I'm a new turtle mommy in need of some answers. help!

[Laura Campos]

Hi all,

I'm brand new to this site and in need of some assistance. My husband and I rescued a couple of Box turtles a couple of months ago and I'm trying to learn as much as I can about these cuties. It's been over 100 degrees in my area for the last few days and I was wondering if that's too hot for them to be outside. Right now I have them inside and the temp in our house without the AC on is about 85. Do I need to keep the basking light on the turtle for 10 hours if it's warm in our house? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Tom]

The "sun" should be up for at least 12 hours a day, indoors or out, unless you are trying to hibernate them in fall.

100 is too hot, but in a well planted, heavily shaded enclosure you can add shade cloth, misters and automatic sprinklers to keep them cool enough. Set a sprinkler to "rain" on them every hour for five minutes during the heat of the day. They need high humidity and dampness. Not easy to do in your area.

 

[Laura Campos]

Thank you. Much appreciated.

 

[Yvonne G]

All mine are outside 24/7/365 and I believe the weather here in Central California is hotter than in your area. My box turtle yard is a jungle with a LARGE waterer. The turtles come out morning and evening, but hide or bury during the middle part of the day. The yard is built behind a barn on one side, a shed on one side, an abandoned house on one side, so there is never any full sun shining on the yard:

 

[Laura Campos]

Wow, what great set up. Lucky little turtles! I'm working on improving my outdoor habitat. Mine needs some protection over the top since some critter got in and killed one of my turtles. I'm terrified to leave the other one out over night. Thanks for sharing. Much appreciated.

 

[Tom]

Wow, what great set up. Lucky little turtles! I'm working on improving my outdoor habitat. Mine needs some protection over the top since some critter got in and killed one of my turtles. I'm terrified to leave the other one out over night. Thanks for sharing. Much appreciated.

Don't leave it outside over night. Bring it into the indoor enclosure, or use a night box and lock them up securely every night. A night box will also help to mitigate our cold night temperatures even if you don't use any heat sources. With a heat source, like a radiant heat panel controlled by a thermostat, you can keep the night temps up a little bit and keep them outside earlier in spring and longer in fall when night temps here start to really dip. I do this with my temperate species and it works great. I let night temps dip into the low 60s and then our warm sunny days allow them to warm up and remain active earlier in spring and later in fall after hibernation.

 

[Laura Campos]

Thanks for the info. I do have an indoor habitat set up and I keep him in there over night. I let him outside for a few hours in the day and keep an eye on him. I've only had the turtles for three months and I'm learning as I go.