the turtle diaries: caring for turtles

Turtle care?  For two red eared slider turtles, relatively little.



Jade and Ruby are fed once a day, during the summer months, with dry floating turtle sticks.  In the winter they don't eat.






On sunny days, they bask on the stones in their pond, so that their body temperature is high enough to aid digestion.  The sunshine also helps keep their shells healthy.

Their pond is cleaned out once a fortnight or more frequently, depending on fast the algae grow.  The water is bailed out and dumped on the trees, shrubs and flowerbeds in the garden.  Jade and Ruby don't need to be moved while this is being done, and although tempted to let them run around the garden, we've been advised that they move more quickly than we might think, so we're playing it safe.  The pond is then filled by hose - that's the pleasant part!  In this ongoing heat and lack of rain, it needs to be topped up every few days.

As for tender loving care, there aren't opportunities for bonding, touchy-feely conversations.  Apparently they don't care who is feeding them, have no interest in interacting.  At first we were disappointed, but in fact there is enough to do when looking after the home, garden and dog.

The challenging part of turtle care, for me, is the raising and lowering of the pond lid.  Early on, I realised that the twisting action involved would knacker my back.  Consequently my partner, a lover of all things DIY and welcoming challenge, has devised a winch, similar to a pulley.  Sadly, he has had to return to the UK in time for the September conference season.  Once our son returns to uni, I'll therefore be able to work the pond lid myself.

Why does the pond need to be covered overnight?  Several years ago our landlady lost two turtles to raccoons at night.  More recently she managed to rescue one of her turtles - in the middle of the night, looking out of her bedroom, she saw two racoons hauling the turtle over the garden fence.  She rushed out, hit one of the raccoons on the head.  Although in response it bit her, she managed to save the turtle.


Jane