Habitat - Outdoor :: Turtle leaving pond for swimming pool

Ponds and other outdoor enclosures.

Post Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 8:11 pm   Turtle leaving pond for swimming pool

Hello! I'm new to this website. My husband and I just bought a house in Los Angeles, and the house came with a pond with three red eared sliders. (It also came with two desert tortoises but that's another story!) We've never had turtles before. When we got here the pond was filthy, opaque black water and the previous owner who had only been there a year and barely lived there left no instructions - the turtles and pond were from a previous owner. We bought turtle pellets and have been feeding them according to head size every few days and the turtles would bask on the edge but never stray from the pond. Last week we had the pond cleaned, a new pump with UV installed, and our old pump moved to the smaller reservoir that had been totally still before. The water is clear and it looks much better. However, since we had it cleaned, we keep finding one of the turtles at the bottom of the nearby swimming pool. Just today we got him out with a net, put him back in the pond and 30 minutes later he was back in the pool. We're not even sure how he's getting there (my husband is currently sitting outside waiting for it to happen again) since it seems like he would have to take a few small drops, and almost definitely would not be able to get back out of the pool let alone back up and into the pond. Wondering why the turtle keeps doing this. Does he miss the cover of dirty water? We just bought a piece of water lettuce today to test out in the pond. We do have a new basking platform so we could lower the water level so they can't get out of the pond but could still bask, but I feel bad taking away their ability to bask all along the edge of the pond. Also, are we supposed to put them somewhere else in the winter? We're in LA. We know absolutely nothing about keeping turtles except what we've read on the web this week.
Also, a few owners ago was the family that landscaped the yard, built the pool and pond and you can tell they love turtles because there is a turtle design in the pool.

There's a photo below but here is a link to more photos of the pond the way it is now and also the turtle in the pool. Any feedback would be much appreciated!

http://imgur.com/a/QGpNg

Thank you!
-Rebsy
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rebsy
 
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Post Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 7:47 am   Re: Turtle leaving pond for swimming pool

Hi Rebsy, welcome to the forum! Tough to say what the problem is. Is it the female who keeps leaving?
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steve
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Post Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 1:18 pm   Re: Turtle leaving pond for swimming pool

Hi Steve, Thanks for your reply. I don't know the sex of any of the turtles. We've only lived here a few weeks, the turtles came with the house and we've never had turtles before! They are shy and dive back into the pond whenever someone approaches but I will try to get closer photos of them so I can figure out the sex of the pool-swimmer. I'll keep you posted!
rebsy
 
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Post Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 5:05 pm   Re: Turtle leaving pond for swimming pool

From the pics, it's possible 2 are male and one is female. The 2nd pic in the album probably show them mating. If she's the one leaving, she might be leaving because she is harassed or even gravid.
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Post Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 5:19 pm   Re: Turtle leaving pond for swimming pool

Hi Steve, from what I've seen I don't think they're mating. The one on top is much tinier and likes to climb on top of either of the two bigger ones and just sit on the shell in the middle, not by the rear, I think it might be their child. The pond repair people said the smaller one may have been born there...do babies sit on their parents' shells or is he practicing to mate?
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Post Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 9:31 pm   Re: Turtle leaving pond for swimming pool

He's pretty much in the mating position. His claws are long enough to clearly show he's an able male. RES don't form family relationships and there would have been multiple offspring since they lay multiple eggs at the same time.
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