Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just moved to north carolina and am thinking of getting some wood turtles. housed outdoors just wanted to know, see pics of your setups. tips for keeping them outdoors year round. I"m not new to turtles and have been keeping them for at least 10 years. just never outdoors year round and was thinkning with a milder cliamte I may try it. I lived in NY before and never thought about it. so any tips.pics, comments would be great.
wayne

I live close to you. Wood turtles do well outdoors in NC.

Where do you live...mountains, piedmont, sandhills, or coastal plain?

NA Wood turtles can handle the winters in the Carolinas with no problem. Mine prefer to brumate out of water. They usually brumate beneath a compost pile. According to some friends, this is strange behavior. It has worked well for me, though. They always have the option of remaining in the water.

By far, the biggest problem with housing NA Woods outdoors in the Carolinas is the summer heat. I would recommend morning sun and deep afternoon shade. Provide a deep compost pile so that they can burrow to escape the heat. Also, the pond water should stay cool. The deepest point should be more than one foot, which presents a problem because you don't want sharply sloping sides.

Give them a lot of cover...large hostas and daylillies work great.

Hope this helps. Good luck. I attend a fair amount of herp related functions in the Carolinas...maybe we will run into each other. I know of at least a dozen other NA Wood enthusiasts in the region.

thanks for th info I'm on the coastal plain. I'm in onslow county. thanks again if you don't mind could I get your Email address I have a few q's I'd like to ask you.
wayne

You are lucky...living in herp paradise. I hope you like snakes.

I'll drop you a private message.

ya I can't wait till spring. my PM doesn't work it's an old email address and it won't let me change it so if you could Email me what you were gonna that would be cool milkman13114@aool.com thanks

wayne