Posted by:
lilypad42
at Fri Sep 1 19:11:34 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by lilypad42 ]
Hi everyone,
I have two box adult box turtles that I have recently acquired. One was a friends pet (Daisy), and the other was a victim of a careless human and a lawn mower (Dozer- His shell has healed nicely and he is gaining weight quickly). Because I live in an area where flooding is common, I cannot leave them in a pen in my yard. Instead, they are both living in a VERY large rubbermade deck box on the side of my house. The bottom of the deck box is covered in about 6 inches of soil and another 6 inches of mulch. I have been doing a lot of reading on hibernation, and I have concerns about their enclosure being above-ground. My research has led me to believe that the turtle needs to burrow underneath the frost line in order to survive the hibernation. I plan on adding a significant amount of soil, mulch, and leaves to the deck box to aid them in their hibernation, but I worry that they will still freeze to death if not below the earth's surface. I have also considered moving them into the un-heated garage to keep them slightly warmer. Any advice you can provide would be wonderful! This is my first attempt at hibernating turtles, and I am a little nervous!
Some background: I also own 3 other turtles: Magnum, an eastern box turtle yearling that I've had since he was a hatchling, Rosie, an 8 yr old Red eared Slider, and Lily Pad, a 2 year old South American Twist Neck. In addition to my turtles, I also own 2 rats, Elsie and Clementine and 2 dogs, Skipper and Bambi.
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 Box Turtle Hibernation in NJ - lilypad42, Fri Sep 1 19:11:34 2006
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