Ditto.

I use driftwood to naturally lower ph in my outdoor enclosures. With driftwood, you have to make certain to pick well aged pieces. Also,they release tannins very slowly and work most effectively when the water is left to stand for long periods...like months. I've never heard warnings such as those stated by JG. However, his reputation preceeds him and I will now be looking into it!

I use two main methods for adding tannins to the water. I'm not so concerned about pH. I honestly don't even measure it. This is not very scientific, but I try to aim for a water color that looks like weak sweet tea (yes, I'm in the South). I'll try to measure it for you. I'm curious also. Anyway, I fill pillow cases with milled peat from Lowes and let them sit in rain barrels full of water for about a week. These are for the outdoor enclosures. For the indoor enclosures, I have found it much easier just to add one mL of blackwater extract (I use Tetra) to one gallon of water and sit it for 24 hours to let the Cl evaporate.

My past experiences (and my friends') with spotted turtles has led me to one very strong conclusion...they do absolutely the best when kept outdoors in artificially created bogs. They certainly can thrive indoors, but it takes much more work, and problems often arise. Spotteds are very cold tolerant, and would have no problems (unless they were freshly plucked from a North Fl bog) wintering in Ohio.

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