Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey all,
I just put all of my turtles in the garage for the winter so that when I release them into the wild, they will all know how to hibernate. they are still alive, but I have seen NO moving turtles. is this normal? arent they suppose to eat? come up to the surface to breathe? should I let the water freeze over the top of the container??
thanks,
Craig Condon

was wondering about this myself. I was thinking of hibernating my snappers next winter in the garage so I can build nice new custom wood aqauriums in the winter.
Like tyo hear any thoughts

i live in ny and i hibernate my allys and commons in my unheated garage.today was 29 degrees outside and 52 in the garage.my filters run all winter to stop the water from freezing through,and i have pond deicers on them that click on automaticallly when h2o temp reaches 35 degrees.my commons take the cold much better but the gators are fine as long as the water does not freeze solid.in hibernation the snappers are dormant and dont eat and move very rarely.they do not come up for air because their resperatory system is slowed down and they absorb oxygen from the water.as long as fat stores and body wieght is good there is no problem.

A hibernating turtles body temp is too low to digest food. They may eat out of instinct, but the food will ferment in the intestine and kill the turtle.