Home › Forums › Diamondback Terrapins › Question on hibernating temperatures
- This topic has 2 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 20 years, 5 months ago by
Marguerite Whilden.
-
AuthorPosts
-
-
August 30, 2004 at 10:56 am #20166
Marguerite Whilden
GROUP In your experience, at what temperature/s do terrapins begin to recover from hibernation/brumation in the wild or under controlled conditions. Does 55F water temp sound reasonable? thanks Marguerite WhildenThe Terrapin InstituteP. O. Box 501Grasonville, MD. 21638410 370 9171410 757 9268
-
August 30, 2004 at 11:32 am #20167
Diamondback Terrapin World
Hi, I live in Los Angeles, so I am not able to get my water very cool. I get my dbts to go into hibernation by removing all the basking lamps and installing some low wattage bulbs. I set the light timer for around 6 hours a day. I also remove access to their basking area. My normal water temperature is around 78F-80F. They normally start going into hibernation around 65F. I try to keep the water under 60F during the winter but it never goes below 50F. They swim around a little bit from time to time but for the most part they are sleeping. In March they start waking up when the temperature is over 65F. The first year I have a WC they tend to stay more awake than the other turtles. I know my temperatures are warming than up North but I think it is about right for Florida through Texas. I have a lot of Gulf Coast dbts. The Northerns hibernate just as soundly as the Gulf Coast subspecies. I would love to hear what everyone else’s experience have been. Thanks Jonathan http://www.diamondbackterrapin.com P.S. I have most of this information posted on my site under the Breeding section labled How to Hibernate.Marguerite Whilden
-
August 30, 2004 at 1:09 pm #20169
Marguerite Whilden
Jonathan Excellent info – many thanks. I over-wintered some adults last year in an unheated garage. They did very well. During the extremes of last winter, i.e. 17F, I used pond heaters to keep the tanks fluid. Although I have been working with winter terps in the wild for over four years, I have not been able to get a consistent temperature at which they brumate and then start moving around again. In my first year of observation, winter air temps rarely reached freezing, so I assume that many terrapins remained somewhat active. I observed terrapins swimming in February of 1999. Last year, we had a very good freeze, but I was not able to pinpoint an average temp or timeframe for post-brumation movements. The question was more to help me gauge when a spike in terrapin harvest could be expected, i.e. more animals are harvested as they begin to move around and enter the nets. I wonder if reproductive output would be effected by above normal temperatures in the wild. I am hoping that the average trigger temperature for Maryland terrapins proves to be close to 55F, so that I can call my paper “Celsius 13”. Thanks again for contributing to conservation and preservation. Keep up the good work. Marguerite WhildenThe Terrapin InstituteP. O. Box 501Grasonville, MD. 21638410 370 9171410 757 9268
-
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.