The rigid winter
Although today the example of nature should be in the foreground when keeping European turtles, it is not always possible to imitate nature one to one. We must certainly make the greatest compromise when it comes to winter rigor.
Winter temperatures are not only dependent on the location, type and nature of the habitat, but above all on the prevailing weather. Especially in habitats near the sea, the free-living turtles are sometimes exposed to extreme temperature fluctuations. Even temperatures in the minus range or persistent temperatures in the metabolic range are not uncommon in wintering pits.
The turtles have adapted to this in the course of their evolution and have also developed special mechanisms and survival strategies for this. Of course, these mechanisms and strategies only work in the original habitats. For the protected wintering in our care, completely different rules apply, so that we should strive to offer our animals only optimal winter temperatures.
How the wintering of tortoises works in nature and how it should work in human care, I have described in detail in my books "European tortoises, habitat and way of life" and "Natural husbandry and breeding of the Greek tortoise" .
In some areas, such as in the sand dunes on the west and south coast of Sardinia, in the Peloponnese or in the south of Spain, there are populations that cannot go into a freeze over a long period of time due to the very mild temperatures that prevail there. That is why the turtles are mostly active there even in the winter months. The nature there is also in a mild mode and forage plants are plentiful.
Below are a few pictures from habitats in southern Spain. Here the turtles are also active in winter. Even on cloudy days, I found many active turtles. The animals crawl into the undergrowth and undergrowth only during longer periods of bad weather. Between the bushes there are always islands with a variety of forage plants.
