Changing daylight
 

With the lower elevation of the sun...the turtles are having a harder time finding a basking spot. Won't be long before there is none.
Took this pic today..their usual prime sunning spot at 3 pm.

The big female(in the front) is shedding her scutes.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1598386281.jpg

Learn something every day. shedding her scutes

^^^ When cleaning the pond for the next season...the bottom always has a bunch of transparent sections from the turtles shells. They are like 1X1 inch very thin plexi-glass.

With no basking spots...they are just biding their time until spring.
There is no hurry...they will wait.

Rather than having the patience of a saint, maybe the saying should be patience of a turtle or possibly patience of a sloth.

We are, of course, also seeing the days shorten here, but they are still plenty long and plenty hot. It's so weird to hear you talking about the changing sun and how soon they'll be waiting for next spring.

I think you've mentioned this before, but what do you do with them in the winter?

^^^ Yep..there is no urgency in their lives!

There is no mud/dirt for them to burrow into because my pond has a rubber liner that holds the water.
They would die in the winter because the pond freezes into one giant cube.
I net them (fish and turtles) out in Oct/Nov and they live in a stock tank in my garage/heated.

I have extended the outdoor time for them by installing a 110volt water heater element that is plumbed into the waterfall. Once late Nov comes...not worth trying to heat the pond.
They get moved into the garage.