Hungry Turtle

[rubyduby]

Well we survived Ian but did not have power for nine days...There was about a foot of debris in the pond, mostly leaves that I have picked out every day for about a week with my pond pliers (ugh! exhausting) I hooked up my solar aerator and that worked for as long as there was light but shut off some time after dusk each night...put my bioballs in the pond next to the aerator...Today my pond is crystal clear. Fish and turtle seem fine. My turtle has a veracious appetite though...He not only eats the live meal worms I give him and the pieces of cooked chicken, the parsley and my lily leaves, but he also is as fast as the fish at eating their food when I throw it in. As soon as he sees me come outside he swims to greet me looking for more food! He acts like he is starving...I really love this turtle...I will be so sad when he goes off looking for a mate...I will just have to rescue another if he does...

 

[SarahT]

9 days without power is a long time, and a foot of debris is a lot of work. Do you think the solar aerator made a difference?
And, does the turtle have a name?

 

[rubyduby]

9 days without power is a long time, and a foot of debris is a lot of work. Do you think the solar aerator made a difference?
And, does the turtle have a name?

Yes, it IS a long time and it makes you REALLY appreciate power when it comes back on! The solar aerator helped immensely but it did turn off sometime after dusk every night which is when the fish need it the most. It was all I had for about 4 days when my daughter's boyfriend brought over a generator and hooked it up to the pump...But then we could not find any gas anywhere for awhile...When we finally did we had to turn the generator off for twelve hours a night due to the proximity of neighbors I was glad that I had only goldfish and not any big koi in there..I would have been worried even more...I should name the turtle "Glutton" because he is ALWAYS hungry but I have named him Percy, thank you for asking

 

[Tula]

Good to hear from you ! We once had no power for 9 days and it seemed an eternity. Considerate of you to turn off your generator at night for your neighbors. I'm worried if we have a power outage during the summer our new whole house generator will bother the next door neighbor. It's tests itself each week running for about five minutes and it's loud. The neighbors have one lady who lives on the upper story and keeps her window facing us open year round.

Happy to hear Percy and fish are well

 

[SarahT]

Good to hear from you ! We once had no power for 9 days and it seemed an eternity. Considerate of you to turn off your generator at night for your neighbors. I'm worried if we have a power outage during the summer our new whole house generator will bother the next door neighbor. It's tests itself each week running for about five minutes and it's loud. The neighbors have one lady who lives on the upper story and keeps her window facing us open year round.

Happy to hear Percy and fish are well

When you're out of power, they're probably out of power. An extension cord over to them sometimes smooths over some generator noise complaints.

 

[SarahT]

Yes, it IS a long time and it makes you REALLY appreciate power when it comes back on! The solar aerator helped immensely but it did turn off sometime after dusk every night which is when the fish need it the most. It was all I had for about 4 days when my daughter's boyfriend brought over a generator and hooked it up to the pump...But then we could not find any gas anywhere for awhile...When we finally did we had to turn the generator off for twelve hours a night due to the proximity of neighbors I was glad that I had only goldfish and not any big koi in there..I would have been worried even more...I should name the turtle "Glutton" because he is ALWAYS hungry but I have named him Percy, thank you for asking

So, is that Percy (Sledge), singing, "When a Turtle loves a woman"?
I'm considering upgrading to a solar aerator with a battery backup that will keep going into the night. Kind of you to turn off the generator at night.

 

[j.w]

@rubyduby So nice to hear you made it through w/help from your family and happy to hear your fish and Percy all made it through the storm!

 

[rubyduby]

Good to hear from you ! We once had no power for 9 days and it seemed an eternity. Considerate of you to turn off your generator at night for your neighbors. I'm worried if we have a power outage during the summer our new whole house generator will bother the next door neighbor. It's tests itself each week running for about five minutes and it's loud. The neighbors have one lady who lives on the upper story and keeps her window facing us open year round.

Happy to hear Percy and fish are well

Thank you Tula...I had a whole house generator in Virginia and yes, they are loud...I spent 10K on a Briggs and Stratton and never had a cause to use it in the two years I lived there...I was on 3 acres though so neighbors were not a concern in that department...Mine came on once a week for 20 minutes...Here I only have about 8,000 square feet

 

[rubyduby]

So, is that Percy (Sledge), singing, "When a Turtle loves a woman"?
I'm considering upgrading to a solar aerator with a battery backup that will keep going into the night. Kind of you to turn off the generator at night.

Please let me know which aerator you get SarahT...I will be in the market for the same

 

[rubyduby]

@rubyduby So nice to hear you made it through w/help from your family and happy to hear your fish and Percy all made it through the storm!

Thank you J.W. !

 

[Lisak1]

When the power goes out in our neighborhood (which happens about four times a year and usually lasts less than a few hours) you can hear the generators fire up, one after another all around us, so I worry less about bothering anyone else with ours!

9 days... holy cow. That's crazy! Like Little House on the Prairie time over there!

 

[Tula]

An interesting subject......"generator etiquette" - LOL !