I have two eastern painted turtles that are native to my zone. They have overwintered in my pond which has a section that is over 3 feet deep and I added a container of clay and aquarium stone for them to dig into. I have heard of red eared sliders dying in zone 5 when people tried to overwinter them in a pond. It's a risk to overwinter any turtle in a northern zone. Turtles require a large filtration system. My filters and bio tank are rated for a 5,000 gallon pond and my pond is only 1,000 gallons. Any less filtration would probably cause problems. Turtles are a lot of work. I personally find the sight of a turtle in my pond to be worth the problems they cause. I'm currently feeding my turtles some blueburries, which is easy on them because the fish have trouble getting the burries in their mouths.

It doesn't sound like hole-in-the-head disease. More likely, Serj and one or both of the turtles argued over food and even the tough hide on a pleco is no match for a turtle's beak. For a start, remove Serj from the turtle tank and into a hospital tank until he heals completely, because the turtles will now attack those wounds with vigor, and while I agree that Melafix is great stuff and will help, absolutely clean water is important too, or the wounds will become infected. As it is, it sounds like they may be starting to develop fungus. Melafix can be used in conjunction with any antibiotics and as long as you give Serj fresh water daily, you can treat him in a small tank with no filtration. Frankly, unless you are water changing daily, I don't think a Whisper 60 is near enough for a 65 gal. tank with such a huge load. Keep in mind, that 2 turtles and an 8 inch pleco will produce as much waste daily as would several hundred guppies.

Although we spent all day yesterday cleaning and hunting around the yard, we did not find Turk. Lucy talked me into putting out pans of water but so far, nothing. I think Kym may be right and that's he's looking for a place to bunker down for the winter... -if- he can hibernate out of water. I've been searching the internet but so far I can't seem to find out if water turtles have to hibernate in the water, or if they can do it out. Generally they do hibernate under the muck in the water but it's possible I suppose, that he could sleep the winter away on dry land. If anyone knows the answer to that question, please let me know. Time is running out. He's never been in temperatures under 65 degrees. Thank you for your concern! fool4flowers - I'm so glad you found your missing toad! Everytime I go outside i just know Turk is going to be there. BTW, I failed to mention that my pond is partially above water and it is too tall for him to climb back in on his own. We put up two ramps. Hopefully he'll take advantage of them!

Thanks for the responses. And handymac ,very funny story ! (I had two chow chows before & they make great gaurd dogs).I was able to keep it safe and wet. Our local shelter said it was a red striped slider wich is very common and not protected. If we took it to the shelter they would care for it three days but if no one claimed or adopted it they would , well you know. we waited till 8pm then took him to the shelter(he wouldnt eat). As soon as we got home the rescue called back .they sent someone over to the shelter to rescue him .Hooray! The lady at rhe rescue said he was very large and probably out grew his original home (a box in some kids bedroom in the apt. behind our house)so they tossed him out next to the dumpster.Makes me sick to my stomach. but anyway he's safe now. Thanks again for the feed back and helpfull link.