i just found this community, and i really needed some help with my turtles and their habitat. English is not my first language though, so please, bare with me
I have two aquatic turtles, they are six years old now, and they are the size of an open hand. I can't keep them in a tank anymore, cause they soil the water way too fast, and the filters all break down. So i'm thinking of building a little pond outside.
I live in a place with pretty warm weather (13ºC in the winter), but i'm worried abot their hibernation, since i've kept them in heated water. Do they do it underwater? is there anything i need to take care of so they hibernate well?
i'm also concerned about the pond. we have a structure already built in stone (it has dirt and plants now) and the pond will be, at the most, 4 meters by 1 meter, ans one meter deep (13feet by 3 feet, and 3 feet deep - i think). We're plannig on doing it with liner covered with some round rocks. the thing is, we weren't planning on having a filter and a pump, because they are usually very expensive, just changing the water from time to time. Would that be ok, or is a pump really necessary? I also read somewhere that some plants act a natural filters...would that be enough for the amount of.. well... crap our turtles give us? would the plants survive changing the water?
as you can see, not only i write a lot, but i'm a total newbie on this
could you please give me some advice?