Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone,

I have a RES and a midland Painted turtle that I usually keep outside in a pond, however, I brought them in for the winter. I plan to be setting the pond back up soon, but dont want to put the turtles outside too early. Right now, it still fluxuates(spelling) between alright temps and low temps. What temps are safe to place the turtles back outside in the pond until the end of winter. These are North American turtles of course, so therefore dont need really extreme heat and I understand that, but dont want to put them back out too early, so possibly get them sick.

Any help would be great,

Stan

If it helps, I put mine back outside when the water temp is about the same outside as inside.
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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
0.0.12 chickens
3.2.0 children
1.0.0 husband

You really need to be more concerned about how the water temps are holding rather than the air temps. If your water is temp is maintaining itself at night 68-70 then I would put consider putting them out.

While they are capable of withstanding cooler temps. you have brought them into the house so they are not conditioned to dealing with water that is too cool. You may shock them with a drastic difference in temperature. Best to just wait until your water is a minimum the temps mentioned above (night time temp that is).

Thank you both for the information. Looks like I will be waiting til' around late spring/early summer. My pond isn't that deep that they could withstand the winter long months in it, so I have to bring them in during the winter. At that time, I didn't have the room inside for them, so I had my cousin hold on to them for me, which was a horrible mistake!!! Oh well, I will get into that a little more later.

Thanks again for the help,

Stan