Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2016 10:49 pm Outdoor wandering female
Hi! I have a female RES that is about 8 inches and a male about 10 inches outside in the bigger of the two ponds in my yard. (I have no clue how old they are) She vanished a while back for months and I thought she had gotten snatched but she came back and has been happy in the bigger of the two ponds for the last several months. A week ago my neighbor found her buried under the dirt in her planter adjacent to my fence about three feet from the bigger pond (I didn't think she could get through the slates in the fence ): So we put her back in the pond and now before I got a chance to close the fence, I haven't seen her for the last few days. I live in Brea CA and it has not gotten to anywhere near 50 degrees at night yet. So I'm wondering if others think she is trying to hibernate so early? Or is she trying to find a place to nest? And in either case, should I disturb her again if she is back in the dirt? I've always tried to make everything as natural as possible for them so I don't want to mess things up and I'm really torn on what to do. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!