Size matters...with turtles!
 

In my backyard pond...I built a feeding platform for the turtles. Turtles can't digest food unless they are in the water. The feed station has a plexi-glass roof over it to keep the food dry. When they are hungry..they climb the ramp, pick-up the pellets and freeze-dried shrimp and take it back to the pond to digest.
The biggest turtle (female) has learned to situate herself to block the others from the food dish! She wants it all to herself. (see first pic)
The only thing that gets her out of the way is when she needs to get in the water to digest the food.....then there is a mad scramble by the other turtles to grab some food.
Fun to watch on a nice sunny day.
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The pond plants are just now starting to grow. Will post some pics when they are looking good.

That's really nice! Seems to be missing just one thing ;)...

Nope...it's fine the way it is. SmileWavy

my two just eat the koi food and the odd dead fish plus pond bugs

^^^ I don't know why...but mine won't touch the food pellets once they have been rained on.
The pellets have to be dry...hence the covering I placed over the food dish.
The fish eat anything I throw in...or anything the turtles excrete....yum!

That's pretty neat.
Where do the turtles go in the winter?

Looks like a pretty good fun pond setup.

install a 2n feed stn.

see if the 2nd largest turtle blocks it

I have a plastic stock tank that the fish and turtles live in my garage.
They go dormant and won't even eat until moved back outside.
It takes one day of sunlight and they are back to normal.

Thanks...very enjoyable on sunny days. Pics don't show but the deck surrounds the pond on three sides.

I could...but it's fun watching them 'battle it out' :)

Cool. I like the turtles for some reason. I move quite a few turtles out of the road in the summer.

I like turtles.

Me too - they taste just like chicken!

That's a magnificent setup you have, Steve. Thanks for taking care of those precious ones!

I may have a new COVID project now...

Super cool.

Danica is a great pet. Me Box Turtle. Nice setup!

Excellent. Love a pond.

Very cool pond! We had box turtles in the yard and red ear turtles in the brook growing up. Used to sell them at tag sales.

Must be relaxing to sit and watch on a nice slow day.

And of course

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Jon Reptilian, the Turtle King!

Nice pond!

That turtle habitat is so cool. I don't know anyone else who does that.
Last thing I need is another hobby, but I would love to add turtles to our goldfish pond. It's 3 feet deep and the fish overwinter in it no problem. Would turtles overwinter in 3 feet of water?

My smallest pond has a breach in a side berm so there's not much water in it...in the 2-3' range. About three years ago I was walking around it during the middle of winter on a warmer day....saw a big shadowy movement....very sluggish. A big azz snapper was stirring around. He could have easily chosen to winter in one of my full, deeper ponds, but there he was. He was only mebbe 18"...not a whopper though ;).

Thanks..the water in mine is two feet deep and after the winter snows fill it in...springtime it is one big 2 ft thick slab of ice. The reason being...I built the pond on top of my deck...so there is no ground heat. It's six sided with 6ft 2X4's lying flat stacked every other one with a 3/4 inch hole drilled in both ends. I inserted a 3/4" dowel in all 6 of the joints. Lined it with a rubber liner....and filled it with water. Also capped the top with a 1X6 to hide the liner.
When it is empty, with the liner out...it can be folded or reshaped to be like a bathtub shape or whatever wanted.

If it didn't entirely freeze..and there was mud at the bottom, the turtles would prob over-winter.
If I had Snappers...I'd definitely try it!:)

This is a pic of how I joined the 2X4's. Every corner has a dowel going from top to bottom. No nails or screws used. The black is the liner.
It's about 10 years old...needs a re-finish. Mildew is showing.

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That's impressive Steve....very cool! Oh yeah....my ponds don't freeze much except mebbe a light cover of ice on the smaller one when it's brutal. A nice flowing spring feeds them all one into another...

Ethel reclaiming her position...size matters!
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Ethel says.."Hi..it's been a good day!"
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Gomer sez HAY!

The sliders won't let me get near them anymore :D....

Sliders know that Snappers are nothing but trouble.
They know to stay out of the bad side of town.:)

You learn real fast to hold them with their head toward you, tail away and way out at arms length or they will pee on you.

It might be more of a release of all the water they retain while living underwater.
They prob don't 'hold their pee' while underwater.

Turtles are cool. I have a Box turtle and always wondered what would happen if he got flipped over. Well one day he was climbing a huge tree root and fell over. All he did was stick his head way out and used it to flip himself back. Took all of a few seconds. I'm not sure if this is something they all do, but I've seen him do it a few times and it seems to be his "go to" move.

^^^ Where did you manage to get a box turtle?
Around here..they are almost never seen.
They aren't an aquatic turtle like my sliders? Is a pond required?

Pretty cool big one is smart enough to block the food.

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^^^ roast beef on a hard roll
funny..I'll bet it was crunchy!

I love his stupid ten minute jokes.

The turtle was given to me and no they aren't aquatic but do really like to spend lots of time in a small water bowl. Something a few inches deep at most. If one happened to get into a pond I imagine it would just sink to the bottom and drown.

You basically need a large area with a good substrate, suitable shade/cover area and a place for him to basically soak where he can easily keep his head above water. They are pretty clever and can escape fairly easily too. I imagine you wouldn't see any up in the Mid-West, but I'm in Nor-Cal.

found a painted turtle in the middle of the road today on the bike ride hes about the size of a quarter so took him home and put him in our pond he seems to like it swimming around with all the tadpoles. There was a a bigger one squished about 3" round he didnt make it. Theres a few big ponds up my road so they come out every year and the frogs too. One year there was millions of them everywhere tiny ones like 1/4" long.

OK..I see. One thing I've learned from having turtles is that they are very, very persistent.
My biggest female, when needing to lay eggs, will spend every minute of the day trying to dig a nesting area. They will not quit until they have succeeded.
I have tried (and failed) to hatch the eggs. Built a nesting area filled with sand...she layed a couple eggs...they never hatched.
I think it's mostly because of the wrong climate.

If there is a way out...he will escape.
I've done the same..tried to bring a turtle in from the wild. They spend every minute of the day trying to escape. The only ones that don't are those that have hatched in captivity. Good luck.