How deep do Box turtles hibernate?

[jeff kushner]

It's late summer and again, we're going to try to let 3 year old Matilda be a turtle and hibernate outdoors for the winter. We began last year and got to 22F nighttime temps and she was doing great, then was attacked by a rat or similar so I brought her in for the winter.

So here we are again. I've built up one corner of her enclosure with lots of leaves and some green leaf matter to build a bed for her. It's about 10" deep and 16" from the edge to the wall of her home.

How deep does it have to be?

6"

12"

18"

I know where the freeze line is but considering that in good conditions, a box turtle can be fully 40% frozen & survive....I don't think I need to provide anything that deep.

I don't want to push her to the edge of existence but I don't want to go overboard either.

I'd love to hear other thoughts???

 

[Yvonne G]

I think it's different depending upon where on earth you are. It's been my understanding they need to be down below the frost line, which is probably different across the globe.

 

[Paschendale52]

I have pretty limited experience with box turtles, but I would recommend you make sure that the location is not the most downhill part of the enclosure. When we lived in Illinois I had a box turtle that hibernated in the lowest point in the enclosure, 8' x 4' outside, and we had a terrible spring thaw cycle where it would freeze, thaw, rain, and refreeze about 3 or 4 times in a month span. My box turtle never came up from that hibernation and I assumed, died due to the rain/thaw cycles. When we dug up the enclosure I found him and it looked like he had died fully encased in a goopy mud soup we couldn't get out of. That is who is in the profile picture, which now that I have a dozen aquatic turtles, some of which I've had for 7 years, I realize I should probably update.

 

[mark1]

the frost line here is 42" , the plant zone is 5b ...... although i never looked for one in january or february , i've never seen one that appeared to go any deeper than about 4" to the top of their shells ........ my opinion, loosen and break the soil up about 10-12" deep, 4-5" of grass clippings , then 1-2' of leaves ....... high ground , well drained soil , full sun, sandy loam soil .... some of these guys here have hibernated as described for more than 20 winters without incident ........ i had one last winter suffer some freeze damage to her eyes ....... we had the 2nd warmest winter on record , i'm guessing she came up and didn't get in a good spot when winter came back, she did recover with a little help......... i have little doubt they do freeze to some degree every winter ......jmo