Nesting Box

[AgentOrange]

Serious Problem

I have many as do most of us.
Why waste good beer thinking on that when you can use it to think on silly problems?

I have some Beck's Beer on the porch and am working my brain and the internet as to turtles laying eggs.

Mature turtles need a place to nest. Mine might be old enough this year and lack that.
How do I add a nesting area to my 4000 gal pond? You guys are smarter than me, so think on it.

Here is some info:
--- Turtles can not have a way to wander from the pond.
--- Critters must not have a way to raid the nest.

After 3 bottles of Beck's, my options seem to be add a floating island with dirt or build a box to the side of the pond they can access.

Easy is always best, but I want the best option.

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Building an external nest box using something like a cement mixing tray looks like an option. I like that as it would give the turtles more area to roam. Water turtles don't much care as to land, but an extra option on a day they are feeling frisky might be fun.




I would need to build a stand, add a wire cage around it, build a entry/exit ramp.
I like this option, but it is a lot of planning and work.

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Add a floating island is an option. I have a really nice large one, they use to bask. It was very expensive, and I can't find a place that sells these now. Too bad as I would buy another.



Smaller 20" round ones are available. These are $70, but I have a few not used for a few years. They are for plants. The deal with water plants is they grow like crazy, and the weight soon tilts these. As a small body of dirt for the turtles to dig in -- it might work. It don't look very good and is small, but ???

[AgentOrange]

Weather looks great for fishing tomorrow with low wind. My quest will be to catch my biggest Largemouth ever, or maybe this year's first Striper as I know they are headed up the river.

This has been a good Spring in the UpState with ample rain, lake is full and clear.

Today added a place for my garden pond turtles to lay eggs. I believe a couple of them are old enough. I may enjoy my yard critters more than the lake critters.

[Marty Gass]

How will you keep critters from getting to that. After reading the first post all I could think of was to make a cage top that the turtles could walk under but low enough that most critters could not get under it. Hope this works. I have stumbled across a nest of hatching snapping turtles digging out had heading for the stream area. It was pretty cool to watch.

[AgentOrange]

How will you keep critters from getting to that. After reading the first post all I could think of was to make a cage top that the turtles could walk under but low enough that most critters could not get under it. Hope this works. I have stumbled across a nest of hatching snapping turtles digging out had heading for the stream area. It was pretty cool to watch.

It is an island -- so kinda safe.
It is not working. Rain cant drain and the tub fills up.

The only nest I have seen was jogging trails at Huntington Beach. This was not much of a trail. Mom was digging so I watched and went back the next day. I am easily amused.

[Marty Gass]

Is there a way to make it out of screen or something the sand will not get through but will drain and just raise it just off the top or the pond. I guess it would have to drain a good bit but maybe not. Sand on the side of a creek does not drain that fast so????? It looks like a very interesting project. It would be really cool to have the turtles lay eggs and then hatch. I would have to have a time lapse camera in place. I have a digital video camera with remote control that I have not used in years. I was thinking of setting it up to video the deer. My iPhone takes photos in the dark and my new iPad Pro has an even better camera. The photos look like 4k or better. I think the camera and processor is actually better than 4k. I took some photos of the beach last week and they are like looking out a window or actually standing there.