Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm researching what species to put into my pond. It is actually a small lake, mud bottom and nearly 15' deep. So hibernation is easy for them. However winter is long, I can only see the turtles being active from May to September or October. It gets very cold and the pond is frozen hard most of that time.
The local turtles are western painteds, they can't be collected and are not migrating into my pond because it is fenced.

I want turtles! Red-eared sliders will be borderline hardy, that is a long winter for them to sleep. I wouldn't expect them to survive, it would just be a bonus if they did.
I'm curious if red bellied sliders or even yellow bellies may be even hardier?

Any other suggestions- of turtles easily purchased? And cheap- I'd like 12 or more! By the way I'm in BC Canada and haven't found a store with a good selection of turtles if you know of anything. Turtlesale.com doesn't ship here.

Thanks!!

I know I've seen red ears in Illinois and Wisconsin, USA, which both have cold temps. As for yb's, I'm sure they could make it too. Yet maybe buy a couple of res's and adopt a yb. Maybe this way it won't hurt.

In general though, res's should do just fine. Some res's have even been found even colonizing rivers as far north as Canada. They exist in Korea as ferral pets, and the winters there are quite gruesome. I know they exist in the mid-Western US, and are expanding out west.

Basically, res's can handle quite cold weather. About yb's however, I don't know. You will have to make sure though, of compatibility. Res's are very aggressive. And watch out for diseases. Introducing wild into tame turtle populations, or tame into wild, can cause widespread disease, destroy an entire colony.

I was always under the impression that RES were indiginous to the southern US. I know that I live in New England and that they are not found this far north unless someone sets their pets loose, which is a really bad idea. Like the other poster said, they are a very aggressive species and can easily edge out the native species of turtle if they are introduced sometimes.

If they survive, I would say that this is highly likely, and a very bad idea. Easy is not the way to go here.

If you check out the homepage of Kingsnake they list several resources, including breeders. You could also check out some herp/reptile shows in your area and try to get a few of the local species of turtle. But I would not do it until spring, as they will definitely freeze to death if you do it now.