Habitat - Outdoor :: The Bale Vale Tale

[apondfortimmy]

Now it's still two things leaking and a pulled muscle in my back. I gave up and ordered a pre-made filtration system with a self-cleaner button thing. It'll look better anyway and right now I can barely move my right arm. I set up just the sludge filters last night that were mostly kinda working to clear the pond some and keep it decent enough and had planned on fixing it all today but ... it feels like someone stabbed me in the back with a pole. So I'm not moving anything to fix anything.

Aargh. And I still have to build the fence. Crap.

[cutepanda86]

When you say you have a stabbing pain in your back, is it centrally located? How is that spine feeling? I herniated a disk in my lower back, that's why I ask. Large does of ibuprofen and if that doesn't help, heat. If neither help, you'd better go to the doctor.

As far as turtle stuff, I give you credit for trying. I would have been lost.

[apondfortimmy]

I have updates.

Pond Filter: done. It took several extension cords and lots of tricky figuring things out to get it to work, but I finally picked up a GFCI extension cord at $homeimprovementstore and now it works. The algae got a little overgrown while it didn't work, but it's making progress on getting rid of that too.

Back Pain: gone.

Pond Stuff: pictures!

The fish pond part looks a little scraggly because I'm using it as a plant nursery until they get big enough to put elsewhere. The fish fertilizer is amazing and things grow.


This is the turtle area now:



And this is Turtle Island:

(The turtles have tried eating the silk plants but found they're not food so mostly have left them alone.)

And the waterfalls:


Hello turtles!


And my fence is kind of falling down; I have to go re-seat the bamboo poles a little deeper. A strong wind we had a few weeks ago loosened them and ... well, it's kind of started to collapse from there.


So there you have it. I've gotten it nice enough to put my umbrella up in the back and my little table to have a sitting area. I'll do that later, though, because right now I have to finish the garage.

[cutepanda86]

Very impressive. Thanks for sharing! Glad to hear your back pain is gone.

[dumbork14]

Thanks for the update!

[steve]

Great job! Very creative work

[apondfortimmy]

It sure is nice to have a place to sit in the morning when I'm done feeding the chickens and ducks.

TURTLE STACK (sorta)


And a bonus picture of me with a chicken on my shoulder. This is Zelda. She does this.

[cutepanda86]

Look at that!

[steve]

Looks cool! Do the ducks and chickens get along?

[apondfortimmy]

So hey guys, I know it's been a while since I've updated but a lot has been going on and I've been trying to stay off the computer as much as I can and actually get things done around the house.

The ducks got reloaded to my mother-in-law's farm because they kept getting into the turtle pond despite my fencing. And let me tell you, ducks WRECK ponds. I had to clean the filter every time because they POOP EVERYWHERE. MASSIVELY. POOP. My poor turtles.

Anyway, the chickens are great - I have eight of them now. I have Zelda, Ocarina, Pet-ty, Chickie, Bickie, Oz, Hunt, and Peck. They stay out of the turtle pond but do drink out of the pond waterfall. And eat my pond plants.

I didn't see three or four of the outside turtles for a while once it got a little colder and I got concerned. I had two heaters in the pond (one of the good ones that do 300 gallons and one that did 150 gallons) but there was a cold snap coming so I picked up two more 300 gallon heaters and put those in. At three of the 300 gallon heaters set to 95, the water stayed warm enough (depending on the depth and place, 65-80ish) that all the "lost" turtles showed their shells again. Everyone's been basking and swimming up for food. My neighbors let their yard get overgrown so everyone got fresh dandelion greens this week.

Here's some other news - I am planning on moving to Utah soon. I put in a bid on a house with five acres of land and I'm just waiting for the bank (short-sale) to get back to me. The problem with moving there is that it gets really, really cold in the winter. Snow and ice for months. My idea was to put up a heated greenhouse (I was going to put one up anyway to put the fish in to start my aquaponic garden) and keep the turtles in their pond in there. I wanted a part that could open on the top so in the summertime I could let natural sunlight in for the turtles. Either that or a heated shed with lights. I'm not entirely sure what to do but thankfully I'll be going there during the summer so I'll have time to prepare.

Just an update on things. I have to get back to packing because last week I got the "Intent to Foreclose" letter on the house I'm currently living in, and I might as well be prepared for anything. I have to buy a couple more plastic bins for turtle transport and one large one for chicken transport, but I have a couple of months.

I'm rambling because it's been a while. I guess that's it.

[devilduck]

Good luck on the move! Hope everything works out for you and your family.

[TortsNTurtles]

Keep us posted. You will have to take pictures and post as you go. I would love to live in Utah. It is beautiful!!!

[cutepanda86]

Good luck with everything! Sounds like you have some great ideas for winter setup. I know here near the Great Lakes, winter is not a time for little turtles to be outside unless they have a toasty environment.

[ljapa]

I suspect with the resourcefulness you've shown in this thread, you and your turtles will be fine. Best of luck and let us see pics.

I know here near the Great Lakes, winter is not a time for little turtles to be outside unless they have a toasty environment.

Heck, I'm south of the tip of Lake Michigan, and it's not a time for me to be outdoors!

[cutepanda86]

Heck, I'm south of the tip of Lake Michigan, and it's not a time for me to be outdoors!

I reckon it isn't. Sheldon keeps looking at me like - turn the heat up boss. The temps reached a whopping 5 today. Wind chill was -10.