There is just so much to say about safe outdoor hibernation-it is covered so well in my book, and others. Just to give you an idea of some of the things to consider-the location of the outdoor pen must be good. A place that is covered with frozen water all winter long would be bad, obviously. One that floods due to spring rains would be bad, too. And the condition of the soil has to be good, and if not good, amended. Depending on where you live the soil might have to be friable up to 3 feet down so the turtles can dig deep enough to keep from freezing. Plus there is the concern for predators. The hibernation area has to to safe.

You mentioned you have an outdoor pen now-depending on where you live, what kind of box turtles you have, their ages, the soil type, the location of the pen (next to the house, out in the open, etc), a plan can be made now for safe hibernation next year I have information on my online book you can check out. www.boxturtlesite.info/hib.html
Tess

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