Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Temps are in the mid 30s and supposed to drop down to
26 degrees. I just did a check and have several turtles
that aren't buried. They're under hay, but not under dirt.

What would you do????

I would take them inside just to be safe.

-Tony C

I had two of the three that were wintered outside come up last week. They both come inside at night and back out after temps get above 40 in the morning. We are getting to 28 the next three nights so they will just stay inside for the three days. The high is 50 but they are to hard to find in a 5000 sq ft pen. Best wishes

That's a tough one. How long is the weather going to stay that cold, and are those daytime temps or nighttime?

Really, if you're not 100% confident in leaving them out, then by all means bring them in. Consider keeping them at a somewhat cooler temp inside though, so they can ease into the change and not go through extremes (30 up to 80 in a short period of time might not be such a good thing).

We're in a similar situation here in VA, but the temps are only dropping that low at night, with days 50-ish, so I just tucked mine back into their hibernacula...not all had emerged yet, and they were still kind of groggy, so I just made sure that they were in a place where they could just nestle back down as far as their instincts tell them to go.

Strange waking up to snow this morning....

I had several adult turtles that were under just a light layer of hay so I put them in tote boxes, topped them off with some hay and put them into the garage (which has an oil based space heater) for the night. I didn't think it would be good to bring them in from 35 degrees to 70.

They are still in the garage and I haven't decided whether to put them back out yet.

I had babies and juvies in their wading pool habitat. Most were buried but a few were just under their hide logs, but I had a ton of hay that I had just removed so I just packed hay around and over them, pretty thick.

If it dropped below freezing, it was probably only for a few
hours. It was 35 degrees when I checked at 9 am.

The thing that scared me was they said it could drop to 25 degrees, which I felt was worrisome for those who weren't buried at all.

We actually had snow all day yesterday, but it wasn't cold enough to stick.

We had the same problem this weekend, Hobo was only partly under ground but he is sitting in the spot where he spent the winter.

When I knew the cold was coming & I didn't see him all the way under I covered him because I figured since he's wild, has spent all his life outdoors then I should leave him alone so I did.
If it'd been the spoiled girls or Chip they would've come in.
We actually still have snow on the ground as I type this.. I just hope he's ok out there. :-x
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PHRatz

You know what I do- throw a big folded wool blanket over the top of the pile of peat/earth/hay/leaves/weeds that they sleep in. They are nice and insulated, but can get back out if it gets too warm while I am at work. I feel safe with that into the mid-20's.

Nanci
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