PICS - spring pond flora & fauna

[frog girl]

This first one is just to give you a general sense of the plants & layout. It is from an odd perspective but shows the whole pond except the bog garden on the far right. The circular area in the front is a sitting area for cooling off in the summer.

This one is of my sliders enjoying the sun. Thing is they do so much damage to my lilies & other aquatic plants (eat them mostly) that we are thinking of trading them in for some native mud turtles.

Finally we have a large population of ornate box turtles which really seem to like to have a dip right after they awake from hibernation. This female is just exiting the pond after a swim.

I am still working on capturing all the birds that use the pond. Hopefully I will be able to continue into the summer & establish a more comprehensive gallery. For now this will have to do for an update.

 

[Guest]

Beautiful! Brilliant! Stunning! I Love it!

Yes, red-eared slider turtles are a nuisance. I'm about 200 yards from the community pond, and they sometimes migrate to my pond, so I have to catch them and throw them back in "their" pond. I still don't know how they get through my fence!?!?!?!
The community pond also has some Huge Snapping Turtles, we're talking almost the size of a trash can lid!!! 8O Luckily none of those have decided to migrate my way, (yet).

 

[zacdl]

Nice, you need a UV or something for the algae....

I like the two deep ends, Ive seen it done before, and have always liked it.

I love that pond, just need to get rid of some algea.

 

[frog girl]

Corvus, Flattery will get you everywhere (well at least most places). If you ever have a slider slip in the only way to safely pick them up is by the tail. And make sure you hold them away from your body while you are carrying them cause they have super long necks as I am sure you know. I bet the sliders just dig under your fence.


Zacdl, I know I have a lot of algae but its better than having cloudy water & a UV sterilizer would do almost nothing against the string algae anyway. I just remove it on a regular basis & the sliders eat a bunch too. I guess I'm more interested in having an ecosystem than a picture perfect pond. I sort of like the wild look it helps me forget that I live in the middle of the city. If I was being nostalgic I would say it reminds me of the slime ball fights I used to have with my brother at the river. Plus it always gives me something to throw if the neighbors get too obnoxious. The algae calms down a lot after all the lily pads cover the surface but I always have some.

 

[Guest]

If you ever have a slider slip in the only way to safely pick them up is by the tail. And make sure you hold them away from your body while you are carrying them cause they have super long necks as I am sure you know.

I assume you meant Snappers, right? Yes they are mean and aggro, take yer finger off if they can!

The sliders just pull into their shell, at least the ones in MD do!

 

[frog girl]

Sorry I just mistyped I did mean the snappers.