I have had experience with a couple of the issues you mentioned.

We built our turtle enclosure around our porch, knowing that a garter snake lived under the porch. He still lives there. I don't know if'n he can get out of the enclosure(it's roofed), but he shows up now and then, I think he may even be eating the turtle food! I have been told they will go right into the pond to catch goldfish but haven't personally witnessed this.

As for boxies drowning themselves in the pond, I can tell you they are smarter than they look! When we put our first boxie in the enclosure, I made sure there were a couple of rock islands, in case she fell in, she could hold on. I checked frequently throught out the day, and sure enough, she fell in and I found her clinging to an island! I took her out, and over the next 2 years she has never fallen in again! We added another boxie, and exactly the same scenario happened!! lol

Your ideas sound really cool! I would advise one caution however. We did not start off w/ a big enclosure w/ a pond and boxies and..etc. I started off w/ ONE baby snapper. A year later added a baby painted. Then moved them into bigger ponds, the added one boxie..well, do you see the pattern? Just make sure you don't bite off more than you can chew!
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
0.1.0 Australian shepard
2.2.0 chickens
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

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• Creating an outdoor enclosed habitat -questions questions ... - Malakai, Sat Dec 3 08:04:40 2005
• RE: Creating an outdoor enclosed habitat -questions questions ... - Katrina, Mon Dec 5 09:23:42 2005
• RE: Creating an outdoor enclosed habitat -questions questions ... - Malakai, Mon Dec 5 10:06:03 2005
• RE: Creating an outdoor enclosed habitat -questions questions ... - golfdiva, Mon Dec 5 18:12:57 2005
• RE: Creating an outdoor enclosed habitat -questions questions ... - honuman, Mon Dec 5 18:22:18 2005