Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all, we have two RES a male Leo 6 inches and a female Donna 10 inches. They are living together in a 55 gal tank until we get the pond finished. Donna has developed the urge to dig and has begun escaping from the tank on a regular basis. This was no problem until we moved to a house with tile floor.....now carpeted around the tank.

It would appear that Donna is ready to lay her eggs (she laid 20 or so in two clutches last year). I let her loose in the backyard a few days ago to see if she would dig like she has done in past years. She seemed to like a few spots but then gave up...and discovered the pool. I am going to get a container with dirt today for her and see if that works.

My problem/question is this: My kids like to have the turtles loose in the backyard but now we have a pool. Both Leo and Donna have found that by turning sideways they can get through the pool fencing and are making a beeline for the pool every time we let them loose. Is there any problem with allowing the turtles to swim in the pool for short periods of time?

Thanks

I can't honestly say if its good for them... one time I put my turtles in a large container (while I cleaned their tank) and after I was done, the water of the container smelled like chlorine. Both of the turtles weren't very active and were at the bottom of the container with their eyes closed (a white eyelid over their eyes). It seems that maybe the container or the water had salt/chlorine and it made them inactive to the point where they slept in a sunny day.

So that's not good... maybe it was the chlorine water that went into their eyes that they didn't like. I suspect if you let them swim in the pool water that a similar thing will happen to them but I don't know for sure. What I do know is that the water in the container had to be a lot less strong then your pool water. So maybe you can experiment and try since they won't die from it, but if they act the way my turtles did, I'd say take them out.

While I don't reccomnd doing it, unless the chlorine levels are really high it won't harm them, high chlorine levels will irritate their eyes.