Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am planning on getting a few eastern painteds for my man made pond in NJ. Will they hibernate under the ice in the winter and just shut down, or will they come out of the water and hibernate on land? The pond is deep enough that the water does not freeze all the way through. If painteds will not work could you please recommend a few other options.
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John Vandegrift

If the bottom of the pond has leaves and stuff for the turtles to climb into they will hibernate in the pond. You must be sure that the pond does not total freeze, then your OK. They do go to the bottom of the pond to hibernate. You must also make sure your turtles come from an environment that is cold if they are older, larger turtles. You may have problems with turtles from the South getting them to live and hibernate in a cold climate in the North.

Also, just to let you know, in the wild, eastern and midland painted turtles hibernate in the mud at the bottom of ponds, marshes and the edges of lakes. They use their feet to burrow into the mud and during their hibernation they absorb oxygen straight from the water and into their bodies via thin-skinned areas such as around the throat and cloaca. Their heartbeats slow down to sometimes as much as 1 or 2 beats a minute; that is, they go into a state of torpor and sleep until warmer weather awakens them from their slumber.

As long as your man-made pond is deep enough, doesn't freeze completely, and has mud and/or leaves and other debris on the bottom into which the turtles can burrow into and overwinter, you should be fine. Also, on unusually warm winter days, painted turtles can be seen moving around underneath the ice of ponds, lakes, streams, and other wetlands. And sometimes, if parts of the water are exposed to rocks and logs emerging from the ice, they can be seen basking in the sun even when the temperature outside may seem unbearable for other ectothermic (that is, coldblooded) animals, such as reptiles or amphibians.

Also, one more thing. If you truly are planning on getting painted turtles and allowing them to hibernate in your man-made pond, make sure they are old enough. If you get 2 or 3-year old turtles, they may not be strong enough to hibernate, in which case you would have to care for them indoors; this can be a large investment and may require a large amount of work to care for. So, in short, make sure your painted turtles are old enough to hibernate, are healthy, your pond is deep enough, doesn't freeze solid, has some debris on the bottom for the turtles to burrow in and you are able to care for them the following spring, you should be in good shape. Let me know if you have any other question; I'd be happy to answer them. Hope this helps, and good luck.

_Dennis