I have eastern painted turtles in my pond. They are native to my area. Two are wild turtles and the other was found in my driveway. The one I found in the driveway had a hole drilled at the edge of it's shell with a piece of string attached. It was obviously someones pet.

I'm going take the wild turtles to a nearby lake and release them next week. It's the same lake they came from. I don't want to risk hibernating them in my pond. Turtles hibernate by digging into mud at the bottom of deep ponds and lakes. They need to be in water that doesn't drop to freezing temperatures. Painted turtles can also hibernate for a longer peroid of time then red-eared sliders who are not native to northern regions.

The other turtle appears to be too domesticated. I'm not sure it would hibernate or survive in the wild. The local pet stores sell painted turtles and I think that is where the turtle came from. I debated what to do with the little guy and recently purchased and setup an aquarium where the turtle will over winter indoors.

I put the turtle in the tank last week and he seems to be doing fine. The setup was expensive, but I'll get a little bit of the pond experience during the winter months. :) You can find a lot of information about turtles on the Web.

If there is a chance that the bottom of your pond will fall below 35 degrees this winter, the turtle could freeze to death. I would bring them indoors to be safe.

Here's a picture of my domestic painted turtle. He loves to eat reptile sticks.

{{gwi:233021}}

my pond is large enough 12x24x3. i have 6 turtles all of which are quite large .. since red eared sliders are not native but invasive in this area .. i am not worried about them.. i do have 2 yellow bellied sliders that i am bringing in and keeping in the basement

the one and only

kingfish

kingfish,

Do you attempt to hibernate the turtles in you basement or provide heat and basking lamps? I heard that indoor hibernation is difficult.

I have a cork bark basking area for the turtle overwintering in my home along with separate UV and basking lamps.

I live in the Pocono Mountain region of PA and the winters can be cold. I thought of hibernating turtles in my pond, but I think the 3 foot depth would put them at risk. Especially since the bottom is rubber and not mud. I had painted turtles for two years after keeping a pair of red eared sliders three years ago. I was luck to find a home for the sliders.

Red eared sliders usually live in regions that have warm spells during the winter so that they can break their hibernation. They also grow bigger compared to the size of a painted turtle.

Turtle tanning booth.
{{gwi:233022}}

i do want to hibernate them in the baasement..the reason being is the least amount of time they have to stay there. this years plan is to bring them in all but one ..when ater temp reach about 50 .. i do plan to provide them with light but no food as long as water temps stay around 50.. if all goes well next year all the res will stay out and just have to winter the two yellow bellied sliders .. way easier to winter two then six

the one and only

kingfish

This feed for this topic is old but maybe someone could help me? I live in az, just below Lasvegas area... ( same weather) I have a newly inherited pond with two res turtles and a ton of fish... ( although not too worried about the fish) as they are over populating my pond... I am however, concerned about the turtles... Idk if they've hibernated before! I've got a 100 g tank but don't know what kind of filter system to buy? Should I pull them in for the winter? Would it be safer for them? Or should I leave them outside ? I'm so confused... It does get extremely cold here in the winter months and sometimes freezes...one is about seven yrs old and large 12" and the other is new this yr. I purchased at 4" she's about 6" now .. So I'd say she's four yrs old. They are awesome.. I don't want anything to happen to them at all..

also, since it's gotten cold out my algae ( mostly string) is rapid! And ideas on how to stop this???

Any help would be so appreciated...

thank you,

tambra