Do Reeve's Turtles Brumate?

tglazie

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
631
Location (City and/or State)
San Antonio, TX
I've always been curious. Can they brumate? Is this a situation in which some populations do and others don't? Can the ones who don't actually brumate and survive? Could they survive outdoors in an environment like, say, South Texas, South Florida, or Southern California? Does anyone have any experience keeping this species outdoors year round?

T.G.
 

ascott

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Apr 10, 2011
Messages
16,138
Location (City and/or State)
Apple Valley, California
I've always been curious. Can they brumate? Is this a situation in which some populations do and others don't? Can the ones who don't actually brumate and survive? Could they survive outdoors in an environment like, say, South Texas, South Florida, or Southern California? Does anyone have any experience keeping this species outdoors year round?

T.G.

I do not house this species...there are a variety of turtle of this family...some remain active year round while some can and so hibernate and can do so for several months...I believe you will want to determine which geographic range the turtle in your care derived from...
 

cdmay

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Feb 1, 2008
Messages
1,945
Location (City and/or State)
Somewhere in Florida
Reeves turtles do just fine outdoors at least as far north as central Florida. I'm pretty sure they would do well even a bit further north.
I have a friend with a group he's maintained in a large pond outside for years and he's an hour north of Orlando.
Also, there is an old article in the International Turtle and Tortoise Journal about a Reeve's turtle that escaped and had lived outside --in Massachusetts!--for a year or two before being recaptured.
 

dmmj

The member formerly known as captain awesome
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 15, 2008
Messages
19,695
Location (City and/or State)
CA
I have kept a small group outside year round in Southern California for 27 years they do just fine here
 

tglazie

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
631
Location (City and/or State)
San Antonio, TX
Thanks, guys. I haven't kept this species, but I've always been curious, given that I've read so many sources that said they don't brumate, despite the fact that I used to see them in Korea and Japan when I was a kid (and if you know about Korea and Japan, you know that those places get Maryland levels of cold). I was also curious about regional variation concerning the various forms, given that I've not read any info regarding differential care of Hong Kong Reeves vs. northern Chinese Reeves. I mean, is the difference akin to painted turtles in the US, where care for all is basically the same, just with the more northerly varieties given to greater cold tolerance. And speaking of painted turtles, I wonder what difference there is between specimens of the western subspecies from southern Canada and ones from Northern Mexico.

T.G.
 

New Posts

Top