Hi all,

I have a pair of subadult spotted turtles which I have been raising up the past several years. They are housed outdoors in a stock tank for the active season, and hibernated indoors in winter. about 2.5 weeks ago i noticed the turtles were not in the stock tank. To make a long story short, i found them both in the yard, and quickly put them back in the tank before going out of town. a week later i check on them closely and notice that the male is missing both back feet, and the female is missing one back foot. I had thought they climbed out by themselves due to higher than normal water level(but even then i had a hard time thinking of them climbing out), but apparently an animal removed them from the tank and mauled them. my dilemma is this. it is time to hibernate. do i hibernate them, as the wounds look like they are closing up well, and both have good weight and are healthy other than the recent injuries? do i bring them inside briefly for a month or so, heat em up, and try to feed them before putting them down, or do i keep them active all winter? i live in albuquerque, NM, so the nights are already hovering around 40, too cool to keep outside. I did notice they were trying to bask, so as of now they are indoors under a basking light. Anybody with experience with mauled spotteds?

thanks for any input in advance,

ian

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