Yep both will do well outdoors in the Big T. While both of the range maps of these turtles do encompass New England, they also extend into the southern states, with Spotteds ranging as far south as north Florida, and eastern painted's Georgia/Alabama. Since both are cold-tolerant species and Texas has relatively mild winters they will probably not hibernate as they would in the northern states, but may experience a decrease in activity correlating with the decrease in the daily photoperiod. Basically, they should be active year-round there. Even in the northern states these species can be seen slowly moving underneath the ice sheets, and will sometimes come out to bask on a sunny, mild winter day.

If being housed in outdoor setups, the best you can do is just construct the enclosures so that the turtles are given a variety of options such as varying depths, areas of shade, areas of direct sun, etc.

Please purchase captive bred specimens of both species as they are readily available on the Kingsnake.com classifieds, do not impact wild-populations (Spotted's are protected throughout most of their range), and will be much more acclimated to your different geographic region.

Hope this answered your Q

-JG

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