summer 2026

[mark1]

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......

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......

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.....

 

[DoubleD1996!]

It's easy keeping animals that can thrive outdoors. You've got some beautiful boxies as well.

I'm hoping to get a few wood turtles once I set up a pond for them. Always great posts.

 

[mark1]

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,

 

[Alice Sulcatia]

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,

awww you cockblocked him!

 

[Alice Sulcatia]

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......

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......

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.....

Beautiful turtles and photography! Keep them coming!

 

[mark1]

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

quite a few of these guys came out also

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

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....

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.....

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....

the smoke in northeast ohio from the canadian fires

 

[P Birch]

I always enjoy your photos and observations: thank you for posting!
Same smoke here in central NY.

 

[DoubleD1996!]

Beautiful box turtles. I want to build a landings and wood turtle pond everything i see your posts. We've been in the upper 90s the past few weeks and have actually been getting rain at least twice a week.

Now the storms are moving out and we're back to the heat.

 

[mark1]

I always enjoy your photos and observations: thank you for posting!
Same smoke here in central NY.

thanks , glad someone likes it, it actually helps me keep track myself......we had this smoke a couple times, this is the worst i can remember........

 

[mark1]

Beautiful box turtles. I want to build a landings and wood turtle pond everything i see your posts. We've been in the upper 90s the past few weeks and have actually been getting rain at least twice a week.

Now the storms are moving out and we're back to the heat.

we have a chance of rain tonight and tomorrow, i hope we get it.......

these two are probably responsible for most of the high colored box turtles i have.... no telling the original locales, the ones i purchased i got them from north carolina, mississippi and louisianna...... northeast ohio box turtles look nothing like these, any i've seen are pretty drab in comparison, southern ohio i've seen high colored box turtles.......

the less colored ones would be his, and a female i had that froze to death one winter.....

 

[Alice Sulcatia]

we have a chance of rain tonight and tomorrow, i hope we get it.......

these two are probably responsible for most of the high colored box turtles i have.... no telling the original locales, the ones i purchased i got them from north carolina, mississippi and louisianna...... northeast ohio box turtles look nothing like these, any i've seen are pretty drab in comparison, southern ohio i've seen high colored box turtles.......

the less colored ones would be his, and a female i had that froze to death one winter.....

Beautiful! I am similar to taking pictures to keep track of things! My turtles have their own daily journal, and then looking back, I can see how far we've come health and training-wise.

 

[mark1]

makes me know the turtles, and informs me when a new one pops up, lets me know who i am not seeing, and gives me a good assessment of their health and condition.... i have spotted ill turtles from picture i took.....i have also spotted equipment problems....... it also makes me ultra aware of past environmental conditions that we have dealt with before, which gives me peace of mind, i believe i've seen all natures got here.... even the winter of 1978, while i've not seen that duration of cold , i've seen a few shorter versions of it, just as cold, close enough to know it's doable..... winter of 1978 we stayed below freezing from december to february, we've had a number of winters with 3 week stretches like that since 2000......