How to make a turtle raft

Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 13:28:55 -0400
From: Savannah Savvy
Subject: Pond Turtle Raft

I’ve had several request about how to make a turtle raft. I can’t take credit for it as I found the instructions on a YouTube video, a father showing his son how to make the raft and place it in the pond.

Its basically plywood with board insulation attached to make it float and a nylon rope tied to a concrete or stone to keep it from floating away. Most importantly it must be in a sunny spot. Ours is just off the bank as I didn’t have gaiters to wade in and  place it further out. Our pond is very close to the house so I picked a sunny spot where I can see it from the porch. They took a few weeks to accept it and nowit  is full every sunny day. They didn’t use in this winter. Do they hibernate in the cold?

Wood ducks also sleep on it, i guess they feel safe from predators out on the raft but the Great Blue Heron isn’t that thrilled with ducks in his territory.