I just got my computer working again, so here are some pics!
When we bought our house back in 2006, we were so excited that we found one with a pool. Newlyweds (sort of), no kids (yet), and we thought we'd be in that pool every day and night and all through the ridiculous Vegas summers.
From 2006 to 2010, we went in it a total of six times, including the spa dips. And we were paying over $100 a month for it, what with the power, the chemicals, and the extra chemicals, and the super duper extra harsh chemicals because it always turned green. Always. So we drained it.
This summer, our AC broke (omg), and my sister loaned us a swamp cooler. As we were installing it in the back door, she looked over at the drained pool with the green puddle in the middle from our latest rainstorm and she said, "Why don't you turn that into a pond for Timmy?"
A lot of research later, here we are.
Here's the reason for this pond:
This is in the beginning, when I had just filled it and found someone selling water hyacinths on Craigslist:
The sticks have thermometers on them so I could test the temp at different depths and different areas to get a good idea of if it was turtle-safe out there. The depth is about 32 inches at the deepest in the center, and on the sides it's a little under 12 inches. So far the highest water temp I've recorded was 87 and that's when it was 110+ outside.
Then I added a shade to it, which dropped the temperature on that side by about five degrees:
I had put some goldfish in earlier to help keep the mosquito population down, and all but one survived. And they got huge. The fish that survived Timmy's dinnertime also were released outside (they survived Turtle Island, they got to move on to the bonus round of Pool Pond Survivor). When we moved Timmy from inside to outside, I tethered his basking dock to one of the poles of the shade:
He loves it. It's where all the turtles bask, really; it's their favorite place. I need to either get another one or two of those or find something similar.
I had been keeping some plants in the spa area so that nobody would eat them (having gotten four more rescue turtles in the meantime), but some were getting so big that I felt it was ok to move them out into the pool. Here is my first modest plant area, with a large water mint and three water mint cuttings that had sprouted, and one of the brick basking areas:
One of the plecos hides in between the bricks there. I can't find the second one but I know he's around somewhere. We named them Butt and Cheek. And then I kind of accidentally bought another one for the spa, so we then had Accidental Pleco.
It seemed the turtles really wanted someplace to hide, so I disassembled the two pet carriers I had in the garage and flipped the bottoms upside-down to make little hiding places. They all cram into the two, so perhaps I should aim to get more:
A guy from the county came out with a bucket of 20-30 mosquito fish at my request, free of charge. Those things breed like nobody's business, so now we have about 400, at a rough count, and new babies are coming out every day. I've even watched them give birth. It's crazy.
The orange ring is the fish feeding ring - I try to keep their food within that hoop so that it trains them somewhat and also keeps it from all floating into the plants.
It was raining today when I took this picture, but you can kind of see the new reeds I found yesterday on clearance at a local home improvement store. I also just sunk my yellow water irises I got from a friend. I have plans for that little step over on the side - I have three banana plants that I'm caring for after the repotting went awry; I'm going to just have them on the side and not in the water, but I'll have a small, weak water pump giving them a slow trickle of nutrient-rich fish water on a timer so they always get fed. Or I'll just bucket them water every morning and evening since I'm out there anyway.
And, finally, bonus pics of my turtles.
Not Original Timmy, and possibly the female that has laid eggs before (she was one of three rescues from the same house so I'm not too clear on who is who). I don't have shots of all of them but I plan to take pictures at their next health check (which is likely next week when my sister can come over and help me).
Here she is again with the male she came with:
One thing I didn't get a shot of yet (because I'm not done with it) is the wading pool I'm putting at the shaded end. I have to rearrange the bricks and re-sink it better. It'll be fish-proof and only for the turtles to get into, because the dang fish eat all the turtle food. Anything I put into the pond is immediately fish food. I know the turtles eat my plants, and I'm sure they've caught a fish or three, and I'm not worried they're starving, but I do want to make sure they get what they need. It'll also keep the bottom of the pool cleaner, which is a bonus.
So there you go.
Extra bonus - the goldfish eating out of my hand:
Oh! Double-Extra Bonus:
BABY TIMMY (hatched in January 2012)