Hello, turtle fans.  I have a treat for you this week: a description of a great turtle habitat created by a turtle enthusiast from East Texas.  Becca Anderson, author of The Gathering Place, has a couple of three-toed box turtles who love to swim. 

In my articles on setting up turtle habitats, I've always taken a "better-safe-than-sorry" approach to giving turtles access to a fish pond. Then I received two wonderfully detailed emails from Becca who has constructed a true swimmer's paradise for her three-toed box turtles, Scarlett and Rhett. 

She includes plenty of non-skid footing for them to clamber out of the water.  In addition, she feeds them on an island which takes care of the ever-present ant problem. This is turtle-keeping at its best:  channeling one's creativity into constructing more and more ingenious features to their habitat and then watching them explore. The article that follows reproduces her two emails with her permission for your reading pleasure.
– K. at OrnateBirdGarden.com

Food placed on turtle island deters ants! Photo by Becca Anderson.

“Hi! I enjoyed browsing your site this evening. I have two three-toed box turtles in an enclosure I constructed that is about 9 feet by 18 feet for the two of them (they are only about 4 years old, so not fully grown.) I was glad to see I've done almost everything right, according to your tips.
 
Walls are smooth, buried 6 inches in the ground, 18 inches extends above the ground.
 
Lots of plants to hide in, and a mound to dig in. I'm constructing other hiding places.
 
I mostly leave them alone so they can enjoy themselves without me hovering.
 
Changing water daily, feeding every other day. Just last summer they started to like fruits and veggies, not just worms and grubs. Bananas... yum!!!
 
One thing I found interesting in your notes was to keep the water shallow so they won't drown. My two actually LOVE to swim!!!  I even put in a pool for them last year, complete with goldfish (who swim after them and tickle their toes) and water plants (love to hide in those!) and an island in the middle of the pool where they can haul out, sun themselves, etc. I also fed them out on the island, since otherwise ants will mob the food before you can say "three toes!" Ants don't swim, so the food ...”
(click to read the rest of Build an Outdoor Habitat for Three-Toed Box Turtles Who Love to Swim)

Turtle enthusiasts, if you have a habitat design you’d like to share, feel free to drop me an email at