Habitat - Outdoor :: first winter woes

[joni]

Hi: I have 2 red-eared sliders who are about 10 years old, mel and melanie and this year we finally moved them from their inside 50 gallon tank to a big trough (not sure of size but i see them in lots of your pics of outside tanks). they love it and come up to bask under their light all the time. Now, i understand they either need a heater or to come inside. THe guy that comes to clean the tank says a heater would not be efficient enough, i need to bring them in. He says they will not hibernate outside. they are about the size of a salad plate each of them or a little bigger.

my question is...can they live outside? will they hibernate under the water? oh,i live in las vegas and last night it got down to 40. If i bring them in, we wouild have to move their trough into my garage which is not heated but is warmer than outside.

I have these guys a long time and now i am scared to death.

thanks.

[megcornell]

If they have not hibernated in the 10 years you've had them, it's too risky to start now.
They will have to be brought inside and kept at a constant temp in the mid 70s. If you can maintain that in your garage, that's fine instead of bringing them in the house.

[joni]

thanks for your answer. for 10 years they have lived in luxury indoors, poor babies, they have never been cold i will have to find a place in the garage for this big trough and probably get a heater for it.

we were thinking recently about sinking the trough into the ground so the lip was level with the ground and they could come out in a section of the yard that we would turtle proof and walk around and then go back "home". but then what would they do in the winter ? so i guess i cant do that. Too bad. since we moved them outside (june of this year) my turtle guy comes about once every 4-5 weeks and cleans filter, etc. and we let them out to walk around the back yard. they love it. i sort of have a "pet" roadrunner who noticed them for the first time this week and showed interest! Too much interest, so if i did build them an area to walk around in, i would have to net it in. but now, i cant do that if i have to bring them in for the winter.

silly question but, i have a spare bathroom, could they live in the bathtub for the winter. i would just drain the water out and then refill it so dont need a filter, right? that would solve alot of my problems but no one has ever mentioned anything like that before.

[megcornell]

I would not use a bathtub for a number of reasons. The first is that you have years of chemicals and soaps in the tub, and I'd be weary of how much of that residue would be in contact with the turtles. Secondly, I wouldn't want to use a tub after turtles had lived in it semi-long term.
But, most importantly it would be hard to maintain temps in a tub.
With a large enough container, I suspect you could get away filter-less, it just depends on how much maintenance work you're willing to do to keep the water clean.
What are you using to filter the "trough" when it's outside? I think your easiest bet would be to move the set up indoors.

One thing to be cautious of in the garage is the ambient air temperature, if it is too cool it can make the turtles ill. If the only time the air really gets cool is at night, you can always cover the container for the evening to help retain some heat.