Do you not hibernate them?
Hibernating a box turtle
- Thread starter cmacusa3
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Do you not hibernate them?
I don't hibernate mine. They will come back inside in a month or so. Around January I will let them "sleep" for a month by dropping the temps and light, but I don't consider that a true hibernation. It just improves breeding.
I successfully brumated mine in the fridge last winter. Works well.
Can you elaborate on that? Do you use your primary frig or dedicated? Any pics?
We have two primary refrigerators which are used and opened frequently, providing sufficient airflow for the turtles. I filled a tub with soil and buried the turtles after they had become inactive outdoors. The soil stayed moist all winter. When the outdoor temps became the same as the fridge, I buried them outdoors in their enclosure and they emerged naturally.
AJK Aquaria
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I see you're in Peoria. How long did you brumate in the fridge? I'm north of you about 2 hours and I'm still undecided on what I'm going to do this upcoming winter. Thanks
Hmm. I think I put them in sometime in October. They came out at the beginning of April I think. I know what you mean. Our frost line is so deep. I don't feel comfortable leaving them outside.
Here The last 5 years in late Oct or Nov. I put mine in large tubs of soil in the garage and they dig in after a few weeks, then sometime in late March they come up. This past year we had a very mild winter and early March my garage got warm and they started to emerge. I put them in the outside enclosure and they were all fine. I keep the soil moist but not wet.
AJK Aquaria
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Great info guys. Much appreciated.
Sorry for high jacking the thread...
Sorry for high jacking the thread...
ColleenT
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i am planing to let mine hibernate this year. we built a hibernaculum outside 3ftx3ftx3ft. we filled it back in with organic top soil and peat moss. it is softer than most of the dirt around it. we have a den covering this. In the fall i will gather up all the leaf litter i can get and place it inside the den. Hopefully they will figure it all out and come up alive in the spring.
i'm in northern ohio , our frostline for the building code is 36" and 42" , but the actual frostline is 25"-30" at most . while i'm not sure exactly how deep the turtles get , i'm certain mine do not get below our frostline , the deepest i've ever found one was maybe 8"-10" ......a lot of northern turtles can freeze for a short period of time without harm ......... if you provide them with a good safe spot and they're healthy , from my experiences they'll hibernate just fine every time ..... a high , sloping south facing spot that's gets a lot of sun seems to work .... mine hibernate in the same spot year after year , nobody ever tries any other spot , even first year turtles seem to naturally pick the same spot ...... a fridge works , just give them a leaf pile spot to dig into , wait until the days are staying in the 40's , and they're not coming out anymore , find them and transfer them to a box in the fridge , make sure the leaves/dirt and box stay pretty damp ........ when the ground is thawed and staying thawed , loosen some dirt about 18" deep in a sunny spot that drains and won't flood , pile some leaves on it and bury him so you can still see his shell , he will dig deeper if he's wants .......
How cold does it get up where you are?
this is february 2015 , i do believe january is our coldest month ..... we've gotten -20 F before without windchill ..... the winds coming off the lake make for brutal winters , eastern box turtles naturally occur here .........
My enclosures are above ground so they can't dig deep enough. We get those temperatures here as well.this is february 2015 , i do believe january is our coldest month ..... we've gotten -20 F before without windchill ..... the winds coming off the lake make for brutal winters , eastern box turtles naturally occur here .........
Last winter was a mild winter in Ohio. Average high in January was around 33F and low was around 20F. A few of mine was buried under the leaf litter and just burrowed in the ground. The problem for me wasn't the winter but was the early spring. We got some really warm days in March and cold days in April. Some of mine came up in March only to get bipolar Ohio weather. One of mine developed a sniffle and ear infection from it. Last year their hibernation spot had a wooded, sloped hibernation chamber that I filled full with leaf litter and straw. This year I think I am going to remove the chamber, still cover the spot with leaves and straw but allow the snow to insulate the area. Our house protects the area from westerly winds. We will see....or I might just throw them back in the fridge
i'll tell you Eric , i personally would appreciate more winters like last winter , but i also got a sick turtle this year .the earliest one out , i didn't know what to do with him either ....... i don't know whether to attribute his early appearance to he was not well , or his early appearance was the cause of him getting sick ........ he's a young turtle that turned up about 4yrs ago ...... i told the vet how surprised i was he got sick , he's honestly no different than a wild turtle .sometimes i don't see him for weeks and i can't even find him when i'm looking for him , which made the vet appointments stressful ........vet made the point they get sick in the wild too , they just persist , overcome it or die ..... i had one other turtle fall ill after hibernating , i don't remember the year or how the winter was that year ........ i think you may be correct in that the warm winter is harder on them ....... any box turtle i have today have originated in north or south carolina either directly or through parentage , i think one original male came from new jersey ...... the wood turtles originated from florida , Louisiana , and texas ,.... the blandings , north carolina , they all hibernate just fine here in ohio .......
I'm trying something different this year. The past 5 years in the new house, I've always brought them in the garage in tubs of dirt, they would dig down in around late Oct. early Nov. and come back up in March when the garage temps started to go back up. This year I'm going to put them in this house in their enclosure. It has at least 14-18 inches of dirt and then I will cover it with about 2 inches of leaf litter. It faces south for Sun and I didn't completely seal it up so that a little amount of moisture can get to the soil. It has some protection from the cold north winds we get during the winter, usually We get a few snow storms and a few ice storms during the winter, so I can also put a tarp over if and when that happens.
