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I moved to my Nana's awhile ago and took my turtles with me. My fiancee's parents told me the turtles could stay there beforehand. They have since decided they don't want them there and I have someone looking after them for the next two weeks.

I am trying to decide what is best. To find a home for them or to move outdoors in which case they would have to hibernate. At the moment until I move in a year I could not have any power supply. My oldest turtle is 3-4 inches -- he is 2 and a half years old approx. My female is younger, about 1 and a half years old and not as big as the male.

I have two weeks to sort out either hibernation or selling. I suspect i will sell and will be told to sell, just sad that i will have to give them away.

I'm not sure I understand---if you moved to your Nana's and took your turtles with you, how do your fiancee's parents figure into this (I'm thinking you're talking about two separate places)? If it's the same place, do you know what changed their minds?

What kind of pond/enclosure would they have if they were to go outside? What's the coldest it gets where you are?

Hey. Sorry. Yes, two separate places. I can't have them at my Nana's. Basically, fiancee's father isn't a pet person and didn't like the smell -- I cleaned them out very often but there is still a smell -- at one point the filter broke which wasn't fun as im in a small town and had to wait till i went to the city to sort that out. There's also other little things which will probably just confuse you!!! Basically, its just not going to work.

I had a couple of ideas for where i could put the turtles. One is, on their farm (they wouldnt mind this) there is a massive pond, and i mean massive!!! Its almost a mini lake sort of It is all on their farm section however they have a model village here as well so i can't fence it and i doubt i would ever be able to find them in there again but would think they would have too much water to get any ideas of running away.

Otherwise i was thinking of going to the back area where their land is just trees and unused and digging a hole and lining it.

We don't get snow right where i am and the water would not freeze right over in winter. The high temperatures at the moment (coming into winter) are 14-15 degrees. The lows are 5-7 degrees. I think occasionally we could get a cold night that might go down to 1 or 2 degrees but that would be not often.

A thing here says:
Average Temperature:
Summer 17°C
Winter 9°C

I can see 3 issues with the "mini lake"
1. Unless you can fence them in, they can roam, so effectively you are releasing them into the wild.
2. I am not certain how well a captive turtle will adjust to having to fend for themselves in a large pond.
3. Temperatures even in summer look too low

If you create a small pond for them, you can solve 1 & 2 (providing you feed them), but temperatures will be even more of an issue even in summer.

Does the farm have any outbuildings / storage areas you could put the tank in?

Wow finally somebody from NEW ZEALAND! xD
if you are a New with hibernation you should do alot of research before hand, if you have been on trade me and seen how hard it is to sell a turtle it would probably take awhile to sell unless you know someone who wants to buy them.

Thanks Joel. Im advertising in the pet shop here, however they wont actually take them and sell them there. dont know how much success il have. I dont have anywhere to store them, there are sheds and what not but as they are mostly all used for the business they own i cant be anywhere that has power. It is becoming very troublesome.

Okay well my plan so far. Since so far i dont have a home for them is it best to tell the person looking after them to stop feeding them and turn the heater off? And then do that for ten days...and get her to tell me what the temperature has been reading? Then walk around the farm and find a semi-made pond somewhere and use some type of liner (could i just use tarpolon or not suitable as there is some?). I would have to get one of those de-icers though. Im not talking about a huge place, depends what i can find.

Would this work?
What type of dirt needs to be in the bottom?