Thanks Ken, I haven't been on here in a few days.....

At 68 degrees Spotted Turtles are typically active possibly showing courtship signs or even feeding in some cases. This all depends on the amount of light they are subjected to. If it's darker they will remain inactive to a certain extent.

Spotted Turtles like most North American emydids have a biological clock which tells them that it's time for Autumn. Even if they are failry warm something inside is letting them know times are changing. I have a Florida Box Turtle that stops feeding right around now every year and always starts back up in a few months. So keep all of this in mind.

You need to ckeck the weight of the turtles individually and also see what kind of appetite they do have. They may be ready for a cooling period but by NO means should you force them into it or rush it. If the turtles have sufficient weight and if they appear otherwise healthy, then you can gradually begin to cool them off until they reach the 38 to 40 degree temp which they will sleep in. Even 45 degrees can be too warm for a spotted turtle. Remember, like Blandings and Wood turtles these animals are very cold tolerant and actually prefer the cooler temperatures.

Like Ken stated, I do use refridgerators to hibernate most of my turtles and tortoises. I gradually cool them by offering less food each day and shortening their daily light schedule until it is completely dark and they have stopped feeding. I then wait 2 to 3 weeks to make sure they have no food inside of them and off they go to the fridge for 3 to 5 months (depending on species). I place them in their own individual plastic containers filled with water, leaves and sphagnum moss. I weigh them every 2 weeks and keep an air pump running outside with a tube that runs inside the fridge to keep a constant supply of fresh air.

It's not hard to accomplish but the biggest challenge is making sure your turtles are ready for it.

They could be trying to escape one another if too many are together, sometimes females especially will run from males and hide.

Some spotteds have also been known to burrow underground like that of a box turtle and some wood turtles and hibernate that way.

I do not reccomend this but it has been done.

Keep an eye on them and let us know.

You may want to warm them up and keep them awake for the winter...I reccomend doing this if you have ANY doubts about them surviving hibernation.

-Chris

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