can anyone give me details on turtles and hibernation?

Question

different pet stores tell me different things and i'm not sure what to do.

Answer 1

here's a few websites to check out:

http://www.anapsid.org/hibernation.html

http://www.turtlepuddle.org/kidspage/hibernation.html

http://www.tortoisereserve.org/Sundry/Hibernate_Body2.html

http://www.petturtle.com/care.htm

Answer 2

Before you hibernate you turtle, ask yourself a few questions:

WHY? Why do you want to do this? The most common reason is to help with breeding some species. A few other species seem to do better if they are hibernated, at least sometimes- bit not most of them.

RISK? This is not real easy for an inexperienced keeper. If you have a great outdoor pen that can allow natural hibernation, great. If you afre thinking about hibernating it indoors you need to find a way to carefully control the humidity and temperature.

TECHNIQUE? How are you thinking about doing it- do you have all the stuff you'll need? Thermometers, humidity gauges, right place?

HEALTH? Is your turtle in really good health? If not, DO NOT HIBERNATE IT!

Try the articles at http://www.austinsturtlepage.com for good advice.

Answer 3

The links given are some good links to check out. One more that may be extrememly helpful is listed below. Different species require different modes of hibernation...some only brumate (partial hibernation)...and some don't do either.

There is a forum there that leads you directly to the experts. Make sure you know your turtle. You will be asked about what kind of care you are giving it. This isn't a bad thing! It ensures your turtle is getting the best it deserves...:-)

Best of luck...:-)

Answer 4

What kind of turtles do you have? I've had red-eared sliders for a few years and I've read a bunch of articles, so combining that with personal experience, I'll tell you what I know.

First, a lot of pet turtles don't make it out of hibernation alive because their owners haven't prepared them enough (and because they're more stressed in a captive environment to begin with). I keep my turtles indoors and I fool them into thinking it's the same season all year long by maintaining a constant tank temperature and leaving their basking lights on for the same periods of time. This is hard for people who have turtles in ponds or houses that get cold 'cause the turtles realize it's close to winter and they start prepping for hibernation. If you're inexperienced and don't know how to handle hibernating turtles, the bottom line is that it's too risky to let them do it, so I'd try to fool them into thinking it's one of the other seasons.

If your turtle has already started prepping itself for hibernation (and you know it's not sick), it'll probably have stopped eating. My uncle has two fully grown red-eared sliders that he keeps on his porch, and he says they "hibernate" to a certain extent. They don't actually fall asleep and hide in their shells, they just stop eating all winter and remain generally inactive. They've been doing this for several years, so he just lets them go on with it, but they're exposed to the outside cold so they're kind of forced into it.

If you don't want your turtle to hibernate, just keep him warm (or at a regular tank temperature, something like 76-85 degrees-ish). Then he'll have no reason to do so and he'll keep eating regularly throughout the winter the way my turtles do.

Good luck!

Answer 5

I really don't know anything about turtles, my sister children have two nice size turtles, i would say they are at least five years old they are supposed to be a male and female but their are no little ones so that makes me think they are two of the same sex animals. Can some one tell me if my theory is right, living in the same habitat that long and no baby turtles.

Answer 6

Check out www.turtletimes.com for some good turtle info and chat boards.