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mark1

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february 20 , 24 degrees and sunny today , tomorrow will be the first day above freezing in 3 weeks , i think our winter is going to be fading out , i see high 30's in the forecast



the box turtles

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some blandings

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the water temp was 46 , this one did crawl out to bask

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the only wood turtle i could see

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brought this guy in at the end of december , i thought we were going to be getting a bad winter . i found him fall 2019 , i'd have usually left him to his own , but i'm pretty interested in seeing him as an adult , none of my box turtles are that colorful , except one female , i've not seen any hatchlings here with this kind of color at a year and a half , he's much brighter than the picture ..........

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and these guys are in the house also

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mark1

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the only thing bothers me about the cold is the turtles ........ box turtles , no problem , they're hibernacula here is better than they could ever do in the wild ........ the water turtle , my ponds are not that big or deep , keeping them from freezing can be a little concerning , i'm always relieved when we get where were not going to go weeks without getting above freezing without any sun , i think were there now ........

im not sure how that baby eastern will turn out , but his color is unusual for what i've seen here .....

i'm pretty sure this is the father and mother
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this is what i've seen , these guys even color up decently

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this guy had more color at 6 months then what i 've seen in others here at 2-3yrs
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wellington

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I feel for all of you guys in the cold.
I don't know how you handle it
Most of us say the same of you in the heat, humidity and hurricanes, yikes, no thanks. It's actually quite easy, just more costly. Well maybe more costly. We don't need AC as much so probably all works out even in the end.
 

mark1

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march 7th 36 degrees and full sun , beautiful day .....

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this is a cement tub , i put an undergravel filter and thin layer of stones in it , so it would be shallow for the small box turtles , a small pump and a diy filter , no heat source except the submersible pump ..... we went 3 weeks without ever getting above freezing , single digits at night , i did throw a tarp over the entire enclosure , i removed the tarp today , i had forgotten to shut it off , it apparently never froze ........

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Yvonne G

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This winter we had a couple frosty nights - quite a bit warmer than normal - and my pond is just starting to wake up. Box turtles? Not yet. Yours must be a lot hardier than those here in Central Cal.
 

mark1

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the box turtles won't come out here until the ground surface is consistently in the 50's , right now the ground is averaging 34 , end of april beginning of may before they come up here ..... the blandings are out pretty much all winter , i've seen them partially out the water on sunny days in the 20's ........
 

queen koopa

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the box turtles won't come out here until the ground surface is consistently in the 50's , right now the ground is averaging 34 , end of april beginning of may before they come up here ..... the blandings are out pretty much all winter , i've seen them partially out the water on sunny days in the 20's ........
Holy crap! Turtles and Tortoises will never cease to amaze me.
 

mark1

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i've had the box turtles in my yard a long time , they go underground by november and come up again in may ...... the wood turtles i've had in my yard i believe since 2003 , i was initially amazed seeing how active they were in the winter , and sticking their heads out the water on sunny cold days in february .... the blandings i've had since 2014 , they definitely take cold tolerance to another level , they know how to find heat , sometimes i've had the thought they can see it ............

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mark1

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depending on your plant hardiness zone , i'm in 5b-6a , provided with a good spot i've never seen a problem ....... i've even found babies that survived our winters just fine ..... i'm guessing you won't find box turtles in 5a , if they're there i'd bet they're barely there .......
 

Chubbs the tegu

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depending on your plant hardiness zone , i'm in 5b-6a , provided with a good spot i've never seen a problem ....... i've even found babies that survived our winters just fine ..... i'm guessing you won't find box turtles in 5a , if they're there i'd bet they're barely there .......
Yeah im 6a
 

Chubbs the tegu

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But ive never seen a box turtle round here. Then again ive never really hunted for them besides camping
 

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