Red Ear Slider Turtles Hibernating

[Laurie-Jean]

Hello,

I live in Colorado, elevation 7400 feet. We built a 5 foot deep pond for my two turtles enclosed in a greenhouse, to keep predators out.
I would like to let them hibernate for the winter, but not sure if this is feasible.
The bottom of the pond has large river rock, can they hibernate with only the rocks or do they require sand etc.?
Thank you.

 

[wellington]

I think the greenhouses might be a problem. When it's sunny out the greenhouse will heat up, not keeping the water cold enough for the turtles to stay hibernated. But then at night it will get cold again. This big jump daily or almost daily could be a problem.
I'm not sure who we have on here that would know. Maybe @Markw84

 

[mark1]

i've hibernated 6 blanding's turtles and 4 NA wood turtles in this for the about the last 8-10yrs in 3 very small ponds ......... if the ponds in the ground , the ground will help stabilize the temperature , large rocks help stabilize the temp ..... colorado gets lots of sun in the winter , with the altitude the sun is stronger, i believe you may get colder than here we are 5b plant zone ..... on warm sunny days you can open the doors, or ventilate if you have windows that open, to keep it from getting to hot ...... i've had many days in january and february where when i went in the enclosure i could be in a t-shirt ....... put a thermometer in the water to keep track if the water for the most part stays in 40's i doubt you got a problem ........ the rivers here contain snapping turtles , painted turtles , spiney softshelled turtles , blandings turtles , map turtles, musk turtles ........ these rivers can have 10-15 degree temperature swings within a 24hr period, a warm sunny stretch can get them from frozen to near 50 degrees, a heavy spring snow/cold snap can take them from near 60 degrees to below 40 degrees overnight......

 

[Laurie-Jean]

Wonderful! Just to confirm I do not need to add sand or dirt to the floor of the pond?

 

[mark1]

no, they don't dig in , they like to tuck in under rocks , logs .... make sure they can't get stuck and they can walk to the surface and having to swim to the surface is not their only option ..... ...... i have seen them in the wild sitting out in the open hibernating . all mine tuck in and under stuff .......

 

[Laurie-Jean]

Thank you so much!

 

[Laurie-Jean]

I think the greenhouses might be a problem. When it's sunny out the greenhouse will heat up, not keeping the water cold enough for the turtles to stay hibernated. But then at night it will get cold again. This big jump daily or almost daily could be a problem.
I'm not sure who we have on here that would know. Maybe @Markw84

Thank you, Mark was able to answer my question.

 

[TammyJ]

Thank you, Mark was able to answer my question.

That was Mark1. I was wondering about how the turtles move around from under the water to breathe air while still hibernating. Maybe he @mark1 could explain?

 

[mark1]

i'll guess that'd be a reason they call it brumating ......they're not incapacitated , they're just slowed down . the colder the slower , when the water temps are near freezing they're pretty much torpid , they're not coming up for air, they can stay under for a month......... water temps get in the 40's , sunny day they may come up for air if they're in a spot in the sun, they're pretty lethargic and a way to walk to the surface facilitates that happening .....if the sun is strong and the air temp is high, the blanding's turtle stick their head out to get air , they may come out and bask , when the sun goes down and the air temp gets cold they go back in the water ....the wood turtles may stick their heads out to get air , i've never seen one out basking in december , january, february . even the ground hibernators are moving you just can't see them..... the ground is more stable in regard to temp swings than the water , so they move a lot less ...... desert tortoise are known to come out their burrows on warm sunny days to bask , i've read it's usually young ones and ones they think are not well basking in attempt to stimulate their immune system....... older box turtles are unlikely to emerge too early , they tend to get deeper where the temps are more stable ...... they're down longer in the spring , when i feel comfortable that winter is over and many of the box turtles are out naturally , i'll dig up any that are missing , it's always the older larger ones and they're always the deepest......