Mid-Winter Burrow Check
The temp is dropping again, so I went out to turn on the tort's heater, and decided to check in on them at the same time. I can just barely reach them if I bury my arm up to the shoulder. Both are heavy and respond to touch. It's nice and dry in there. I expect them to emerge around Valentine's Day, and they may need to be returned to the burrow and locked in with heat one or two more times after they emerge. This is their third winter brumating outside. They will be seven years old late this coming summer. I got them when they were three years old. They have been living outside, virtually unsupported by me, for three and a half years.
In other news, I'm sad to report that I am afraid one of the Sarassas has been lost to a heron. I returned home a few weeks ago to find a Great Blue Heron standing on the water garden wall. Although the fish are mostly dormant and should be down at the bottom, and there is a LOT of cover, since then I've only seen three of them. Two are very similar and can only be told apart when they are together, so I am not sure who is missing, Levy or Halley. I've never had a heron visit, to my knowledge, before.