Urgent Care :: found this little guy in my backyard near my koi pond...

[thai nguyen]

i found this little guy near my koi pond....i'm not sure what to do with him....he's still alive but not moving and eyes are closed, my water temp is in the mid 40's to high 50's...hes about 2.5-3 inch diameter....heres some pictures...help i don't want him to die...

[worldpeace]

My guess is that he went into hibernation.

I would try warm up the water slowly, until you get it to about 75-ish. But then again, I've never had experiences with hibernating turtles, so better wait for a reply from someone who has.

[thai nguyen]

well i did found him outside near my pond...and i think i'm the only one with a pond within about a dozen homes...so he might be super dehydrated...or something....

[thai nguyen]

i guess he is a red slider turtle...

[SabrinaF]

I can see the red ears He is a red ear slider. Go to the main turtle talk site and type in hibernation in the search engine. That should bring up any post with that word in there. Somewhere amongst those should have info to help you. But I believe I have read that to get a turtle out of hibernation is to raise water temp slowly. Not to quickly you don't want to shock him. But I don't know how quickly and over what kind of time to raise it.

[aal]

I doubt he's hibernating. Well he could be but chances are he lost his way from a nest. Your koi pond is far too cold. And I understand that Koi ponds can't get too hot for the Koi. Put the RES in a large tub or tank with water about 80 DFar.. Offer food and a basking area. If its a tub, place it outside. I think he's starving or dehydrating. Give him turtle pellets fast! That small thing can't survive too long without food and water.

[Seroster]

I dunno if he's hibernating or not, but if he is I'd be wary of waking him up if you don't have facilities to keep him indoors. Not sure what the best course of action would be to be honest, you might call a vet.

[thai nguyen]

okay so day 2: his eyes are now open, and he's more active, i took him inside, got a big container and got him some water from the koi pond....yea it was cold...but i didn't have anything else....early morning i put his container in direct sun...and hes doing good now...i have a 20 gallon tank i can set up to hold this guy until i can figure waht i want to do with him....