| What kind of turtle are we talking about? If it is a larger species like the common red-eared slider of the pet trade it could outgrow the enclosure in time. You could create an enclosure with a large water portion along with a few basking areas made from driftwood anchored using expanding foam. I have seen entire underwater reef systems made from foam so it should hold up well. Depending on the shape of the driftwood you could attach epiphytes like Bromeliads, Tillandsias, or Orchids as long as they are out of reach of the turtle. Turtles can be destructive and will trample plants. Any loose soil etc. will also get dragged into the water if you use it so it may be better to just go for the swamp look with driftwood/logs and skip land areas. Aquatic plants will most likely get uprooted but if the turtle is small and you have appropriate lighting you could try some sturdy ones and see what happens. Floating plants like duckweed would look really nice, as would some of the larger floating plants. I think the main issue would be the fact that the turtle would outgrow the enclosure unless you built it large from the start. Another concern is having a powerful filtration system to cope with the waste from the turtle. I think you could design a great enclosure for a turtle if you took a little time to think about the possible problems that could occur and how to avoid them. Try doing a Google search for "turtle tanks" and look at photos as well as articles to see if others have made similar enclosures. Most people keep turtles in simplistic enclosures but there is no reason why you can't make yours a little habitat of its own. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Turtle tank filtration
| I found another good link, check out the basic turtle care and the section on water quality and filtration. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Turtle care
| I think the best turtle species for naturalistic enclosures would be the bottom walking species like musk turtles, stinkpots, or mud turtles. Many of these turtles stay small and they do not require a basking area so you can dedicate the upper portion of the tank to plants as well as keeping floating plants. Take a look at this link for images and sources for these turtles. Make sure to do your homework as these turtles have different requirements than red eared sliders and are not as easy to keep. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Turtles
