a breather while the pond fills. Even our parakeet, "Victor" got in on the act. I placed some pine branches on top of his cage to help keep him quiet, but when he goes outside, he generally makes a lot of noise.

End of Day 3 (July 10, 2004):
Here is the pond filled, and with the cap stones in place. Tomorrow (Sunday) we will attempt to place the rest of the field stones around the outside edge of the pond. That is, if we are not too stiff.



Day 4 (July 11, 2004):
Here is our star enjoying a bask during the last moments in his original home. In a few short minutes, he will be moved into his new SUPER POND!



Up close and personal: "I'm moving to a better place, you can't touch me!"



A pump for general circulation (to be used later on the waterfall), 10 feet of 1" diameter hose, a ball valve to adjust the flow, and three hose clamps.



A few plants taken from the old pond, a few new stones, and you have an island in the sun. See Cooter swimming on the left.



Last photo of Day 4 (July 11, 2004):
A few more plants added (cattail, water poppies and duckweed from the pond store), some water flow, and some of that "ground cover material to prevent weeds from growing". We wanted to finish the basic setup this weekend, but there comes a time in the day when you just can't lift another stone.

Day 5 (July 17, 2004):
Today, we will finish placing the rocks along the edge of the base of the pond and cover the area near the grass with mulch.

We finished laying the ultimate dosage of stones and mulch by mid afternoon but discovered that we would like about 25 more field stones to complete the south side (not visible in this photo). We will probably go back to the pond store to buy them. See Cooter basking on the island in the center.



This is the view from the west end. Note how shady it is by 14:30. The trees will be pruned back a little bit so that more direct sunlight is available to the pond throughout the afternoon. Also need to run a permanent electric line out there. Right now, it's running off the extension cord (visible in the photo).



Cooter enjoying his new luxury home.

Now that the basic setup has been completed, we need to focus on pruning the trees, installing permanent electric outlets to the pond area, and adding more plants and (possibly) other livestock. Another feature we would like to have is a waterfall. Maybe when we get more stones for the sides, we can also get enough to create the waterfall.

Update: July 24, 2004:

One of Cooter's more awkward basking positions in the new pond, wedging himself between two plants.

Update / August 15, 2004:

Bought what appears to be a male Midland Painted turtle (Chrysemys picta marginata) from "The Fish Place" at 141 Robinson Street, North Tonawanda, NY. This has got to be the best tropical fish store in all of western NY state.



These photos were taken on August 18, 2004. This was one of the first times I was able to grab him from the pond for a photo shoot. He is not relaxed at all. When I go out in the back yard, if he is basking, he darts off the rocks immediately and swims for cover. His name is "Shel" (after Shel Silverstein).

Shel appears to be about 2 years old and has a nice colorfully patterned plastron. It took him a few days to stop hiding at the bottom all the time. I even caught him basking on the rocks with Cooter when I got home this afternoon. Note that this turtle escaped during the summer of 2006 and we never found him.

Update / August 31, 2004:

On the morning of August 31, 2004, I found a small male Midland Painted turtle in the swimming pool. Named him "Audi" for a 2000 Audi that crashed and rolled in the field opposite our house this morning at 02:30.

September 4, 2004:

In the photo from left to right: "Shel" (male Midland Painted - escaped summer 2006), "Camouflage" (female Three-Toed Box), "Audi" (male Midland Painted), "Cooter" (male Yellow-bellied Slider).

Update: July 27, 2008:

On the afternoon of Sunday July 27, 2008 I found a Midland Painted turtle hatchling in the back yard. His tail was quite long, so I suspected he was a male. The carapace diameter was about 45 mm.

Photos of Midland Painted turtle hatchling taken July 28, 2008.

Diet:

  1. Earthworms and/or red worms from bait shop.
  2. Super worms from reptile shop.
  3. Lettuce (from refrigerator).
  4. Repto-Min (commercially available).
  5. Dried shrimp and flies (commercially available).
  6. Cherries (when in season).
  7. Berries (when in season).
  8. Trout Chow (5 mm pellets). Available in small quantities from "The Fish Place" 141 Robinson Street, North Tonawanda, NY 14120.Tel. 716-693-4411 / Jake Mang, Manager.
  9. "SHO-KOI Impact Floating Pellets". The pellets I got measure about 3 mm diameter. Smaller than some fish pellets I have seen (the 5 mm variety) but larger than what they feed trout fry. One pound sells for $5.50 (July, 2004) at Willow Pond Aqua Farms.
  10. Duck weed (obtained from natural local ponds during the summer).

Heat:

  1. Submersible, 250W Ebo-Jäger aquarium heater. The heater is enclosed in a piece of thick black PVC pipe with numerous 10 mm holes drilled in it for circulation. The heater has been successful in keeping the pond at 21° C (70° F) over night throughout July and August. We have had a cool summer, so the night time temperatures have gone down to 15° C (high 50s). I don't know how long this heater will allow the turtles to stay in their summer luxury home. Will report back.

Notes / Links:

  1. For pond supplies and advice, we used Willow Pond Aqua Farms at 3581 Swamp Road in Canandaigua, NY. They have numerous outdoor pond designs to help get the creative juices flowing, and all the supplies, plants and livestock (no turtles though) you could want. They are well staffed, very helpful too. I started out on Saturday, July 3, 2004, by explaining to Jim Kennedy that we wanted a 12' x 6' above-ground kidney shaped pond for a turtle, and he proceeded to sketch a basic wall design for us to follow, as well as advised us on the quantity of pond liner, underlayment material, field stones and cinder blocks we would need. His advice made it much easier to dive into the project. Two weeks later, and the bulk of the work has been completed.
  2. World Chelonian Trust / by Darrell Senneke.
  3. Discuss turtles and tortoises at the WCT's Yahoo Groups! online email community.
  4. Also see TurtleHomes for adopting a turtle and getting information about turtle ponds.
  5. Captive Breeding / Empire of the Turtle / by Eric Holt.
  6. More information about the Yellow-bellied Slider from Eric Holt.
  7. The Turtle Puddle / by Mary Hopson.
  8. A 100 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank (No. 4242) sells for $86 at Country Max. This will be the new heated, indoor pond.
c o n t a c t / h o m e
© Black Sparrow Photography / Jeff Miller
Back Yard Turtle Pond - Established: July 10, 2004