redearslider.com

Hello!
My husband and I recently got a red eared slider. We really didn't know much about turtles at first, but we have been learning a lot.
Our turtle who is about 2in long is happily in a 10gallon tank with gravel, aquatic plants, basking spot and light,warm water and delicious worms and lettuce to devour.
We are going to upgrade to 25-30gal tank in the next couple of months.
We currently live in warm climate, but we will be moving to Minnesota within the next year. We are thinking of getting a house and building a pond for our turtle.
The winters in Minnesota are long and very cold, and so we are not sure if that's viable. The summers are warm and fairly humid. We'd like to know if we can build a pond and
let our turtle enjoy basking in the summer sun while spending our winters indoors together. Will that continuous change in habitat be harmful to him? Are Minnesota summers
warm enough for red eared sliders? http://suite101.com/article/minnesota-weather-by-month-a32978. Thinking of how flowers grow in green houses, is there
a warmth-keeping enclosure that can be built around an outdoor pond? We're not interested in a pond for decorative purposes, but for our turtle's enjoyment and health
as we read that well-kept ponds can be wonderful for aquatic turtles. Of course, we don't want our turtle to become a Popsicle

Any information would be appreciated

Yes, you can do that. You'll have to carefully monitor the weather, but there are several people on this forum who do this. From that link, you could have about 3.5 months of outdoor time. You can build an outdoor enclosure, though you'll have to use special glass or acrylic that permit UVB rays to pass through.

steve wrote:Yes, you can do that. You'll have to carefully monitor the weather, but there are several people on this forum who do this. From that link, you could have about 3.5 months of outdoor time. You can build an outdoor enclosure, though you'll have to use special glass or acrylic that permit UVB rays to pass through.

Thank you!
Will an outdoor enclosure like that be able to keep our RES safe and warm during the winter months as well? (perhaps with artificial heating and UVB lamps?)

That would be very tricky with very cold winters. As mentioned, if you get special glass or acrylic, you wouldn't need a UVB lamp. Keeping the water warm would be a challenge too. How many gallons were you thinking of?

At least 150 gallons

I think moving indoors would be the best idea.

I understand thank you!

Check out my thread about my outdoor pond. I live in Iowa and currently have 2 turtles outside in my pond I build for them. If they are native to your area, they will be just fine outside year round. Just make sure the water is deep enought that it won't freeze solid during the winter or have a 1500 watt pond heater going to help keep the ice at bay.