Leave a red eared slider in pond for winter?

[SEKCOBRA]

HI All
I have a 3500 gallon pond. 4ft deep. Gravel bottom but only a inch or two deep. Large rocks and caves. Zone 7b. I put a baby RES in the pond in May. He has grown quite a bit since. Still only a couple of inches but doubled in size since May. Occasionally he eats Koi pellets when I feed the fish. There is also minnows, crayfish, frogs, tadpoles and plants in the pond that he could be feeding on also. I prefer to leave him in the pond for the winter. I don't have any mud to speak of for him to burrow in. I do have lots of places he could squeeze under. Any turtle keepers have a similar pond that have let them burmate over the winter?

 

[PondMomma]

I'm not sure, I'm mostly here to say that oh my that's a cute little turtle BUT I'm also in zone 7b and we canoe alot in the winter months and still see alot of turtles out then so it wouldn't surprise me if he was fine.

 

[Jhn]

I’m in zone 7b, as well just in Maryland. First winter or so you are better off bringing the turtle inside, in my experience young turtles have a rougher time brumating outdoors. After it is a couple years older and larger it will be fine. Not to say it won’t be fine if you choose to do it, but keep an eye out for it in early spring as it comes out of brumation. You may need to bring it in , I had to do that this past spring with one of my juvenile terrapins which was 1.5 years old. It was looking rough, so had to bring her in for a bit and help her recover.

My adult terrapins have been outside in my pond year round for 10 years now, and they do fine, as long as they have places to tuck under to feel secure they don’t need a mud bottom to dig into.

 

[Tula]

I have't kept turtles, but before I retired a mother brought turtle eggs into school for the children to watch hatch. She said she'd had turtles for years and she put a dishpan of sand at the bottom of her pond.

Sounds like @Jhn has turtle keeping experience

 

[420benz]

I am in zone 8 and would like to add 1 or 2 turtles to the pond.My question is how do i keep them from leaving?

 

[Jhn]

I am in zone 8 and would like to add 1 or 2 turtles to the pond.My question is how do i keep them from leaving?

You will have to put a fence around the pond and bury the fence into the ground, so they can’t escape.

 

[420benz]

Got it. Thanks

 

[j.w]

I hear they can climb also so better make it a non climbable fence.

 

[j.w]

Some use this w/good results: https://wetlandsinstitute.org/conse...de-for-building-terrapin-barriers-and-fences/

 

[SEKCOBRA]

Hi Guys
Sorry about the late response. Thanks for the advice. I originally put 4 hatchlings in the pond back in May. One I found in bog area dead. Two I have no idea if they took off or died in the pond. I have one left that has been doing very well. Im leaning toward leaving him in the pond and hoping he makes it through the winter. I have a couple of months to make a decision. Thanks for the advice.