I posted this on another turtle forum. Just looking for some multiple inputs on my little question.
Earlier this year we acquired a SW box turtle from my wife's mother who was tired of watching it. Last winter this boxie hibernated in a box in the back bedroom of the mom's house. Mom had her since she was a hatchling and she is now about 7 yrs old.
Now that the weather has turned cold here in eastern Washington, she has hunkered down in her enclosure. Its a 50 gal tote filled about a quarter of the way with peat moss. She buries herself and doesn't come out unless we dig her out. She started spending all day buried as soon as the weather got just a little cold at night. We dig her out about once a week to feed her and soak her. When we wake her up, she eats a lot, suns a little under the heat lamp , then returns to her buried state. Earlier this year when she woke up from her hibernation, she was extremely light and dehydrated but rather healthy by all appearances.
It seems like she is going to hibernate no matter what so I want to prepare her as best as possible. We always feed her a good mix of veggies, fruit and protein (usually poached chicken, her fav). Last time we woke her up, we gave her a nice soak and she took a fat poop, ate and then went back to sleep.
What can I do to prepare her for hibernation? Should I just let her natural instincts take over and leave her alone? Her tub is always in the house except on warm days when we put it outside in the sun for most of the day. I think she might have got the urge to hibernate because her tub was by the big sliding window that was a little breezy and she probably felt the cold being so close to the door.
I have a detached garage I could put the enclosure in, but it can get a bit cold here in the winter time and I'm worried it could be tooo cold. This will be my first winter in this house and I'm not sure if it will freeze in the garage or not. For now we have put her in my son's bedroom in the back of the house which still gets heat, but not a ton. We usually keep our house around 65-70 and I'm worried that might be too warm for her to hibernate in properly.
Should I just go ahead and let nature do what it does best? Anything I should do to help that?
Earlier this year we acquired a SW box turtle from my wife's mother who was tired of watching it. Last winter this boxie hibernated in a box in the back bedroom of the mom's house. Mom had her since she was a hatchling and she is now about 7 yrs old.
Now that the weather has turned cold here in eastern Washington, she has hunkered down in her enclosure. Its a 50 gal tote filled about a quarter of the way with peat moss. She buries herself and doesn't come out unless we dig her out. She started spending all day buried as soon as the weather got just a little cold at night. We dig her out about once a week to feed her and soak her. When we wake her up, she eats a lot, suns a little under the heat lamp , then returns to her buried state. Earlier this year when she woke up from her hibernation, she was extremely light and dehydrated but rather healthy by all appearances.
It seems like she is going to hibernate no matter what so I want to prepare her as best as possible. We always feed her a good mix of veggies, fruit and protein (usually poached chicken, her fav). Last time we woke her up, we gave her a nice soak and she took a fat poop, ate and then went back to sleep.
What can I do to prepare her for hibernation? Should I just let her natural instincts take over and leave her alone? Her tub is always in the house except on warm days when we put it outside in the sun for most of the day. I think she might have got the urge to hibernate because her tub was by the big sliding window that was a little breezy and she probably felt the cold being so close to the door.
I have a detached garage I could put the enclosure in, but it can get a bit cold here in the winter time and I'm worried it could be tooo cold. This will be my first winter in this house and I'm not sure if it will freeze in the garage or not. For now we have put her in my son's bedroom in the back of the house which still gets heat, but not a ton. We usually keep our house around 65-70 and I'm worried that might be too warm for her to hibernate in properly.
Should I just go ahead and let nature do what it does best? Anything I should do to help that?