Since we had several cold days and nights already, Painted Turtles Chrysemys picta who live in the pond are getting ready for winter. Lacking summer heat, this one was wandering very very slowly for a food item or a place to settle. Turtles will spend the next several months in frigid pond water below the frozen ice, with their metabolism and their heart rate slowed way down. They can absorb oxygen from the water through vascularized areas in their mouth, throat, and anus (cloacal respiration). But using oxygen produces lactic acid in their body, which the turtle counteracts with minerals released from its shell and bones. Painted Turtles do not eat during this time, but they do remain alert, especially to light from above. In Spring, when the hours of daylight increase, they will respond.
