How can I make my pond hospitable for a red eared slider?

[bagsmom]

@Mmathis
I could have sent this as a message, but I thought some other folks might benefit from the information. Turtlemommy, when you mentioned that your expertise is with turtles of the southeast, it reminded me that I have this question.
Someone I work with rescued a tiny red eared slider from the middle of the road a while back. A year? Two? I am not sure. But their mom has kept it as a pet for quite a while. The daughter wants to re-home it and no one responded to her offers. I said I have a pond on the way - and if she was ok with taking her chances with it outside, he could move into my yard.
We live in an area with lots of shallow streams, near a national park. There is a creek that runs right through the middle of our block. Tons of wild green space all around. So if Mr. Turtle wanted to leave us, he has plenty of habitat.
My hope would be that he likes the pond well enough to stay. The pond is in full sun from noon to about 6 pm. There will be lots of big flat rocks to bask on and a couple of branches in the water to climb out on. I am starting the pond with a school of rosy red minnows. I think turtles like to eat small fish like that. It is a nature pond, so I don't mind the food chain happening.
What other things might I consider to make the place hospitable?
Thanks!

 

[JRS]

Adult sliders like to eat. A lot of plant material, they will even work on cattails if nothing else. Thus, I would not put my favorite water lily in there.
They are not very good at catching fish in a large body of water so your rosies should do ok unless the turtle gets lucky. They will eat almost anything they can catch.
If startled while basking, they like to dive and hide until the coast is clear. When tame, they will soon come up to see if you have brought them food. Without an enclosure, I wonder if it will stay once the breeding urge hits. Sounds like you have a nice setup though.

 

[TimsPond]

I have 2 eastern painted turtles and 2 map turtles in my pond. They could easily climb out and wonder away but they have stayed in the pond. I try to feed them several times a week. The painted turtles will swim up to the side of the pond when they see me and take food from my hand, the map turtles will swim toward the side, but stay on the bottom and wait for the food to sink to them.

I think one important thing is to provide a basking area in the middle of the pond, where they will feel more safe, than basking on the sides.

 

[bagsmom]

Thanks! Do they need any sandy areas to dig in? Since they are native to my area, I am assuming they can survive the winter outdoors - but I don't know where they do that. Do they brumate? It will be fun to see if the turtle sticks around or decides to venture off.

 

[Mmathis]

Hey @bagsmom , I guess I never did respond. Sorry about that! Since mine are box turtles, their habitat requirements are very different from those of aquatic turtles, such as sliders. All turtles are expert climbers…..and diggers, so if you want them to stick around, you have to make the area around the pond….turtle escape-proof. I think (don’t know….just think) that once you provide a hospitable environment for them, and they are happy, even if they do leave, they will likely come back. My boxies like to dig, so I have deep soft, composted soil for them (they also like to eat bugs and worms that inhabit the soil — they are omnivores). Mine 100% brumate (winter) in the soil and leaf litter. I think that aquatics brumate in the muddy water??? Mine also do a kind of summer - brumation when it gets really hot. They will burrow and go into a period where they don’t eat as much.

 

[Jhn]

Thanks! Do they need any sandy areas to dig in? Since they are native to my area, I am assuming they can survive the winter outdoors - but I don't know where they do that. Do they brumate? It will be fun to see if the turtle sticks around or decides to venture off.

They will brumate underwater, under logs and in between rocks/ caves, skimmer housing, really anywhere they feel secure. They don’t necessarily need a soft bottom area in the pond. Although I do have one in my pond don’t think my turtles use it.

Unfortunately, it is a crap shoot if it will stay, Ime most do not, without a fence or barrier of some sort. Of course where I live there are plenty of natural habitats, close by for them.

 

[Mgessert]

How did I not know this word??? You never know what you’ll learn on this forum.

History and Etymology for brumation​

Latin brūma "winter solstice, midwinter" + (hibern)ation
NOTE: Term introduced by the American zoologist Wilbur W. Mayhew (born 1920) in "Hibernation in the Horned Lizard Phrynosoma m'calli," Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, vol. 16, no. 1 (September, 1965), pp. 116: " … it seems advisable to have one term to designate winter dormancy in heterotherms and another for such [in] ectotherms. Hibernation has been used to denote this condition in heterotherms particularly, so it seems best to retain this term for that group of vertebrates. Therefore, I propose the terms brumation (from bruma, L. winter) to indicate winter dormancy in ectothermic vertebrates that demonstrate physiological changes which are independent of body temperature."