Please give advice!! (on brumation)

[DoubleD1996!]

There's nothing wrong with brumating a cold tolerant animal outside at all. So long as you are properly prepared.

You can literally fill your enclosure with mulch and leaves, and put some boards on top to keep the rain out. Box turtles can even get wet and will even brunate in water depending on the species, but you should avoid it as caution.I've literally used kiddie pools upside down with leaves and mulch for years and it's worked fine.

As Jeff said, if there is still food in the gut, it could be an issue. Turtles have to thermo regulate to aid in digestion. So any food left in the gut can rot and potentially kill your box turtle.

I stopped feeding maybe a week ago, yet they still forage for food on their own such as snails, isopodes and worms. I can't stop them. They know what they're doing.

I find box turtles in the woods near trees nestled down with part of their shells exposed during the heart of winter.

I recommend checking out garden state tortoise video here. It should put you at ease. There's no need to panic my friend.

 

[DoubleD1996!]

Animals fresh out if brumation

 

[baby box turtle]

Okay I got it dug and I have all the soil loosened and I have the topsoil and stuff to mix in with the loose dirt so I was trying to ask you what do I do next????? Do I just mix it all in and fill it up then start doing the layers of grass clippings and leafs??? Then do I just sit the turtles in the area and let them dig their way down to where they choose???????

Mark1??????

 

[baby box turtle]

Thank

There's nothing wrong with brumating a cold tolerant animal outside at all. So long as you are properly prepared.

You can literally fill your enclosure with mulch and leaves, and put some boards on top to keep the rain out. Box turtles can even get wet and will even brunate in water depending on the species, but you should avoid it as caution.I've literally used kiddie pools upside down with leaves and mulch for years and it's worked fine.

As Jeff said, if there is still food in the gut, it could be an issue. Turtles have to thermo regulate to aid in digestion. So any food left in the gut can rot and potentially kill your box turtle.

I stopped feeding maybe a week ago, yet they still forage for food on their own such as snails, isopodes and worms. I can't stop them. They know what they're doing.

I find box turtles in the woods near trees nestled down with part of their shells exposed during the heart of winter.

I recommend checking out garden state tortoise video here. It should put you at ease. There's no need to panic my friend.

Thank you for that really I appreciate all of it.

 

[DoubleD1996!]

Thank
Thank you for that really I appreciate all of it.

No problem. I wish I would've saw that video starting out. I was a nervous reck. We fail to realize how capable these animals are and forget that they belong in nature, and it's just our privilege to have them.

 

[baby box turtle]

No problem. I wish I would've saw that video starting out. I was a nervous reck. We fail to realize how capable these animals are and forget that they belong in nature, and it's just our privilege to have them.

Where r u located?

 

[jeff kushner]

Where r u located?

Look under the persons name.....it tells where they live.


DD raises some of the best little guys here, his info is solid as is Toms, and Mark1's.

I did not view the vid, it may cover some of the info below.


Here's a study;

Our data reveal that box turtles tolerate the freezing of at least 58% of their body water and can remain frozen, without injury, for at least 73 hr. Supercooling occurred in 63% of the turtles but only lasted from 0.1 to 2.0 hr.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jez.1402540215#:~:text=Our%20data%20reveal%20that%20box,from%200.1%20to%202.0%20hr.

 

[baby box turtle]

T

Look under the persons name.....it tells where they live.


DD raises some of the best little guys here, his info is solid as is Toms, and Mark1's.

I did not view the vid, it may cover some of the info below.


Here's a study;

Our data reveal that box turtles tolerate the freezing of at least 58% of their body water and can remain frozen, without injury, for at least 73 hr. Supercooling occurred in 63% of the turtles but only lasted from 0.1 to 2.0 hr.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jez.1402540215#:~:text=Our%20data%20reveal%20that%20box,from%200.1%20to%202.0%20hr.

Thank all of you guys for helping me as well as educating me with and through all of this it's so much more appreciated than words can tell you so thank you ALL WHOVE HELPED ME WITH ANYTHING IVE NEEDED AND ASKED

 

[DoubleD1996!]

Where r u located?

Tennessee. We have similar winters

 

[mark1]

Okay I got it dug and I have all the soil loosened and I have the topsoil and stuff to mix in with the loose dirt so I was trying to ask you what do I do next????? Do I just mix it all in and fill it up then start doing the layers of grass clippings and leafs??? Then do I just sit the turtles in the area and let them dig their way down to where they choose???????

i've never dug out a hole and filled with dirt , i just turn the existing soil with a shovel and break up the clumps , my spot has had leaves and grass added to it for years , it turns over and breaks up easily ........ i did this today , i pushed the grass to one side , turned the soil over down about a foot and broke up the clumps with a shovel, pushed the grass back over to the side i did , and turned over and broke up the other half , then put the turtles back how i found them and spread the grass back evenly over the spot ........

pushed the grass clippings to one side , the turtles were under it , so i moved them to the other side while i turned and broke up the soil on this side ....... put them back how i found them and covered them with grass again, did the same with the other half ....

i gathered some leaves for the 1rst time this year and put a layer of them on top of the grass clippings , i believe we're getting in the 30's this weekend ........i'll add a lot more leaves before winter , i'm sure the turtles will all be back out once or twice before winter ..... it's been pretty cold here , were due for a warm stretch, they haven't all disappeared and the ones that have are not very deep ......

this is the kind of shovel i use to break up the soil , and the length of the blade is as deep as i go .....

and no, you don't bury the turtles , you let them do whatever they do , they should disappear when it get cold , if it warms up they may reappear , only to disappear when it gets cold again ....... if it stays cold and they disappear for more than a week , you shouldn't see them again until spring ..... if it's overcast and in the 40's and you see them out in november , bring them in the house for the winter it's not normal ....... if they're out in the 30's sunny or not in november , bring them in the house for the winter , that's not normal either ..... provide them with what they need and they'll be bright eyed in the spring .....

 

[baby box turtle]

Well I thought when I was told to loosen the dirt 12 inches deep 3ft wide by 4ft long I thought that meant to dig it and break it all up so I done that then I mixed the broken up dirt with bags of topsoil and filled the spot back in then I put a thick layer of grass clippings in a thick layer of leaves and went ahead and introduced the turtles to the spot they immediately dug under the layers of grass and leaves I'm not sure if they went further the smallest one I haven't seen in about 3 days the two bigger ones come out and then go back under so I'm praying what I did do is comfortable for them to brumate in safely I'm going to keep adding clippings of grass and leave layers until it's about 4 ft tall do you think they're going to be okay????????

 

[baby box turtle]

This is them and their area for brumating

 

[mark1]

looks good , put some water in there for them , let them soak , they need water, i got two of them here been under water since it got cold a week ago ...... when they're down for good , probably sometime in november , fill that pen up with leaves , the more the better , pile some leaves around the outside too , in case they dig in near the outside edge ...... they can't dig under that fence can they????

 

[DoubleD1996!]

This is them and their area for brumating

Looks good.

 

[megarathebes]

I have been researching and checking on Roxie daily since it's still a little warm out. There's a lot of info that can be found out there and so far my girl is acting accordingly. I'm about to add another couple bricks of coconut husk bedding for her because ever since I added the last she has started burrowing deeper and sleeping later due to the recent cold nights and shady chilly days. You have to make sure they have fresh water every day. I made a temporary wading pool with a plastic paint pan and poked small holes in the deep end. Usually by the next day the water is more than halfway down so I can just add more. I have recently found info about how they don't eat for 2 weeks before brumation because it can cause them to get sick but I'm looking more into that because I don't have enough information. All I can really say is keep researching and also remember that most of them know what to do and how to survive on their own when they have the right materials around them. I did note that with how the leaves have started to fall here it's easy for me to scoop a few handfuls and put it in her habitat to also help with brumation.