Basking in 50f weather?

[everyday]

We got some rescue painted turtles in.
They are outside to brumate. The last 2 weeks it was cloudy and 45-50f. The turtles were inactive and under water. Today the sun is shining and the turtles are basking. The water temperature is currently still only 50f and temperature in the sun is 52-57f.

Is this normal behavior?
Or a sign that they don't feel healthy enough to brumate?

They look healthy. Bright eyed.
They move slowly but seem to enjoy the Ray's...

 

[jeff kushner]

Great question! There may be reasons why they are...maybe food in their stomachs or being in a new place. Maybe that's how they evaluate the dangers in a new place? I am not pretending to know, only to think of reasonable ideas.....but

FWIW: We have seen turtles basking in the 50F range at a local park on several occasions, especially in the Spring.

Welcome to the club too!

 

[everyday]

Great question! There may be reasons why they are...maybe food in their stomachs or being in a new place. Maybe that's how they evaluate the dangers in a new place? I am not pretending to know, only to think of reasonable ideas.....but

FWIW: We have seen turtles basking in the 50F range at a local park on several occasions, especially in the Spring.

Welcome to the club too!

Hello. Thank you!
They haven't eaten in 3 weeks.
I'm just hoping its natural

 

[TeamZissou]

Painted turtles are one of the hardiest species--their range extends into lower Canada. The behavior you are seeing seems totally reasonable.

I would imagine that they would be fine outside during the winter as long as they are in a deep enough pond so that it does not freeze solid.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Very normal. Overnight Temps right near 0C / 32F here the last few days, day temps in 50s.

Here’s a pix, of a Red Eared Slider I came across while kayaking the other day.

 

[Tom]

We got some rescue painted turtles in.
They are outside to brumate. The last 2 weeks it was cloudy and 45-50f. The turtles were inactive and under water. Today the sun is shining and the turtles are basking. The water temperature is currently still only 50f and temperature in the sun is 52-57f.

Is this normal behavior?
Or a sign that they don't feel healthy enough to brumate?

They look healthy. Bright eyed.
They move slowly but seem to enjoy the Ray's...

I'd like to hear from the Marks on this question:

@mark1
@Markw84

 

[DoubleD1996!]

We got some rescue painted turtles in.
They are outside to brumate. The last 2 weeks it was cloudy and 45-50f. The turtles were inactive and under water. Today the sun is shining and the turtles are basking. The water temperature is currently still only 50f and temperature in the sun is 52-57f.

Is this normal behavior?
Or a sign that they don't feel healthy enough to brumate?

They look healthy. Bright eyed.
They move slowly but seem to enjoy the Ray's...

This is perfectly normal for painted turtles. These guys will even bask in snow.

 

[Markw84]

@everyday Agree with what others have already said. This is perfectly normal behavior. Painted turtles are one of the most cold tolerant turtles. They can even freeze and revive in spring. The glycogen in their blood acts as an antifreeze and their cells do not rupture with freezing as with other animals.

Aquatic turtles use the water to protect themselves from extremely cold temperatures. When a pond freezes over, the water below is still at 34° (1°C) and they can extract all the oxygen they need from that cold water - which holds far more oxygen than warm water. As discussed in other posts, that is why there is indeed a differentiation between hibernation and brumation. A turtle does brumate. But with brumation, they remain semi-active. At times, they will remain "sleeping" on the bottom of the pond. Other times, they will rise and bask, especially in conditions you describe. They normally are not interested in feeding at all during these times, but certainly will have periods of extremely lazy, basking and moving about. Brumation for them does not mean lying still until spring. It means extremely limited, and slow activity with no eating. The more cold-tolerant the species, the more "semi-active" they tend to remain in colder weather. My Suwanee Cooters are rocks on the bottom of the pond already this year, while my Western Pond, Spotted, and Painted still lazily bask when the sun is out. None are interested in food for about a month now.

 

[everyday]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to help me! Very intresting informations that I definitely have to read more upon. I'm glad that its normal and I don't need to worry thank you all!