Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo - Latest Comments on What Do Painted Turtles Do in Winter?

Joanne Andriet [Visitor] in response to: What Do Painted Turtles Do in Winter?

Joanne Andriet [Visitor] — Thu, 16 May 2013 00:05:11 +0000

My husband brought home 2 turtles a few weeks ago and is now building a pond in the back yard for them. The little one was hissing for a few days but now seems to like his new home.
I can't tell if they are eating the apples, lettuce or zuchinni he puts out for them. They love it when he rubs the underside of their necks. They stick thier heads out as far as they can.

judy [Visitor] in response to: What Do Painted Turtles Do in Winter?

judy [Visitor] — Sun, 05 May 2013 22:27:44 +0000

We brought home a baby painted turtle a year ago, as where he was swimming was a hug lake and lots of catfish around and we had a pond in our backyard. She loved it back there with our fish and frogs and never left, we took her in the house and kept her in a aquarium overwinter with a heat light and a day light for her to bask in on her rock. She has done very well and has now tripled in size, she's around four inches wide now. I was wondering if she will live out in the pond during the winter as we plan on leaving the fish out there next fall. It is about five feet deep now and will put in an aerator also. We live in Wisconsin. She seems very healthy but eats Turtle food in a can and doesn't seem to eat any live bugs, I had thought of putting her in a pond nearby, but I'm not sure if she would survive now since she is domesticated.

Person [Visitor] in response to: What Do Painted Turtles Do in Winter?

Person [Visitor] — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 14:21:11 +0000

HI Thanks for your website it really helped with a school project.

lincoln park zoo [Member] in response to: What Do Painted Turtles Do in Winter?

lincoln park zoo [Member] — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:57:14 +0000

Thanks for the note, Gillian. We passed the question on to Reintroduction Biologist Allison Sacerdote, Ph.D., and she gave us the following advice to pass along:

"This is a difficult question because we don’t know the area or where the turtle came from. If they have small ponds nearby (< 3 km), they could take it to the closest one and release near the shoreline and let it find its own way. However, if the nearest pond is on protected land, there may be regulations against releasing animals there, so I would not suggest they do that. They may want to contact the landowner if there is park land nearby and have the biologists make a decision on releasing the turtle there. Alternatively, there may be other wildlife resource centers near them that they could contact. They should not keep it over the winter. The turtle could develop health issues in captivity that could be transmitted to a wild population upon release in the spring."

Gillian LaScala [Visitor] in response to: What Do Painted Turtles Do in Winter?

Gillian LaScala [Visitor] — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 02:04:39 +0000

We found a painted turtle in our driveway a few days ago on a exceptionally warm day for December in Canada. It is strange as we do not have any ponds around here as we live in the city but it was covered in mud, and as we knew it was going to get cold that night we brought the turtle in the house. We are now wondering if we would be ok to release it into a local pond where we know there are other turtles or would we be better off keeping it inside until the weather warms up in the spring?

We would appreciate your opinion on this matter. Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Gillian.

Ps. He seems to be healthy ;)

Cheoy Lee [Visitor] in response to: What Do Painted Turtles Do in Winter?

Cheoy Lee [Visitor] — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:38:06 +0000

What an excellent way to engage people with science, getting them interested, as well as finding out more about as fascinating a species as the painted turtle! Thanks :)