Turtle Habitat for Baby Turtles | Homemade Turtle Garden

Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines also known as Chelonia. Turtles are the only vertebrates with a complete shell. It is formed mainly of bone, the upper part is the domed carapace, while the underside is the flatter plastron.

Turtles have appeared in myths and folktales around the world. Some terrestrial and freshwater species are widely kept as pets. Turtles have been hunted for their meat, for use in traditional medicine and for their carapaces.

Turtle habitats around the world are being destroyed. As a result of these pressures, many species are threatened with extinction. Turtles species are very rare and that's why, many species are at much higher risk of extinction than many other vertebrates.

So, its our responsibility to keep those species safe and propagate as much as can. Also turtles loves natural habitat than a normal cabinet to live in. They also need space to swim or to walk around in order to grow better and stay healthier. Hence in this Instructable I will be showing how to make a Turtle Habitat for baby turtles or a homemade Turtle Garden.

As we know most of our pet turtles are semi-aquatic, means they can live both in Ground and Water. Like sliders need water to swim around as well, a dry area for basking.

Hence we will build a habitat where they can get both the environment. A pond to swim and a garden area for babies to move around and stay much healthier.

So, if you are keeping a turtle please keep it in a good natural environment, so that it can remain stress free and in this way, their growth will also be natural. You can read more about raising pet turtles here.

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Though our habitat is only suitable for baby turtles only. As your turtle gets younger, shift it to a bigger habitat if possible or build a bigger one right away. Also I kept my habitat in outdoor so did not used any lights for them as natural sunlight is provided. Only I will use a heating lamp for the winter season. But if you keep it indoor make sure to use UVA and UVB lights in the basking area.

There are much more to know and learn about keeping turtles, but I will not mention those points here. Please search the internet, I'm sure you will find many tips about keeping turtles. Also visit wikipedia page for turtle to know more.

This step totally depends on you, how you want the design to be and available materials for your habitat, but mostly use natural items.

Tools and Materials

• A wooden box
• Some sheet plastic
• Plywood
• Piece of aluminium sheet
• Gardening tools
• Nails
• Hammer
• Wood glue (fevicol)
• Paint

For Habitat

• Garden Soil
• Sand
• Tree Barks
• Local small Plants
• Land Moss
• Aqua plants (floating)
• Bamboo

For Decoration

• Driftwood
• Sea Shells
• Stones or pebels

The making very easy to follow or you can use your own setup. So, I will not explain more and will show by pictures.

Some ready made parts are shown here directly. Because they are easy to make and you can easily make one you if see them or you can use an alternate. So, instead the final product is shown here and you can made them by following any way.

So let's build it now.

It is the main container that will be the homeland of our baby turtles. You can choose any box of your size. It can be a wooden or a plastic box as well.

I built one with some scrap wood and plywood that I had in my home. So, I wont give a detail on how to build a box. Next I used some wood primer and then colored the box with some Green and Yellow colors.

Lastly I covered the inside with hard sheet plastic, so that it gets water proofed and no dust may come out from any gap.

Next I built a mini pond for my babies to swim around. It is made of plywood, like a basin shape and covered with sheet plastic again. So its ready and will hold water perfectly.

Now, place it on any side, I preferred to keep it around in the middle, so that on each side there will be land.

For making the land I used normal garden soil and some hilly red soil. I mixed them both and prepared my final mixture.

Next, I filled the container with soil and sand. Here I filled the right side completely with garden soil, because most of our vegetation will be on this side. Also create a uneven ground like its on nature.

On left side I mostly filled with sand and a little soil, because this side will be turtle's hiding and resting area and less vegetation will be there.

I build the hiding spot or the resting area with a piece of plywood and bamboo. Divide the bamboo in two pieces and glue on the edges of the plywood piece.

Then simply place the home to the corner of our habitat and smoothly cover the sides with sand.

Let's make our home a bit decorative so that it would look like natural. For this I used some tree barks and glued them to the top of our home with the help of some wood glue (fevicol).

Now its look pretty natural.

Next, spray some water to the system. It will settle down the soil and the sand, also It will save us from dust while working.

Now, I collected and prepared some small sized local plants and local land mosses. You can use any kind of plant that are not harmful to the turtles, as they might eat the leaves if they are accessible.

Its best that you might do some research on plants or you can visit your local nursery to get some tips and plants from them.

Next, is the time for planting. The more you plant it will be better for the habitat to look more natural. Also try to keep all kind of natural stuffs in your habitat.

In this way turtle will feel it like their natural home. So I planted my plants randomly everywhere.

Then I built a fencing from bamboo sticks and placed as shown. It will create a barrier and when plants will grow, they will not come out of the fencing.

And it will partially guard my plants and prevent them from eating. This way it will look natural and also keep my plants safe.

Lastly spray some water so that plant roots get settled in soil.

Its best practice to place some random stuffs like driftwood or stones in the habitat as found in nature. I used a couple old tree branch as driftwood and placed on both the sides.

Then I took all my mosses that I collected and spread them all over the places. On both the sides but not overflown them.

It really enhances the look of my habitat now and its looking completely natural. I also added some moss to the turtle's resting area to provide a soft and natural bed experience.

Lastly spray some water so that moss get settled in soil and remember to water regularly, because they require wet environment to thrive.

Here I built a mini garden bridge for my pool. So that our baby turtles can easily go from his resting area to the garden area.

Also I wanted to look the bridge more natural, So, I used some piece of tree barks to build the bridge and supported with a piece of aluminium sheet.

I bent the sheet like a curve pool and fixed the pieces of tree barks to the top with the help of wood glue (fevicol). Then I placed the bridge over the pond and smooth the endings with soil.

We are almost done making our habitat. Lastly I added water to the pond and sprayed some water throughout the system. It cleans my habitat and gives a fresh look and help settle my plants and mosses.

I also added some sea shells as decorative purposes and some floating aqua plants (dwarf water lettuce) to the pond.

So, this is the final look of our habitat. It is complete now and looks beautiful.

After settling plants, moss and the soil now is the time for releasing the baby turtle to the habitat.

Keep in mind, turtles are sensitive, so it may take a few days to accept any new environment as their home. You may notice your turtle is less moving or staying at one place most of the time.

But in few days they will explore all the areas and will grant it as their new home and will enjoy as before.

So, here are few pics of my baby enjoying its new home.

Turtle are a wonderful creature that will only give you love and patience. Turtles are faced with adversity from the moment they are born. Their instincts are second to none and their determination is fierce.

There are many things that we can learn from a turtle, like

• Always follow your instinct
• Swim with the current
• Travel at your own pace
• Enjoy your time alone
• Slow and steady always wins the race
• Never give up hope
• Keep a hard shell
• Come up for air
• Never forget where you came from

So, its our responsibility to save those little creature from the age of extinction and hold back what going to lost. Love them, care them are grow with them.

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So, this is the end of my Instructable.

Hope you all have enjoyed it and learnt something from this instructable.

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