Turtle Pond

[TurtleHermit]

Hi,

Im building a turtle pond and it is nearly finished. I was wondering what kind of plants would be good for around the pond (around not in) that will not pose a threat to my turtle. And I want to use mongo grass also, would this be alright to use (it is not poisonous or anything?).

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Herc]

the best thing to use i believe is native grasses, there are many varities available just depends on your taste and likes.

[expansa1]

Hi,

For a nice, natural look you can use a selection of native ferns (like Bird's nest and Blechnum), a tussock forming plant called Lomandra (it gets to about 1m), some Juncus (reed like), a plant called hairy frogmouth (gets nice yellow flower spikes) and Swamp lillies (Crinum). Just to name a few. Mondo grass looks effective and although we have never used it, we have been told some turtle people grow it underwater in their tanks, so it must be pretty safe.

Another nice plant is the Native Violet (Viola hederacea) which will grow in and out of the water and is completely edible. It grows as a low ground cover and will fill in bare, damp areas.

The best bet is to ask your Nursery staff to look into each plants' toxicity before you buy any plants, alternatively if you look at Australian 'Bush Foods' books they have many plants that are edible and therfore not toxic.

Best of luck,

Mrs Expansa1

[instar]

Hello Gabriell, nice to see you here! (hope I spelt your name right

[Reptilegirl]

g'day Turtle Hermit
your a couple of steps ahead of me... i've just recently started building my turtle pond.. and one of my next questions was going to be what kind of plants to put in it.. both in and around..So what kinda plants are you putting in the pond? also what kinda turtle do you have.. i'm hopefully getting some saw shelled turtles.

expansa do you know of any good books or website about turtles(both wild and captive bred)? Cheers
Megz

[Already_Gone]

I am not expansa but I can answer your questions. Follow the links in his sig to Aust turts and frogs and carettochelys.com, they are both good turtle websites. Mondo grass does go well as an aquatic plant. We have used it for fish in the past and had no probs. You could always use ribbon weed in the pond (Val. sp.) and your turts will eat it. If you are getting hatchy turts meg, they are best raised indoors for the first couple of years.

There are a few good books around, but some of them are out of print and are incredibly expensive. There is a good literature link the carrettochelys.com page but if you can get your hands on:
Cann, J. 1998 Australian Freshwater Turtles, Beaumont Publishing, Singapore.
Cann, J. 1978 Tortoises of Australia, Angus and Robertson, London.
Goode, J. 1967 Freshwater tortoises of Australia and New Guinea, Landsdowne Press, Melbourne.

The last 2 books there are pretty sc**** these days, and can be quite expensive to buy but worth a look. It really depends what kind of book you want.

[Reptilegirl]

cheers AG

If you are getting hatchy turts meg, they are best raised indoors for the first couple of years.

yep.. i'm hoping to get some adults... but also have a tank to use if need be. thanks again.
Megz

[TurtleHermit]

instar, was your post directed at me? cause my name is Justin not Gabrielle, but they are pronounced simarly so I can see the mix up .

ReptileGirl. I have no idea what Im going to put in and around it yet but these posts have given me alot to think about so I thank you all for your help. To answer your other questions I have a macquarie short necked turtle. The only books I have is Steve Wilson's 'guide to reptiles of Australia' although it does not have a huge deal of info on keeping turtles but it is still a great book.
I also have a small book called 'keeping Short-necked turtles' by Darren Green. You should be able to get that one at most pet stores.

Thx to everyone for the advice. I will post some pctures up in the next week. It is almost done.

[Dicco]

'Mrs Expansa' = Gabriell