Box Turtle Hibernation

[jlyoncc1]

Can someone please give me some box turtle hibernation info? This will be my first year hibernating. I have one female that I am not hibernating. But, I would like to hibernate the rest. Will they just stop eating or do I stop at a certain temperature? Any advice would be great! Thanks!

 

[jlyoncc1]

Sorry, Just saw Jens post. But if anyone has any other info pertinent to NJ area, I would appreciate it.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Dee: My box turtles live outside, so they are essentially "wild" box turtles. I scooped out an indentation in two of the higher corners of their pen then I placed a piece of plywood over each, hoping that would encourage the turtles to use those spots to overwinter. And THEY DO!! So I feed them as usual until I notice that some of the food is being left when they are finished. Then I start to either feed them a lesser amount of food, or less often. As long as they will eat, I feed them, just not as much. Eventually they all dig down into the two spots I created for them. When they are all "under," I take the "leavings" from the barn floor and around the horse feeders and pile it up over the two hibernating places so that the turtles are under at least 2' of garden trash or old hay. It is my opinion that they stay awake under there for a few weeks before completely going to sleep, because they usually are out of sight about a month prior to the first frost. So they are cleaning out their digestive tracts during that time. As long as they are protected from freezing, they are ok outside during the winter. The rain doesn't hurt them. I understand that they are susceptible to carbon dioxide poisoning while they are hibernating, so you shouldn't completely close off the opening to their hibernatorium, but don't leave it so big that the cold air gets in there.

Yvonne

 

[jlyoncc1]

Thanks Yvonne! My thought was to add leaves and hay to their enclosures once they were under. Then lay plywood over top. I will make sure there is air circulation!