winter 2025
- Thread starter mark1
- Start date
looks like it's going to be a long winter, since november 27th we've had 2 days above freezing, dec. 9th and 10th, 38F and 39F......
we've got good snow cover insulating the ground, hopefully the snow cover persists, thursday supposed to be 50F and rain....
river temperature, the tributary rivers here are natural ranges to eastern softshells, snapping turtes, spotted turtles, map turtles, blandings turtles, and midland painted turtles,
we've got good snow cover insulating the ground, hopefully the snow cover persists, thursday supposed to be 50F and rain....
river temperature, the tributary rivers here are natural ranges to eastern softshells, snapping turtes, spotted turtles, map turtles, blandings turtles, and midland painted turtles,
Always enjoy the documentation
Wow DD, it's like another world under there! How do you keep the curious raccoons and foxes out? Don't they tear the plastic?
Hmmm, there was a reason I moved to Richmond, Va from Akron, it just slips my mind. You are doing great things sir!
thanks Ed, this is what i see and what i have used to form my opinions on temperate reptile brumation..... i figure maybe this information will interest someone... i believe it has helped me understand the process better and giving them what they need...... we have a lot of species of temperate turtles and snakes living here, so this climate is obviously not a problem for them.....
i only cover the pens when it's full on winter here, to minimize the water freezing...... the raccoons are not out here in the winter, plus any that have tried going in the pens have been shocked/trained it's not a good place to go..... coyotes and foxes have never been a problem, most of the properties around me are not fenced, they seem to have no reason to climb my fence, maybe now without dogs something will try......
i feel you blackdog, i been here for over 50yrs, and there is no getting used to the bad winters..... when we get a mild winter it makes me wish they all were like that.....
this week it's been 12F, 7F, 9F, 42F, 58F,19F, right now it's 16F, it's supposed to be 42F and sunny this afternoon.... thursday at 4pm it was 58F, by 11am friday it was 19F......
snow cover, imo is a huge plus , it's just not dependable...... we lost our snow cover on the 18th from two 40-50F days of sun and rain........
river lost it's ice cover
was 58F for this pic
was 32F for this pic
snow cover, imo is a huge plus , it's just not dependable...... we lost our snow cover on the 18th from two 40-50F days of sun and rain........
river lost it's ice cover
was 58F for this pic
was 32F for this pic
was 14F thursday morning, temp got up to 22F and full sun..... the pen in full sun reached 54F..... the sun here is 10days past the weakest it gets here..... were 3 weeks away from the "dead of winter", the coldest part...... the sun will be much stronger then, the difference in outside/inside temps on sunny days will be greater than they are now
3 ponds in this enclosure, here's there water temps
this guy(red arrow), male NA wood turtle, is in the 37.9F pond
these guys(blanding's) are in the 43.5F pond, no one in the 41.5F pond is visible....
this is one of the colder pens
the water temp
caught this girl coming up for a breath of air..... thought she was a goner 4-5yrs ago, thankfully for veterinarians and antibiotics she's doing great, active at 33F.....
eastern box turtles are under this snow, some female blanding's turtles are under the plastic.....
3 ponds in this enclosure, here's there water temps
this guy(red arrow), male NA wood turtle, is in the 37.9F pond
these guys(blanding's) are in the 43.5F pond, no one in the 41.5F pond is visible....
this is one of the colder pens
the water temp
caught this girl coming up for a breath of air..... thought she was a goner 4-5yrs ago, thankfully for veterinarians and antibiotics she's doing great, active at 33F.....
eastern box turtles are under this snow, some female blanding's turtles are under the plastic.....
this guy hasn't moved from under these rocks since last weekend, 6 days....(red arrow)
water temp in the pond rose 2 degrees today....
i was adding water to all the ponds 4pm, his curiosity got the better of him...... he's been submerged in 32-39F degree water all week, i check them everyday....... i assume his body temp is somewhere in the vicinity of 39-40F.... i got this guy 10yrs ago as an adult raised in florida...... brumation????
water temp in the pond rose 2 degrees today....
i was adding water to all the ponds 4pm, his curiosity got the better of him...... he's been submerged in 32-39F degree water all week, i check them everyday....... i assume his body temp is somewhere in the vicinity of 39-40F.... i got this guy 10yrs ago as an adult raised in florida...... brumation????
Gorgeous. Screaming orangethis guy hasn't moved from under these rocks since last weekend, 6 days....(red arrow)
water temp in the pond rose 2 degrees today....
i was adding water to all the ponds 4pm, his curiosity got the better of him...... he's been submerged in 32-39F degree water all week, i check them everyday....... i assume his body temp is somewhere in the vicinity of 39-40F.... i got this guy 10yrs ago as an adult raised in florida...... brumation????
the red legged na wood turtles can be beautiful turtles, in spring the red can be absolutely unbelievably glowing neon red orange, this guys shell is pretty drab, some of their shells are pretty stunning also
every turtle here is afraid of people, they will try to hide if they see you, except that male wood turtle, he is totally interested in people, i bought him as an adult, he must have been raised as a pet..... he seen me from under his rock at 39F and came out, summer spring and fall if i'm in the pen he's out getting under my feet.......
every turtle here is afraid of people, they will try to hide if they see you, except that male wood turtle, he is totally interested in people, i bought him as an adult, he must have been raised as a pet..... he seen me from under his rock at 39F and came out, summer spring and fall if i'm in the pen he's out getting under my feet.......
tuesday was 44F, wednesday 48F, was 56F thursday, 64F friday at 1pm, was 34F saturday at 8am, 30 degrees in 19hrs...... was 27F this morning
northeast ohio gets on average 21 sunny days from november 1 thru the end of april...... 6 months, northeast ohio is one of the grayest places in the U.S. .......
6 months of this color
river temps
ground temps at 4"
temperate reptiles are abundant here in this exact climate, turtles- snapping, spotted, blandings, red eared, northern map, eastern softshells, midland painted, eastern box, eastern musk..... snakes- queensnake, kirtlands, northern watersnake, lake erie watersnake, dekay's brownsnake, red bellied, northern ringneck, northern racer's, ratsnakes, eastern foxsnake, eastern milksnake, eastern gartersnake, eastern ribbonsnake, greensnake, massasauga........
imo, you want a clear look at what temperate reptile brumation looks like, brumate some water turtles......
some temps over the last 10 days of a pond a NA wood turtle is brumating in, from earliest to today..... the pond completely full i doubt is more than150 gallons......
northeast ohio gets on average 21 sunny days from november 1 thru the end of april...... 6 months, northeast ohio is one of the grayest places in the U.S. .......
6 months of this color
river temps
ground temps at 4"
temperate reptiles are abundant here in this exact climate, turtles- snapping, spotted, blandings, red eared, northern map, eastern softshells, midland painted, eastern box, eastern musk..... snakes- queensnake, kirtlands, northern watersnake, lake erie watersnake, dekay's brownsnake, red bellied, northern ringneck, northern racer's, ratsnakes, eastern foxsnake, eastern milksnake, eastern gartersnake, eastern ribbonsnake, greensnake, massasauga........
imo, you want a clear look at what temperate reptile brumation looks like, brumate some water turtles......
some temps over the last 10 days of a pond a NA wood turtle is brumating in, from earliest to today..... the pond completely full i doubt is more than150 gallons......
As more of an observer on this forum rather than a self described expert, the reasons for my choice becomes abundantly clear in the company of real documentational talent.
You keep excellent metrics Mark. As a "technical guy", I'm very impressed and a little envious of your results. The data points are many and varied. Wow!
You keep excellent metrics Mark. As a "technical guy", I'm very impressed and a little envious of your results. The data points are many and varied. Wow!
Jeff, keeping track affords me peace of mind...... i have a lot of time and effort invested in these guys, i got 20+yrs raising a lot of these guys that are here right now, many were born here...... our winters can be pretty different from one year to another........ when i've seen unusual conditions that were actually worrisome to me, and they proved to not be a problem, anything less "peace of mind"...... we've had some pretty bad winters since 2000, but never anything like 1977, yet..........
thursday air temp was 14F, friday air temp was 36F, saturday air temp was 25F, today it was 9F.......
pond was 45.6F last sunday the 11th.... saturday the 17th pond was 38.6..... today the 18th, the pond is 35.4F.......
ground temp 0-4" , snow cover makes for a worry free winter for the box turtles.....
river temps
pond was 45.6F last sunday the 11th.... saturday the 17th pond was 38.6..... today the 18th, the pond is 35.4F.......
ground temp 0-4" , snow cover makes for a worry free winter for the box turtles.....
river temps
this morning it was 9F/full sun...... now, 3pm it's 23F/full sun........ the air temperature in the full sun enclosure is 65F........ pond went from 35.4F to 40.9F..........
this morning i could not see/find a single one of these turtles.....
this morning i could not see/find a single one of these turtles.....
this is the "dead of winter" was -3F this morning , the 10 day forecast is 6F, 10F, -1F, 5F, 6F, 3F, 8f, 11F, 15F........ hoping for some sun in there.........
water temp was 40.9F 6 days ago.....
water temp was 40.9F 6 days ago.....
We've finally reached that point as well. With sleet and freezing rain for the next 2 days. Thankfully it dumped a ton of snow to insulate the turtles.
We're cruising compared to you guys. The lowest we're going to get at night is 6F
We're cruising compared to you guys. The lowest we're going to get at night is 6F
yes, i see this weather extends through much of the eastern U.S........ a couple zero degree days i don't mind , it's the duration that concerns me, keeping them pond from becoming too frozen is what concerns me..... in 1977 we went almost 2months below freezing, so i know such things are possible, i've not seen anything like that since i been hibernating these guys.... but i do put the covers over the ponds now, i didn't use to.....a pond i had got scary frozen one year, it ended well, but i started putting the plastic over them after that, sun warms the enclosure way above outside temp in the day, snow doesn't get in the pond and it eliminates wind chill..... first above freezing temp i see forecast is february 16th, after that i'd think we'll get above freezing regularly until winter is done......
we have snow cover also, tonight we're supposed to get another foot on top of it.... i agree, great news for the turtles..... bad news for getting up at 4am and having to drive in it.....
we have snow cover also, tonight we're supposed to get another foot on top of it.... i agree, great news for the turtles..... bad news for getting up at 4am and having to drive in it.....
