How to prevent a turtle from escaping a pond

[snortz21]

Hi all,

I'm building a ~500g backyard pond this summer and I will be housing my red-eared slider turtle in there. For those of you with turtles in your backyard pond, how do you contain them within your pond so that they can't readily escape out of the vicinity of the pond?

Let me know. And if you don't have a turtle let me know what you think would be a good way to contain a turtle!

Thanks,
Sam

 

[Mmathis]

Hi! I have box turtles, but even though they aren’t aquatic, they still require fresh water...and are escape artists extraordinair!

I can’t give you much advice for RES’s, but keep in mind that turtles are climbers AND diggers! Whatever you come up with, keep that in mind.

For example, if you do a perimeter fence, make a nice deep footing under the fencing. I usually line under my fences with standard cinder block, but we have hard clay soil — not as easy for them to dig through. If you have what I call “normal” soil (loose), you may have to make the footing deeper. I like my fencing/walls to be about 18” minimum tall — just enough that I can step over (I’m short ).

They can climb things like chain link or wire mesh, so I’ve used cinder block as walls, as well as board fencing. Boxies can climb out via a corner, so for that I do something like have a lip or overhang. They can also climb on stacked rock.

Whatever you come up with, please share it with us!

 

[Stephen Noble]

Hi Sam, I keep my Red Ear Sliders (RES) indoors now but here is what I would do from past experience:
1. Make your 500-gallon pond circular with vertical sides (no slope),
2. Take flagstone and place it entirely around the perimeter and have it overlap the side of the pond a couple of inches. You want to create an overhang.
3. Only partially fill the pond leaving about 4-inches from the water's surface to pond's top.
4. Make a good sized turtle island in the middle of the pond.
5. Fence the pond as Mmathis suggested.
My experience with RES is they will eventually escape or someone will let them out when you aren't home. Sometimes they will try to escape to avoid a bully so keep that in mind. a 500-gallon pond in my opinion should have no more than two male RES. Don't mix the sexes unless you are willing to deal with a real mess. Ask if you are curious.
Check with your wildlife department also to see if RES are native to your area. If not, I would seriously reconsider keeping them outside to avoid non-native release and possible violations. Non-native release is awful and devastating to the environment. Keep in mind, they will probably escape.

 

[Lin]

I had a Wood Turtle visit my pond awhile back and I accidently filled in the opening under the fence where he came through. For days he went back and forth, back and forth along the fencing before I realized he wanted to get back to his real home. I opened the fence up again and within an hour he was gone. The fencing is only on the backside of my pond area and he never tried to go to the frontside to leave and that is all open. He stayed strictly along the fence till he could get out the way he came in.

 

[Lin]

I had a Wood Turtle visit my pond awhile back and I accidently filled in the opening under the fence where he came through. For days he went back and forth, back and forth along the fencing before I realized he wanted to get back to his real home. I opened the fence up again and within an hour he was gone. The fencing is only on the backside of my pond area and he never tried to go to the frontside to leave and that is all open. He stayed strictly along the fence till he could get out the way he came in.