General Care Discussion :: outside pond in winter for RES?

[Poppie1003]

With winter months approaching, I have questions. I am new at this, so bear with me. I have 2 RES approx 6 mos. old right now. Housing is 100 gallon water trough, outside on covered porch, Central Texas where temps are currently over 100 degrees for past 80 days. Water temp has remained around 82-85 degrees consistantly. I have good filtration, UVB light and thermostats inside water and outside. For winter months, I plan on getting submersible heater and heat lamp to help keep basking area warm. We generally have a few freezes in the winter, but otherwise, temps are normally between 70 - 80 degrees. Question: With the heat lamp and submersible heater, Will the small turtles be able to stay in the outside trough, or will I need to set up something inside? I have no experience with the heaters, so am not sure what temps they will keep the water at, also , if they do keep the water warm enough, will the heat lamp keep the outside temp (basking area) warm enough? Any advice is appreciated.

[steve]

I would wait until they are older/bigger before they are exposed to those temperatures. Would it be easy to move the trough indoors?

[Poppie1003]

No, can't move it inside... way too big. Maybe I could just bring them inside into smaller quarters for the few days / nights when it gets really cold? Would that stress them too much -- moving them around like that?

[Linus]

I hibernate my Big girl every year, and have been doing it for about 5 years now in SoCal.

First off, you don't need/want a tank heater outside, the rapid temp. changes will cause it to break, and possibly kill your turtles.

Second, here in California, my girl will basically sleep all the time for a few months, no eating or basking. What you don't want to happen is warm water temperature and cold air temperature. This could shock your turtles to death when they come to breathe. Plus, hibernation is hard in captivity, your turtles may just not make it.