winter 2022-23
- Thread starter mark1
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thank you ...... i'm in northeast ohio, usa. all these guys are native to this area ,they are used to some pretty wild temp swings in our winters ........ the river by me was frozen solid a week ago today it's around 45f ....... the air temp was-4f a week ago , yesterday was 63f ...... they seem to like the breaks , i'm believing it's normal for them ...... it does give me a chance to assess their health , all the ones i seen looked good , they're pond froze twice so far this winter ...... for the ground hibernators it would take the ground where they are buried to be in the 50's for 4-5 consecutive days to get them out , that doesn't happen at this time of year here ...... the ground , at 4" was 24f three days ago , today it was 42f , they are under 2ft of packed leaves and grass , it didn't get 24 where they are, and i doubt it's 42f in there now , they won't be out until the end of april beginning of may.......
Happy New Year Mark!
I have been about the weather there. Do you think it's global warming? It has been mild here at 14 degrees Celsius and Jacky (Spur-thighed Tortoise) has been waking. I have been hibernating her indoors as I can't leave her outside. I don't like the thought of hibernating her in a fridge but I have been thinking that if this continues I will take her out of hibernation as I have the equipment to see her through to April. However it is supposed to be colder tomorrow so I shall see what happens. Is there a specific sub-forum on this forum that specialises in hibernation on this site because I can't find it? I just wondered what other people's experiences are?
MaNaAk
People who aren't using fridgen method are definitely struggling!
something i'd think you'd like to read , i'm sure it pertains to some of your questions .....
OVERWINTERING ECOLOGY OF JUVENILE GOPHER TORTOISES (GOPHERUS POLYPHEMUS)
"Hatchling Spur-thighed Tortoises (Testudo graeca) have also been reported to be more active than adults and to exhibit discontinuous hibernation (Keller et al. 1997)."
when i started hibernating the water turtles , first i believe 2003 , i was amazed at how active they were over our winters , the winters here can be pretty brutal ...... the ground hibernators i believe are active also, i think you just can't see them .......
i know winter emergence does happen with some ground hibernators here ....... i'd imagine more so with wild turtles , the captive ground hibernators here are provided with insulated hibernacula that i'd think is unachievable in their natural environment ..... i'm of the opinion that as long as i keep them from becoming frozen they'll be fine....... this belief has seemed to work so far .........
best i can tell winter emergence is not abnormal for wild hibernating tortoises ,there is plenty of research on that ......... is being subject to constant low enough temps to remain torpid for the entirety of the winter a better scenario??? is getting a break to raise their metabolism beneficial ?? getting some uvb(basking) and raising their immune response , among the winter emerging/basking tortoises some of the more active ones have been shown to be ill ........ does winter emergence in captive tortoises use too much energy leaving them in jeopardy of starving to death ??? personally i doubt it , my water turtle are amazingly active in the winter , i don't weigh them , but i've picked them up post hibernation and they often feel heavier than they did pre-hibernation , i've thought from being "water logged", it's how they feel ...
global warming , i'm sure it's happening , the same folks are the ones say global warming and cooling has occurred 3-4 times in earths existence..... i personally wouldn't mind a little global warming come february ...... these same folks will tell us stars burn out , if humans are around long enough i'd imagine the sun burning out and vaporizing the earth will be an issue .....
OVERWINTERING ECOLOGY OF JUVENILE GOPHER TORTOISES (GOPHERUS POLYPHEMUS)
"Hatchling Spur-thighed Tortoises (Testudo graeca) have also been reported to be more active than adults and to exhibit discontinuous hibernation (Keller et al. 1997)."
when i started hibernating the water turtles , first i believe 2003 , i was amazed at how active they were over our winters , the winters here can be pretty brutal ...... the ground hibernators i believe are active also, i think you just can't see them .......
i know winter emergence does happen with some ground hibernators here ....... i'd imagine more so with wild turtles , the captive ground hibernators here are provided with insulated hibernacula that i'd think is unachievable in their natural environment ..... i'm of the opinion that as long as i keep them from becoming frozen they'll be fine....... this belief has seemed to work so far .........
best i can tell winter emergence is not abnormal for wild hibernating tortoises ,there is plenty of research on that ......... is being subject to constant low enough temps to remain torpid for the entirety of the winter a better scenario??? is getting a break to raise their metabolism beneficial ?? getting some uvb(basking) and raising their immune response , among the winter emerging/basking tortoises some of the more active ones have been shown to be ill ........ does winter emergence in captive tortoises use too much energy leaving them in jeopardy of starving to death ??? personally i doubt it , my water turtle are amazingly active in the winter , i don't weigh them , but i've picked them up post hibernation and they often feel heavier than they did pre-hibernation , i've thought from being "water logged", it's how they feel ...
global warming , i'm sure it's happening , the same folks are the ones say global warming and cooling has occurred 3-4 times in earths existence..... i personally wouldn't mind a little global warming come february ...... these same folks will tell us stars burn out , if humans are around long enough i'd imagine the sun burning out and vaporizing the earth will be an issue .....
When Jacky and Daisy (as of 17th November 2022) she became an angel they hibernated outside and used to dig in deeper when it got colder. Sadly I don't have to worry about my dear little Daisy anymore but your turtles with Jacky waking up I can monitor her health and her weight is okay. If necessary I will put in Daisy's enclosure complete her lighting. From my point of view it has been lovely to cuddle a tortoise since Daisy's death.
MaNaAk
we almost have not had a winter , hopefully february is as easy as january ....... were getting some snow for the next few days , we've gotten a lot of rain in january , no snow ........
gabe
this guy is under the pvc filter(blue trash can) discharge... there are 3 wood turtles in there, one under the rock with the moss , and one under the two rocks at the bottom of the pic ....
january 22 and still some green
gabe
this guy is under the pvc filter(blue trash can) discharge... there are 3 wood turtles in there, one under the rock with the moss , and one under the two rocks at the bottom of the pic ....
january 22 and still some green
Gosh looks chilly. Water still moving so must have been relatively mild.
I made mistake on a clear day of deciding to wash my gutters and fascias. Involved a fair bit of water.
Then found it was near impossible to get to front door due to the ice rink I had instantly created. May charge local school kids to come and use it 😆
I made mistake on a clear day of deciding to wash my gutters and fascias. Involved a fair bit of water.
Then found it was near impossible to get to front door due to the ice rink I had instantly created. May charge local school kids to come and use it 😆
Have you considered getting some ice-skates?
I know 😆 I'd break my neck I imagine 😆
Beautiful pictures. Are these turtles finding Winter too mild @mark1? Are you planning to get them back to sleep?february 9th , some "hibernating" turtles .....
MaNaAk
OMG! The dog...what a face! Mastiff?we almost have not had a winter , hopefully february is as easy as january ....... were getting some snow for the next few days , we've gotten a lot of rain in january , no snow ........
gabe
this guy is under the pvc filter(blue trash can) discharge... there are 3 wood turtles in there, one under the rock with the moss , and one under the two rocks at the bottom of the pic ....
january 22 and still some green
i'll just leave them alone , we have a lot of winter left, , we can get below 0 right through the end of march, it's been warm , but it happens ..... the month of january 2023 was the 7th warmest ever recorded here ..... average temp january 2022 was 23F ,average this year was 37F ....... february is shaping up to be pretty warm , it was 68F on feb 9th , previous record high was 63F in 2001 ........ record low for february 9th is -14F.... imo , what they are experiencing is a normal brumation for water hibernating turtles.... water temperature fluctuations of rivers and shallow bodies of water around here are often extreme ..... the ground has not gotten warm enough to cause any of the ground hibernating turtles to emerge .....february 9th the ground reached 43F , today feb 11th it is 36F , i've seen the river make almost double that change in temp in 12 hours........ it seems to take a bunch of consecutive 50F ground temps to get the ground hibernators out .......
i'm not really familiar with actual hibernation but i believe this is one reason where brumation and hibernation are not the same thing...... it was 68F and sunny , i'd imagine some of the turtles that came out the water got their body temps at least 80F ......
40F and sunny today
yes , that's the rescue i got , he's a bordeaux dogue , a "french mastiff"
He looks so awesome...is he a drooler? I had a St Bernard who drooled something terrible...what's his name?
his name is gabe , the guy who originally had him named him hades , the woman who originally rescued him said she couldn't call him that and renamed him gabriel ........
he's not a drooler , but he is a handful ....
he's not a drooler , but he is a handful ....
