Glyptemys Insculpta- New Arrivals

AJK Aquaria

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20180805_112651.jpg I moved them to a larger enclosure and it has a larger water feature. But it's not for winter keeping. Just an upgrade while I'm working on stuff. As you can see, there's a few Eastern boxies with them. They were too large for the closed top 8x4. This is 16x4. The electric fence posts in the pic had not been removed yet. Needed to redo all that when I built this.

Last year I let them wind down to mid November. Most were sleeping under water. I then placed them in a tub with soil and moved them to the garage for a couple weeks. Then to the basement, warming them up gradually. I'm afraid I will not be done with their permanent enclosure this year, and they will have to come in again. Not looking forward to that.20180901_100529.jpg
 

mark1

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as long as the water doesn't freeze , is well aeriated , and doesn't experience wild temp swings …. 10 degrees in a day being pushing what I am comfortable with … the rivers by me can swing near 10 degrees in a 24-36 hour period … you really don't want the water hitting above 50 in January or February , unless it's naturally a hot short winter , which is hard on all hibernating water turtles anyway , it gets them too active if it last for any length of time …… I've had it happen a few times and they do survive it ……. I've got some wood turtles been hibernating in what I believe is no more than 12" of water for the last 15yrs , might be 10" …… there is a 24" pool in the chain and it seems to be the last choice , the one that gets pushed out of the shallower pools ends up in it ……… in the fridge I hibernate them in about 6" of water ….. if that was the reason for your question , if not excuse the interruption ……..
 

Plato Zorba

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as long as the water doesn't freeze , is well aeriated , and doesn't experience wild temp swings …. 10 degrees in a day being pushing what I am comfortable with … the rivers by me can swing near 10 degrees in a 24-36 hour period … you really don't want the water hitting above 50 in January or February , unless it's naturally a hot short winter , which is hard on all hibernating water turtles anyway , it gets them too active if it last for any length of time …… I've had it happen a few times and they do survive it ……. I've got some wood turtles been hibernating in what I believe is no more than 12" of water for the last 15yrs , might be 10" …… there is a 24" pool in the chain and it seems to be the last choice , the one that gets pushed out of the shallower pools ends up in it ……… in the fridge I hibernate them in about 6" of water ….. if that was the reason for your question , if not excuse the interruption ……..
Thanks guys for both responses. I've considered adding a wood turtle to my existing eastern box turtle garden but i worry about their size compared to my bogs and the overall depth of the water. I have just over a foot of depth with muck bottom which has been fine for an adult musk turtle and yearly snapper hatchlings, but they are far smaller in size obviously. My goal was to add spotteds next may, but woods have always been a consideration too being that they are native here in NJ.
 

AJK Aquaria

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Hey Mark

What temp do you keep the fridge, if going that route?

The temp setup they're in now doesn't really allow for brumation, I think. The pool is only about 18" or so at the deepest point. Freezing solid is my concern. And a real possibility. Especially last winter.

I do have a 'pond' for the 3 toeds i could use. That's over 2' deep. I could also keep that aerated easily, to prevent a total freeze.
 

mark1

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it seems to me if the water is circulating , it would take more than I've seen here in northeast ohio to freeze it solid …….. I use one of those k&h pond de-icers , 250 watts seems to do keep a small pond ice free for our winters , the edges will freeze when we get extended below freezing stretches , I been worried a couple times , but you can always dig them out if something fails …… those k&h heaters come on and off at 40 degrees I think . the pump in the pond gives off some heat , the ground at 20" deep doesn't reach freezing for long if it does , the lowest it got last year was 35 by me for a couple days ……..lots of submerged big rocks help with limiting the temp swings …….. the fridge is whatever they are set at for food , 40 degrees I think ? the turtles are on the very bottom , the water often is 36-38 degrees …….. I had some woods about the size of yours last year , I left them out until January in one of those home depot cement mixing tubs with a garbage can for a filter …. I brought them in when we had single digits for 2 weeks , I had a 250 watt che on the top of the garbage can aimed at the filter media , the water in the cement tub never froze …….. they do come up on occasion , not sure how necessary it is . I would say just make it easy for them to get to the top , they are pretty lethargic , and there is no way they are swimming to the top ……. they can have trouble walking to the top …...
 
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