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I already have an existing pond out back and wish to make it a turtle friendly habitat. I have read that the chicken wire may or may not be a good idea for a border fence to keep the turtle from wandering off in search of a mate or just for a little stroll. The pond in question has a 3-5 inch lip and borders the house and our patio. The edge of the pond is about two and a half feet to three feet by about 4 feet. There is plenty of room for the turtle to swim and bask. The pond itself is about 200 or so gallons and has an existing fish population. We are not that attached to the fish, that is to say I am not, although they are about 2 inches in length and have lots of hiding places.

taking pictures would definitely help. but, you want to make sure that they can't get out of the pond because if they do, they can dig under a fence.

A turtle would climb a chicken wire fence like a ladder. They are amazing climbers. The lip of the pond - I assume you mean it overhangs the surface of the water - should keep your turtle in but check it (watch him closely for awhile) to be sure he can't climb out. We thought we had built a turtle safe pond but it took Spot maybe 15 minutes to climb out.

agreed. I had turtle in a deep rubbermaid container (atleast 2 1/2 feet tall) while i was drydocking her for shell rot and she managed to climb vertically up a towel hanging over the side and got out. Luckily she was cornered when she got out and couldn't walk around the room. But yes turtles are veryyy good climbers so make sure there is nothing that they can get a grip on to climb

I had to build our pond with tall walls above the water line and a 45° angle inverted brick caps extending inward and over the pond. They'd have to be able to scale walls upside down to escape. hehe