Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My six year old RES generally hibernates in the loose soil outside of my pond like he has for the last few years. It has been continuously below 32 degrees for 10-16 hour stretches. As cold as 19degrees F. It hasn't been this cold in the 5 or so years he has been out there. The pond nd is in the Sierra Nevada foothills at about 1800 ft. Yesterday I was looking at his hibernation spot and his Burrow looked like it was collapsed or he had come to the surface. I touched his shell and he responded by shimying or wiggling a little, so I know he is still alive. He is about two inches below the surface of the soil with about a third of his carapace covered. Is it possible he came out of hibernation to "come to the surface" to get warm?
Do you think I should bring him inside to a indoor hibernation set-up? Or, do you think he will make it since he has made it so far?

Thanks

It's hard to say whether your turtle will be okay since no one I know can predict the weather tommorow (with perfection, at least).

Redears normally hibernate underwater. If the critter's on land, it makes supercooling much harder, especially if it's not completely buried. Supercooling is when an animal is near freezing temperature but doesn't itself freeze.

The important thing is, if you do decide to bring your pet inside, DO NOT let it warm quickly. The animal's temperature must be brought up VERY slowly, otherwise you risk shocking it and killing it outright. This can be accomplished with an icechest, with the animal closed inside it while outdoors, then brought inside, where room temp can slowly seep into the icechest.

What a great picture. Good idea on the ice chest. Do you think that I should bring him in if we continue to have freezing weather? If and when I do bring him in should I try and keep him in hibernation or let him come out of it. I went and looked at him last night and he is definatley partially uncovered, totally exposed to the elements....he has to be freezing. It snowed for about 5 days last year and he made it through that. I didn't see where he hibernated last year so I'm not sure if he was buried or not during the freezing spell last winter. If I keep him outside do you think I should build up some loose soil on top of him to help insulate. I keep thinking that he knows what to do and he has exposed himself for a reason.

I'm responding so as not to leave you with a hanging feeling, because I don't know what to recommend. If you leave him outside, I'd put something over him to insulate him. It could even be an upside down light-colored cat litter pan or small rubbermaid tub (light-colored so the sun doesn't overheat it during the day). That could protect against night frost to some extent. If you do bring him inside, hibernation might be tricky.

What has me thrown is that he's dug in on land! If only you knew whether this is what he did last year. Some aquatic turtle species hibernate on land, but I'm not aware of redears doing so. I hope you keep us posted on what comes of this.

All is well. My Turtle came out of hibernation a couple of days ago looking very healthy. After our first correspondance we received about four inches of snow. He or she was able to withstand about a week of 25-28 degree daily highs and then a few days of snow sitting on top. He appeared to move to different depths in the hibernation spot.

I'd love to send you a couple of pictures coming out of the hole but I can't figure it out how to put them on here. Thanks for the help!