summer 2026

mark1

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Dec 31, 2015
Messages
2,406
Location (City and/or State)
ohio
after a week of 100F temps a wind gust came through last night and took temps from 92f to 70F in about a minute.......

we have map turtles, wood turtles, blanding's turtles eastern softshell turtles, painted turtles, snapping turtles and spotted turtles all naturally occurring within 30 minutes from where i am sitting, along with at least 15 species of snakes......... the temperature range where these temperate reptiles naturally inhabit range from -20F to 104F..... temperature swings of 40F are common......... "micro-climates" they're there, but they are not that different, given a long enough stretch of conditions and those "micro-climates" disappear.......

i kept exotic reptiles and fish as long as i can remember, in 2000 i started keeping native turtles, turtles native to my area, outside 24/7/365.... scary at first, until i fully understood it and seen it...i could never have kept the exotics as well as i am able to keep these native turtles... given what they need the ground hibernators are zero effort, nothing could go wrong....... the water hibernators require vigilance when it's below freezing, a lot can go wrong.......

i do still keep some remnant R.P.Manni, from the 1990's..... a tropical species which set up with what they need do well outside in northeast ohio 24/7/365 at minimum june through october......


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one of the first two box turtle i got, he's been here for 25 winters..... one winter the female got accidentally shut into a wood box with a floor that was for the r.p.manni, she froze to death, had the box not had a floor i'm certain she would have survived, lesson learned, the heated box for the manni now has no floor or door......

IMG-5655.jpg



Gus, 7 months, figuring out how to survive 100F.....84F today 74% humidity it's a breeze for him, 100F was good practice but a bit much.....


IMG-5796.jpg
 

mark1

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Dec 31, 2015
Messages
2,406
Location (City and/or State)
ohio
wood turtles have good memories, they say they have the problem solving ability of a rat, and they're good climbers, ones like this guy are extremely sociable, he's always interested in what your doing and has to check it out when your done....... once he found out what was on the other side of that wall( two female wood turtles) he has been hard to keep contained...i keep adding overhangs.... once he gets to the fence part he's home free , he has no problem climbing the fence.....the overhang on the landscape timbers extended all the way to the fence, after seeing him use the fence to get around the overhang, i cut it and added the one that got him stuck here today,



IMG-5868.jpg
 

Alice Sulcatia

Well-Known Member
Tortoise Club
Joined
Mar 23, 2026
Messages
760
Location (City and/or State)
Arizona
wood turtles have good memories, they say they have the problem solving ability of a rat, and they're good climbers, ones like this guy are extremely sociable, he's always interested in what your doing and has to check it out when your done....... once he found out what was on the other side of that wall( two female wood turtles) he has been hard to keep contained...i keep adding overhangs.... once he gets to the fence part he's home free , he has no problem climbing the fence.....the overhang on the landscape timbers extended all the way to the fence, after seeing him use the fence to get around the overhang, i cut it and added the one that got him stuck here today,



IMG-5868.jpg
awww you cockblocked him!
 

Alice Sulcatia

Well-Known Member
Tortoise Club
Joined
Mar 23, 2026
Messages
760
Location (City and/or State)
Arizona
after a week of 100F temps a wind gust came through last night and took temps from 92f to 70F in about a minute.......

we have map turtles, wood turtles, blanding's turtles eastern softshell turtles, painted turtles, snapping turtles and spotted turtles all naturally occurring within 30 minutes from where i am sitting, along with at least 15 species of snakes......... the temperature range where these temperate reptiles naturally inhabit range from -20F to 104F..... temperature swings of 40F are common......... "micro-climates" they're there, but they are not that different, given a long enough stretch of conditions and those "micro-climates" disappear.......

i kept exotic reptiles and fish as long as i can remember, in 2000 i started keeping native turtles, turtles native to my area, outside 24/7/365.... scary at first, until i fully understood it and seen it...i could never have kept the exotics as well as i am able to keep these native turtles... given what they need the ground hibernators are zero effort, nothing could go wrong....... the water hibernators require vigilance when it's below freezing, a lot can go wrong.......

i do still keep some remnant R.P.Manni, from the 1990's..... a tropical species which set up with what they need do well outside in northeast ohio 24/7/365 at minimum june through october......


IMG-5785.jpg

IMG-5678.jpg


IMG-5795.jpg


IMG-5697.jpg

IMG-5792.jpg

IMG-5704.jpg


one of the first two box turtle i got, he's been here for 25 winters..... one winter the female got accidentally shut into a wood box with a floor that was for the r.p.manni, she froze to death, had the box not had a floor i'm certain she would have survived, lesson learned, the heated box for the manni now has no floor or door......

IMG-5655.jpg



Gus, 7 months, figuring out how to survive 100F.....84F today 74% humidity it's a breeze for him, 100F was good practice but a bit much.....


IMG-5796.jpg
Beautiful turtles and photography! Keep them coming!
 

mark1

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Dec 31, 2015
Messages
2,406
Location (City and/or State)
ohio
it's rained one day in the last 23 days, the 6th of july, and we've been 90-100F for 8 of those days......the box turtle pens have looked empty for the last week...... i put out a sprinkler today, and got this result.....

i honestly thought these 3 guys got out, they have before....the inside of the pen was completely flat and dry,for a week without a trace of one of them
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quite a few of these guys came out also

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the rose of sharon , is starting to bloom here...... they have proven to me to be excellent pond plants...

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wood turtles just stay in the water for what is "the dog days of summer" here..... they are also very inactive in winter, only occasionally sticking their head up for a breath during prolonged warm spells... they never bask in the winter....
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the blandings turtles, the temps they are active at is astounding, 40F and sun they act normal, 100F and sun they act normal..... they bask winter spring, summer and fall.....

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this pond has housed these turtles for the last 11 years, 7 blandings turtles, 5 for the last 4-5yrs.... an under gravel filter and an external filter.... definitely not more than 250 gallons , i have never had to clean it, i clean the external filter once every year, and the laguna pump is still running fine, when it goes i'll clean the undergravel...... this pond never grows algae, not even in the winter/spring, it's in full sun, best filtered pond i have ever made....

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the smoke in northeast ohio from the canadian fires

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