I came upon this handsome guy yesterday (or, he came upon me). He was moving from one pond to another and may be the last painted turtle that I’ll see this year (and, I may be the last human he sees).
This is the time that painted turtles reportedly stop eating and try to rid themselves of their last meals. They’ll soon drop to the bottom of a pond or other mostly still fresh water and bury themselves in the muck there to brumate, probably until spring.
Painted turtles and other brumating reptiles stop eating beforehand so that they can clear their digestive tracts, researchers have found. Apparently, undigested food can decompose and cause severe bacterial infections, even death in animals that are barely alive while brumating.
(Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 2, 2026.)