Can Turtles Survive In Pool Water?
It’s no wonder how joyful it will be to spend time in a swimming pool with your beloved turtle. Many people find having fun with their turtles in the pool enthralling. But you may wonder if you can leave your turtle there, or can turtles survive in pool water?
Turtles find it challenging to survive in pool water since most swimming pools contain chlorinated water. Besides chlorine, pool water also features ammonia, nitrates, and other elements that can harm your pet.
So, how harmful can pool water be for turtles? Are there any benefits of keeping turtles in a pool? Can you make a habitable pool for turtles? We have answered all these questions in this content. Let’s read them.
Read more about turtles blog:
Are Pool Water Conditions Suitable for Turtles? What Happens If You Put Your Turtle in a Pool?
No, pool water isn’t appropriate for turtles to survive. As you know, pool water contains chlorine, which can cause turtles to suffer from severe health conditions. So, it’s better to keep these reptiles away from pool water.
FYI, suppose you allow your pet to swim in pool water, and it somehow drinks the chlorinated water. In that case, it can suffer from diseases like diarrhea, weight loss, lethargy, weakness, irritability, tremors, and even can be paralyzed.
Not only that, but if you don’t treat the turtle on time, it can die. Hence, you shouldn’t keep your turtle in pool water, and if you still wanna let it swim in pool water, we recommend you dechlorinate the water or don’t keep the turtle in the pool for a prolonged period.
What Are Some Advantages of Keeping Turtles in Pool Water?
However, a turtle can have some benefits just by staying in a pool. Below we have described how a turtle can benefit from safe pool water. Let’s read.
01. Receiving Natural Light & Nutrients
Being a turtle owner, you might know that turtles need to bask to stay warm and comfy. So, by introducing the pool to your turtle, you let it enjoy sunlight, a fresh environment, and open space.
Coming in contact with natural light, turtles get warmth and necessary vitamins with the help of the sun, and these elements turtles usually don’t receive while basking under UVB lights.
02. Get to Breathe in Fresh Air
Many turtles, especially those stuck in Aquariums, don’t get to breathe in the fresh air. Some even receive stale air filled with dust.
Hence, when you bring your turtle outside and place it in the pool, it will get fresh air, which is akin to what it gets in the wild.
03. Get Plenty of Space
Sometimes, turtles feel claustrophobia due to staying in a confined place like a turtle tank for a long time. And their irrational fear reaches its peak if they are kept in a small aquarium.
That said, you can help your turtles escape claustrophobia by bringing them outside and placing them in a suitable pool. This way, you will let them enjoy the benefits of open space.
What Are the Disadvantages of Keeping Turtles in Pool Water?
Although keeping turtles in pool water offers some benefits, these reptiles also deal with plenty of difficulties. From intolerable weather to predators, they may also encounter many hassles.
01. Exposed to Bad Weather
Turtles living in tank environments for a prolonged period can’t handle bad weather when brought outside. They don’t know how to regulate their body temperature when exposed to rain or other inclement weather.
Consequently, these creatures face challenges to thrive and may suffer from severe health conditions.
02. Become Vulnerable to Predators
Though indoor turtles don’t face predators often, outdoor turtles do. When you bring your pet outside and place it in a pool, there is a high chance it can encounter other predatory animals.
For example, if you pet a dog, it may attack your turtle buddy. No matter how gentle your dog is, you can’t ignore the odds of attacking your turtle.
03. Other People Can Pick Your Turtle
When you allow your pet turtle to swim in pool water and leave it unattended for a while, your neighbors or other people may come by to play with it.
Though they have good intentions, they might hurt the turtle, as only some know how to handle it with care.
04. Your Turtle Can Be Harmful to Other People
You know turtles can carry salmonella that can spread to the pool when you put your turtle in the pool water.
Even though your turtle looks clean, it can carry harmful bacteria, causing other people in the pool to suffer from diseases.
05. Turtles Get Stuck in Pool Filters
If you own a baby turtle and leave it in a large pool featuring massive filters, there is a high chance your pet can be sucked up, injured, or even killed by those filters.
Hence, it’s better not to put your pet turtles in such a pool, and even if you do, ensure you constantly keep an eye on them.
How Do I Keep Turtles Out of My Pool?
As you know the disadvantages of putting turtles in a pool, what can you do to keep them away from pool water? Let’s explore all the tactics described below.
01. Build a Fence Around Your Pool
Building a fence around your pool is the most effective way to keep turtles out of your swimming pool. Try to make a one-foot-high fence featuring small gaps.
It will prevent your turtles from climbing up the fence or going through the fence and falling into the pool.
02. Use Plants to Deter Your Pet
Alongside building a fence around your pool, you can plant a wall of hedges to make a barrier.
You can also plant rose bushes to make your poolside area look attractive, besides preventing turtles from accessing the pool water.
03. Cover Your Swimming Pool
You can cover your pool using a pool cover to protect your beloved turtles from pool water. It’s another effective method to try out.
What to Do If You Find a Turtle in Your Pool or Your Turtle Fall into the Pool?
You can follow several methods to rescue the turtle from the pool and bring it back to its comfy habitat. Below we have revealed what you can perform to save a turtle from the pool.
01. Use a Bucket
The easiest way to get a turtle out of pool water is to scoop it out or pick it up out of your pool and place it in a bucket or box. Later, transfer it to the aquarium or release it into the wild.
01. Create a Ramp for the Turtle
The next method is to use a piece of wood, plastic, or other convenient material to create a ramp to help the turtle get out of the pool.
You can make the ramp by placing the material near the turtle. Once you have created a ramp, the turtle will come out of the pool.
02. Call Pest Control
Calling pest control is the last option you can apply if the turtle isn’t your pet and you feel uncomfortable dealing with it.
If you get an aggressive turtle like a snapping turtle in the pool, you can call a professional to help the turtle come out of the pool.
Hence, these are some significant techniques you can follow to rescue a turtle from your swimming pool.
However, if you still want to keep your turtle in the pool water, you may read the following section concerning how to make a habitable turtle pool.
How to Make a Turtle Pool: A Definitive Guide
Based on the avid petters’ experience, kiddie pools are the best option for turtles. Hence, we also recommend you choose a fairly large plastic-made kiddie pool. You can also use a horse trough instead of utilizing a kiddie pool.
After deciding which enclosure you are gonna use, it’s time to prepare your pool. Let’s get started with that.
01. Adding Accessories
You know turtles need an adequate environment to thrive, so you need to make the pool environment comfortable for these species. To do that, you must add a couple of rocks to the pool to allow your pet to bask. Another accessory you must place over a basking area is a UV-B bulb.
We recommend attaching the UV-B bulb at least seven inches above the pool’s rim. Another additional element you should add to the pool is sand. If you own a softshell turtle, you need to place sand in the basking area to let your turtle bask appropriately.
Lastly, try to keep the pool under shade if the outside temperature is blazing hot, and perform the opposite when the temperature is too cold outside.
02. Maintaining Water Condition
So, you have prepared your turtle pool; now it’s time to pour dechlorinated water into the pool. You may read this blog post if you don’t know how to dechlorinate and remineralize the water. After adding water to the pool, you should install a lightweight waterfall filter.
Although there are different kinds of waterfall filters, we suggest you stick with the best one and shouldn’t compromise the filter’s quality for its price. However, this filter will keep your pool water in good condition.
03. Cleaning
Cleaning your pool is essential; you must perform this chore at least once a week. We recommend changing the water every week and pouring fresh, dechlorinated water.
You can change the pool water using buckets and applying the scooping-up technique. Since the pool water isn’t deep enough, you don’t need to siphon it out.
However, you should clear areas filled with debris and waste while scooping up water. And if you want to complete the cleaning job fast, you shouldn’t feed your pet in the pool.
Finally, you need to clean out the waterfall filter. So, this is what you should follow to make and maintain a pool for turtles.
Final Words
So, it’s evident that turtles can survive in pool water if it is dechlorinated and free from contaminants. It will happily thrive if you can offer your turtle a safe pool environment. But things can get out of hand if you ignore the monitoring and maintenance jobs.
That’s all for this content. We hope you found the answer you were looking for. You may stay connected with us on Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest to get updates on more exciting content and to enrich your knowledge.
Image Source: Canva.com/photos
Information Sources:
- https://pethelpful.com/reptiles-amphibians/Outdoor-Turtle-Setup
- https://www.thesprucepets.com/aquatic-turtles-and-outdoor-ponds-1238361
