Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So, I know most, if not all, of you already have your turtles down for the winter or are about to, which is probably why the forum is so slow lately, but we just had our first cold night here last night. It got down to 42, I think, which really isn't all that cold, but is a drop by about 15 degrees from the norm lately. It's right back up to 72 degrees right now. I was suprised to see the boxies weren't dug in any deeper when I got them out of their night pen this morning. Rusty, the 3-toed adult, was even walking around. They've all really enjoyed the "cooler" temps lately. It's been in the high 70's to mid-80's and they all spend most of the day walking around their pens.

I've been gone for 3 weeks, last night it was low only around 45 and today is light rain yet high only about 50, my three toes are burrowed down, as well as most of the easterns, but a couple of the easterns were up today enjoying one last drizzle I guess, but this weekend we are forecasted to have highs 40s to low 50s and lows in the high 20s so probably will put them down for good after this weekend, my basement was 78 when I left 3 weeks ago and now it is 64 degrees and even cooler than that by the sliding glass door and on the floor, and it's going to continue to get colder after this weekend and should be near 45 by Dec and stay there in Jan and Feb, so its time for me to bring them into the basement and say good bye to them untill spring , I looked at my records from last year and it was Oct 24 when I brought them into the basement last year, which is fairly consistant with years past too. I hope they emerge next spring bright eyed, ready, and willing
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Jeff Benfer
1.0 cinnamon pastel Python regius
1.1 pastel Python regius
1.1 mojave Python regius
0.3 normal Python regius
1.3 Terrapene carolina thriunguis
2.3 Terrapene carolina carolina
4.1 Kinosternon baurii
1.1 Malaclemys terrapin terrapin
2.2 double het albino and anerythristicThamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.0 anerythristic Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
2.3 Iowa snow Thamnophis radix
0.2 het Christmas albino Thamnophis radix
1.1 double het cherry erythristic, albino Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
1.1 melanistic Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
2.0 66% het snow Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
1.1 triple heterozygous for amelanistic,carmel, and stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 anerythristic motley Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 butter p.h. stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 carmel stripe p.h. amel Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 amelanistic p.h. carmel,stripe Pantherophis guttatus

Out of curiousity, why do you bring them inside to hibernate them? Are your winters too harsh? I know you built a new pen for them this spring, so I thought you would be bedding them down in there...

We often get -30 below zero F wind chills, thats 60 degrees below freezing and temps well below zero, sometimes -20 temps and the ground can freeze several feet, we get air strait down from Canada, it would be difficult if not almost impossible to keep them from freezing rock solid outside even with several feet of leaves and straw, I'm sure theoretically it could be done, but it's not worth the risk to me. If I had a protected site protected from the northwest wind I might be tempted to try, but we live on a hillside and it gets pretty windy. I suppose if I put a 4ft pile of oak leaves over the pen and put a tarp with bricks holding it down or staked down that might work and I may try that someday, just not worth risking loosing a turtle right now, they are to precious to me. If other people have different oppinions, I would love to hear there take on the subject, not saying my way is right or the only way for my climate, that's just what I am comfortable with. But if others have oppinions or ideas I would be very open and interested to hear them.
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Jeff Benfer
1.0 cinnamon pastel Python regius
1.1 pastel Python regius
1.1 mojave Python regius
0.3 normal Python regius
1.3 Terrapene carolina thriunguis
2.3 Terrapene carolina carolina
4.1 Kinosternon baurii
1.1 Malaclemys terrapin terrapin
2.2 double het albino and anerythristicThamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.0 anerythristic Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
2.3 Iowa snow Thamnophis radix
0.2 het Christmas albino Thamnophis radix
1.1 double het cherry erythristic, albino Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
1.1 melanistic Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
2.0 66% het snow Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
1.1 triple heterozygous for amelanistic,carmel, and stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 anerythristic motley Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 butter p.h. stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 carmel stripe p.h. amel Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 amelanistic p.h. carmel,stripe Pantherophis guttatus

I was just curious. Sounds like the responsible way to go considering those factors.

I'm pretty excited to see how my boxies will handle our crazy, fluxuating winters. They've been buried in their night pen for the last two days b/c we've had 30 degree nights. I made sure to soak them all before the cold front hit. It's interesting, the trees haven't even turned yet, so we have no leaves on the ground, so the boxies are basically just taking an extended nap, I would think. If they stir I'll put them in the big pen, but I figured if they're too cold to get up in the morning, they probably would prefer to stay buried.