Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 1:07 pm Is it ok to leave my red ear slider out overnight in summer?
I live in Washington State, the Tri Cities area, in the Sagebrush Steppe (mostly only sagebrush grows naturally, its pretty much a desert). They sell Red Ear Sliders at pet stores here. I have read that they are an invasive species in the western coast area, but the temperatures are less cold and less extreme over there (since it is moderated by the ocean), but over on the east side, there is this rain shadow effect, where all the rain from the seas dumps into the cascade mountains before it arrives here. So it is a desert with very little moisture. It is sunny most of the time, and there are high winds, and fluctuating temperatures. In the day it might be up to 90-100 degrees fahrenheit, and then in the night or on some cooler days, it can get down to about 50. I read that Red Ear Sliders hibernate or brumate around 50 degrees, but would they actually do that during the summer months when they know the temperature will read over 80 the next day? I have a shallow outdoor pet pool about 11" deep that is above ground and doesn't go beneath the frost line (which is 2 feet here, I read). The temperature in the pool seems more constant, maybe 60ish in the mornings and 80 during the day (i have monitored it for a few days now, and the coldest time is the early morning hours around 5-7 am). There are native lizards living in the area, and they seem to be ok, we also have snakes. But I haven't been able to discover wild populations of invasive sliders in this area, maybe there are though. They are not natives here.