Hi. My mature female RES currently lives in a 110 gal. stock tank in our basement. Her shell is about 12" long, and she is about 10 years old. I am getting ready to build an above ground 4' x 8' x 3' outdoor pond out of landscape timbers with a pond liner. It will sit right outside the basement window on a ground level concrete patio that is near her current (indoor) tank. I want to develop a way to connect the tank and the pond so that she can move in and outside at will during the warmer months. RES are good climbers, and like to roam and explore. This will also give her access to outside soil (nesting box) so that she can lay eggs when she feels the need. I would want a way to be able to close the window and keep her indoors during the winter. The runway could either be removed for the winter, or it could allow the window or some kind of sliding shutter to close through it. Does anybody have any thoughts on how to construct such a runway? The outdoor part of her pond is in a kind of a courtyard surrounded by buildings so there are very few predators beyond cats, birds, and I guess mice/rats since no animal can gain access to the area except by being brought in by a human or passing through one of the neighborhood houses. Still, it needs to seal the window tightly so that nobody uninvited comes into the basement (neighborhood cats, etc) and so that she is protected from the few predators there are. I'd welcome any ideas anybody has for simple, inexpensive DIY strategies.
Ideas for connecting indoor and outdoor pond
- Thread starter Flowergarden129
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