winter 2024-5
- Thread starter mark1
- Start date
Yep it was crazy warm here today, yesterday and will be on Monday. Tuesday we drop back down to 30's. The long forecast for this month though looks like mostly 40's if it holds true.
I bet the turtles was thinking that was a short winter lol.
I bet the turtles was thinking that was a short winter lol.
yesterday we started out in the 20's and by this morning it was 43F......... them coming out is not unusual, it'll probably happen 3-5 times a winter, before they are done brumating ...... the turtles in the ground might come out a couple times early and a couple times in the spring, but they never come out in december, january or february.....
the rivers here are home to softshell, spotted, map, blanding's, N.A. wood, painted, and snapping turtles....
river temps here nov 8- dec 8
the rivers here are home to softshell, spotted, map, blanding's, N.A. wood, painted, and snapping turtles....
river temps here nov 8- dec 8
8 days later, since the 16th we've been 30F, 29F, 33F, 29F, 30F, 23F, 18F, today we're 37F......
2" underground under the leaf pile
exposed ground at 4"
one of the ponds 200-300 gallons, i would guess there a couple N.A. wood turtles hibernating in it
rivers around here, home to eastern softshell, blanding's, N.A.wood, northern map, spotted, painted, and snapping turtles
there are 3 of these hibernating in this 6'x2' pond in northeast ohio, our winter temps (jan, feb) can range from -20F to 70F, june can be mid 30's to over 100F........ probably less than 100 gallons of water.....there is one under every rock, 125watt heater left on throughout january and february
not much movement over a week
imo, stuff like this validates what i see, they're all the same..........
2" underground under the leaf pile
exposed ground at 4"
one of the ponds 200-300 gallons, i would guess there a couple N.A. wood turtles hibernating in it
rivers around here, home to eastern softshell, blanding's, N.A.wood, northern map, spotted, painted, and snapping turtles
there are 3 of these hibernating in this 6'x2' pond in northeast ohio, our winter temps (jan, feb) can range from -20F to 70F, june can be mid 30's to over 100F........ probably less than 100 gallons of water.....there is one under every rock, 125watt heater left on throughout january and february
not much movement over a week
imo, stuff like this validates what i see, they're all the same..........
Love how you keep documentation
ed, i don't believe any of this comes as news to you...in your climate you see the same thing, timing may be different, but their responses are the same to the temperature and the season.......
prior to 2000 i kept tropical turtles and tortoises, in 2000 i bought an eastern box turtle.... i asked the guy i bought him from how do i keep him through the winter, he told me to throw a pile of leaves in his pen......i felt i needed to understand a bit better how that worked, so i been looking into it since, that along with watching it...... the water turtles, 2003, help in that they can actually be seen, and they're environment is like an extreme example of the ones in the ground ............i've read a lot of research papers that explains and validate what i see..... what they need becomes clearer and clearer every year.....
this is the guy i bought in 2000........i'm kind of attached to him, i do my best to not leave it to luck......
prior to 2000 i kept tropical turtles and tortoises, in 2000 i bought an eastern box turtle.... i asked the guy i bought him from how do i keep him through the winter, he told me to throw a pile of leaves in his pen......i felt i needed to understand a bit better how that worked, so i been looking into it since, that along with watching it...... the water turtles, 2003, help in that they can actually be seen, and they're environment is like an extreme example of the ones in the ground ............i've read a lot of research papers that explains and validate what i see..... what they need becomes clearer and clearer every year.....
this is the guy i bought in 2000........i'm kind of attached to him, i do my best to not leave it to luck......
My thoughts exactly. I love keeping animals that thrive in my climate. The leaves not only provide insulation for winter, but create microclimates for their prey during the following spring and summer. Makes great soil for nesting as they decompose as well.ed, i don't believe any of this comes as news to you...in your climate you see the same thing, timing may be different, but their responses are the same to the temperature and the season.......
prior to 2000 i kept tropical turtles and tortoises, in 2000 i bought an eastern box turtle.... i asked the guy i bought him from how do i keep him through the winter, he told me to throw a pile of leaves in his pen......i felt i needed to understand a bit better how that worked, so i been looking into it since, that along with watching it...... the water turtles, 2003, help in that they can actually be seen, and they're environment is like an extreme example of the ones in the ground ............i've read a lot of research papers that explains and validate what i see..... what they need becomes clearer and clearer every year.....
this is the guy i bought in 2000........i'm kind of attached to him, i do my best to not leave it to luck......
I also like to keep the grass in their enclosures fairly tall. This mitigates the male dominance; providing somewhat of a visual barrier, and provides shade, insects, the whole 9 yards.
61F yesterday december 28th, the average high temp here for dec 28th is 37F........it's going to be in the 60's again today.......
i pulled the tarp off so the box turtles could get some rain......
2" in the ground under the leaves....
the wood turtles don't come out as easily as the blanding's, the ones in the full sun ponds came out, the ones in the shaded ponds did not......, last 4 days been 40F, 47F, 54f, and 61F, going to be in the 60's again today.....
57.6F the blanding's turtles act like it's summer
native turtle around here include eastern softshells, snapping, spotted, blandings, painted, northern map, eastern box, and musk turtles.....
ground temps 4"
gabe, and electric wires keep the yard racoon free..... it's amazing how brave dogs can be, probably because they don't know any better.....
i pulled the tarp off so the box turtles could get some rain......
2" in the ground under the leaves....
the wood turtles don't come out as easily as the blanding's, the ones in the full sun ponds came out, the ones in the shaded ponds did not......, last 4 days been 40F, 47F, 54f, and 61F, going to be in the 60's again today.....
57.6F the blanding's turtles act like it's summer
native turtle around here include eastern softshells, snapping, spotted, blandings, painted, northern map, eastern box, and musk turtles.....
ground temps 4"
gabe, and electric wires keep the yard racoon free..... it's amazing how brave dogs can be, probably because they don't know any better.....
gabe is awesome..... the guy that had him named him hades and taught him to bite people.... the woman that rescued him said she couldn't call him that, so she changed his name to Gabriel....... she must have figured it'd counter act the hades thing, it worked....... he's a sweet heart.....
The_Four_Toed_Edward
Well-Known Member
My aunt has a Belgian shepard Malinois that the previous owner had named Hades. She also decided to change the name. I think naming a dog Hades paired with the choice of breed tells heaps of the previous owner...
it absolutely said something about gabes owner...... as far as choice of breeds this guy's dog IQ was also exposed...... the guy shouldn't have a dog ,let alone try to teach it to be a "protection" dog..... there is a reason there are tradition "protection" breeds.....
we haven't been above freezing in 10 days, temps been 26F, 24F, 18F, 11F, 21F, 24F, 22F, 10F, 10F, and 21F...
ground temps 4"
box turtles
river temps, river is frozen
blanding's
wood turtles
blanding's and wood turtle's
ground temps 4"
box turtles
river temps, river is frozen
blanding's
wood turtles
blanding's and wood turtle's
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How much ice are the turtles hanging out under?
there was a real thin layer around the edges and rock......it use to be hard and expensive to keep the ponds from freezing too much, i didn't always cover the ponds until like around 2008, we had a really cold winter and they froze over to a point it was concerning, i was out there putting heat lamps on the water flowing over the rocks, trying to stop the freezing, everything survived, don't know what i did made a difference , but if something would have died at least i did what i could....... since then i cover them to keep the snow out, that alone made a huge difference, they all have one pond de-icer, the pond pump also has to give off some heat, the water is constantly circulating, and the fact they are 20-24" in the ground .... they seldom get more than a thin layer of ice around the rocks and perimeter.... with the plastic covers one or two sunny days will melt a lot of the ice on the pond themselves...... as far as ice cover, i sometimes get a significant amount , but it's never very thick, just a clear glaze i never lost a turtle to it .......
my ponds are very shallow , on purpose, deepest maybe 20", for the most part 8"-10"...... it was 10F when i took this pic, a brick is maybe 4" wide? so this turtle is brumating in no more than 4" of water at 10F....
my ponds are very shallow , on purpose, deepest maybe 20", for the most part 8"-10"...... it was 10F when i took this pic, a brick is maybe 4" wide? so this turtle is brumating in no more than 4" of water at 10F....
I always enjoy your threads and pictures, Mark!
We had our only third frosty night last night of the winter. So far it's been very springlike.
We had our only third frosty night last night of the winter. So far it's been very springlike.
thank you Yvonne, i'm not sure who, if anyone, is interested, but i am ......... i been doing this for awhile and there seems to always be something different year to year....... if everybody comes out this year OK, i will take away a couple things from this one too......
Yvonne , a question for you about your pond turtles in your winter, do they eat? if not from when to when don't they eat? you still have a sideneck in your pond? how does it handle your winter?
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