Do Turtles Hibernate?

[Turtle Jo]

Not yet

Next winter the European pond turtles and the common snapping turtle will be overwintered outdoors

My others are either tropical or too young/small

[James_T]

All of my turts are North American species, and I don't hibernate them. The reason for this is I believe that hibernation is just the animals way of surviving a harsh environment. Also two of mine are rescues that whilst there's nothing too much wrong on the outside, you don't know if internally they have been damaged through years of incorrect husbandry. Of course there are those that just take the easiest path, such as people who argue Diamondbacks are fine in freshwater, but of course that's steering away from the OP, so I'll leave it there.

[Graham]

I don't hibernate my outdoor turts either, not really anyway, what I do is to leave them outside until quite late and then bring them indoors when it starts to get much colder. They are still out there now as temps are relatively high, and on odd warmer days like today you see them basking, but most of the time they are down at the bottom either motionless or moving very sluggishly.
These turts come from too far south to really experience proper hibernation in the wild, but they would at least slow down at this time of year, and even in Florida they get sudden very cold snaps, anyone who's seen a NASA launch cancelled due to icing on the launch pad would appreciate just how cold it can get.

[Trillian]

Well thanks for all those comments, some very interesting info there. I can take it from that little Sheldon (four month old YBS) won't be hibernating then.

Do I need to change anything for him over the winter period e.g. feeding regime, lighting etc. Atm, he's being fed every day and the lighting (both basking and UVB) is on for 12 hours a day (10am - 10pm). I do love sneaking a peek at him when he's basking.

[Graham]

No need to change anything, in the spring you may want to increase the lighting period to 14 hours though.

[Trillian]

Originally Posted by Graham

No need to change anything, in the spring you may want to increase the lighting period to 14 hours though.

Great, thanks.