another Newbie
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In a message dated 3/30/2004 3:39:05 AM Pacific Standard Time, elfomatic@… writes: Ditto Erin! I’m Dimitri and I’ve been breeding turtles for 30 years. I’ve keep only two diamondbacks before and never seriously worked with them. I now have the outdoor space and desire so I’m going to dedicated two ponds and a decent size pen to their propagation. In that vein, permit me to ask the list’s thoughts on three things. First, ponds. I use the large kiddy pools, half buried in the ground, but raised so that the appearance is completely buried. Even in the hot summer sun, the water temperature is 68-70 and provides a cool retreat. My thought is to place two of these pools side-by-side, with the ground in between as a basking island. One pond will be brackish water, the other fresh water for drinking. Both will have a crushed coral substrate. My intention is to provide for the freshwater needs of recently wild caught turtles that in nature simply swim upstream until the water is fresh, drink and then return to bay and coastal brackish waters. I know members of this group are divided on this issue of brackish versus fresh water, but has there been discussion of having both available in this fashion? Another thought about having a brackish water pond is what plants will live in it? I like to use aquatic plants to provide shade and privacy (and food for some species), but what plants do well in brackish water? My third concern is for adequate laying area and proper substrate. For most aquatics a mixture of course river sand and commercial potting soil works well. It’s easy to dig in, easy to retrieve from and the turtles sense that it is the right place to lay. Thinking that diamondbacks need no terra firma other than laying area, I intend to make most of the area around the ponds of the above mixture. The websites I have visited have not really dealt with any of these issue well. I would greatly appreciate the thoughts and criticisms of this list on my thoughts above. Dimitri
Welcome Demitri! Wow, sounds like you___ll be setting up diamondback heaven in your backyard. Very enviable. As far as plants that can be adapted to brackish water conditions try the following page: http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide.php they have a link to a list of plants you may find suitable. The list I believe is with aquariums in mind and therefore they may not handle the temperature or salinity range that may accompany and outdoor pond. Plus if you could have some plants on the edges that grow out of the water (not true aquatic plants) then it would be nice to know which ones to choose. Might make it look a little more natural. I just put a question to the pond forum on what plants would be suitable and how to adapt them to the brackish water. Hope we hear something! Michelle McGuffin ICQ: 277784176 —–Original Message—– From: DGGrekoff@… [mailto:DGGrekoff@…] Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 9:30 AM To: diamondbackterrapins@yahoogroups.com Subject: [diamondbackterrapins] another Newbie In a message dated 3/30/2004 3:39:05 AM Pacific Standard Time, elfomatic@… writes: Ditto Erin! I’m Dimitri and I’ve been breeding turtles for 30 years. I’ve keep only two diamondbacks before and never seriously worked with them. I now have the outdoor space and desire so I’m going to dedicated two ponds and a decent size pen to their propagation. In that vein, permit me to ask the list’s thoughts on three things. First, ponds. I use the large kiddy pools, half buried in the ground, but raised so that the appearance is completely buried. Even in the hot summer sun, the water temperature is 68-70 and provides a cool retreat. My thought is to place two of these pools side-by-side, with the ground in between as a basking island. One pond will be brackish water, the other fresh water for drinking. Both will have a crushed coral substrate. My intention is to provide for the freshwater needs of recently wild caught turtles that in nature simply swim upstream until the water is fresh, drink and then return to bay and coastal brackish waters. I know members of this group are divided on this issue of brackish versus fresh water, but has there been discussion of having both available in this fashion? Another thought about having a brackish water pond is what plants will live in it? I like to use aquatic plants to provide shade and privacy (and food for some species), but what plants do well in brackish water? My third concern is for adequate laying area and proper substrate. For most aquatics a mixture of course river sand and commercial potting soil works well. It’s easy to dig in, easy to retrieve from and the turtles sense that it is the right place to lay. Thinking that diamondbacks need no terra firma other than laying area, I intend to make most of the area around the ponds of the above mixture. The websites I have visited have not really dealt with any of these issue well. I would greatly appreciate the thoughts and criticisms of this list on my thoughts above. Dimitri
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