Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I have a couple of baby sliders and am moving to city (chlorinated) water here in a couple of weeks and wondered, what exactly are the effects of clorine on turtles? I know what it does to fish, but as the turtles don't have gills... just wondered. I can treat the water but need to know how sensitive they are to it so I can be prepared.

Also, plan on building these guys a pond and wondered a couple of things, a) if you use plants etc and so on, do you still need a filtration system? b)on wintering over... I'd heard they need mud at the bottom of the pond to burrow in, and that just seemed odd; I didn't think they'd hibernate UNDER the water. Is this really how they do it, and what do I need, besides a min 36" depth to allow them to hibernate sucessfully? I live in the mountains and the pond will freeze over, though snow amounts will vary. I really like these guys and want to make sure I get it (mostly) right when I put the pond in.

Thanks
KC

Turtles are not very sensitive to the chlorine, tap water is usually fine. If you can smell the chorline, or it is not drinkable, then you can let it sit in a bucket overnight, and the chlorine will dissapte. A lot of chlorine can bother turtles eyes, but the water would not be drinkable for humans at that point. You do need a filter of some sort, or you will have to change the water often.

Of course they hibernate under the water, you don't see sleeping turtles all along the banks of ponds in the winter do you?
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thanks! Wondered about that. As for the hibernating, LOL, I just figured they burrowed down in the ground around the pond... silly me.
kC

KC --

To further explain the hibernation thing. They have small blood vessels in their nostrils and cloaca (rectum -booty-bum whatever) that take in enough oxygen from the water to sustain them through the winter. They do like to burrow down but will hibernate flat bottomed as well. Some folks like to let leaves and debris build up for them to burrow into (messy come Spring cleanup) others provide underwater cave areas and also tubs with sand in submerged for them to dig into.)

You will need to keep the ice open in the Winter. They have inexpensive little heater units will keep a hole open in the ice. The reason you do this is to let all the toxic gases from the rotting stuff debris in the pond escape from the water. Otherwise your turtles could possible get poisoned from these gases. You can also install a bubbling system to help keep oxygen in the water and keep the water open all year.

As for warm weather set up yes the 30-36 inches is about minimum safe depth (also beneficially to keep predators from getting your turtles. You must also keep your pond area enclosed so that the turtles cannot escape and wander off.

You do need biological as well as mechanical filtration and should also have a UV sterilizing unit for your pond. Also it will still be a good a idea to do 25% water changes regularly when you clean out your filters. It is still a bit of work to have a turtle pond but so rewarding to see your animals out in a big space thriving and growing. And still easier than keeping them indoors when they start getting huge.

Good luck
Steve

With a good filtration system and plants in the pond you don't need the UV sterilizer or to do water changes. Set it up right and you will find that a pond is a low maintance item.
Turtle Forum

Wendy -

Having everything set up properly does indeed reduce the amount of work on your pond BUT UV sterilizers are still valuable as the do more than just rid a pond of free floating algae. They also help reduce the spread of waterborn diseases (bacterial and fungal). Water changes in a balanced pond are still a good idea. Merely topping off a pond when it starts getting low due to evaporation is not a good idea as the concentration of certain elements in the water builds up (like nitrates for example} and topping off will not reduce them in the water.
It's as frequent a deal as say doing it in a fishtank but IMHO it can only help keep your pond running at optimal efficiency.

Of course once the pond has fully cycled and if filtration is adequate and the mechanical filtration media is cleaned regularly the pond is easier to maintain.

OOPS meant to say it is NOT as frequent a deal as water changes on a fishtank

Thats why I mentioned to keep plants in the water they will remove the nitrates.
If you are talking about a small pond like a 100-150 gallons water changes could be done, but in larger ponds unless you really overcrowd it with fish it is not going be a problem.
Turtle forum