Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I would just like to share my experience with brumation. My 10 year old female common snapper has been over-wintering in a cold, upstairs room for the past 7 years. A container of water is present. In November, her activity slows down and she begins spending a lot of time sleeping under a couch in the room. I stop all feeding around this time. My turtle is always, and always has been for 10 years, healthy whether preparing for brumation or not. During the first really cold days of winter, activity stops and she sleeps.

She has been brumating for the past 2 months, and today the temp. outside reached 40 degrees, and she became active. I believe my turtle is behaving in correlation with the wild snappers, as i'm sure there is some activity out there today. She immeadiately went for the water, and lowered her head to drink, and i'm sure she is taking some in through her skin, as snappers and most turtles do. Experience tells me she will go back under the couch when the temp. drops again, and continue in this fashion until about mid-April.

Before anyone jumps on me, my turtle is healthy, well fed, and has been since she hatched in 1995. TYhis may not be the most technical brumation technique, but it seems to work fine. I thought I would share my experience with other snapper owners. My turtle has an 11 inch carapace, is a female, and came from southwestern CT.(where i live). I have been keeping and studying snappers since 1993.

Are you saying the turtle lives out of water, under a couch??
Michael's Place

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No, her indoor set-up is available. She has always chosen to leave it during winter. She comes and goes at will.

Never argue with success!!

Thanks for posting. I have a 4 year old snapper, and wondered how others did the hibernating thingy! Mine is in a kiddie pool in a cool room. She is unable to get out of the pool. She just sleeps under some fake plants.

In the future, if I can fix up a room for (have to wait for the daughter to move out!) I'll see if she'd rather hibernate somewhere else!
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0.1.0 snapping turtle
0.1.0 painted turtle
0.1.0 ornate box turtle
0.1.0 Australian shepard
3.2.0 children
1.0.0 husband

Sounds great to me,is there water in the pool? I always find that if you give captive turtles a choice, they will display some amazing behaviour.

Yes, all water, except for a cinder block, in which she likes to sleep, in the holes, but never gets on the top.
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0.1.0 snapping turtle
0.1.0 painted turtle
0.1.0 ornate box turtle
0.1.0 Australian shepard
3.2.0 children
1.0.0 husband

Yes, all water, except for a cinder block, in which she likes to sleep, in the holes, but never gets on the top.

In the summer, she is in an outdoor pond, and here she can crawl out. There is lots of room/places to roam and explore. She does this *a lot*.
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0.1.0 snapping turtle
0.1.0 painted turtle
0.1.0 ornate box turtle
0.1.0 Australian shepard
3.2.0 children
1.0.0 husband

We have wild snappers in my area and I see them on land often . Ofcourse I dont know how much time they spend in the water compared to land but I do see them on land.
I havent seen any under my couch tho lol kidding. I found your post interesting.
I dont keep any yet only have small snakes but thinking of an outdoor large enclosure for a snapper in the yard.