Frozen solid

[MadReefer]

Tonight my son realized the box turtles were out in the severe cold in the storage container hibernating. He went to check them and one was not buried and frozen solid with its head and front legs out. Sadly, this one is probably not alive at this point. The other 2 were buried better, one was closed up nicely but the other was like the first. They are now in a 55g tank with a heat lamp. Hoping to warm them and up and see who is still alive, if any. My son is very upset over this situation. Will update once we know what is going on with them.

 

[MadReefer]

Amazingly all are alive this morning. Just need to determine health status.

 

[NyteGTI]

Amazingly all are alive this morning. Just need to determine health status.

good to hear!

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Glad to hear!!

 

[ThatGuy]

What type of enclosure were they in outside? If its a penned in area, next year put a good size pile of leaves in there. They will dig into it for the winter. Thats all they'll need.

Since you already brought them in you cant put them back out until spring now. The change would be to drastic. Its a lengthy process to get ready to hibernate(ie. not eating for a month so food doesn't rot in there stomach, slowing down thier heart rate to almost stopped). If they go from 80's to freezing again it will not be good.

Good Luck

 

[MadReefer]

ThatGuy,
We put them in a storage container filled with dirt and leaves and poke a few hole alone the top and put the lid on. This year they didn't dig down deep enough for whatever reason. We don't plan to put them out in the pen again until spring. All the dirt was frozen solid in the container and took some time to thaw out so he could dig for two of them. One was on top and never dug down. We can only assume it was a bit warm which made them somewhat active and the cold came to fast freezing the dirt and they were unable to dig through it. Luckily it was below freezing for only a few days.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Glad to hear they're ok!

 

[Coolaid]

Very glad they made it out ok. It is amazing how they can survive winter weather like that without any ill effects.. especially with the strange swings in temps we see these days. We keep aquatic turtles but they are indoors and not wintered.

 

[MadReefer]

Coolaid,
I have a red ear in a pond and leave it there all winter. This summer another RES wondered in from the creek and stayed. so I have two of them in there now. Also, a yellow belly slider wandered in and stayed awhile but left.