Reptile & Amphibian Forums

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.

Does your entire yard flood?? Perhaps there is a higher area, or you can make a higher area (bringing in a lot of soil), in which to build a large outdoor pen. I have two adult female boxies in NJ, which have spent two hibernation periods/winter outside. I loosen the soil in fall, and add a bunch of extra oak leaves on top of the soil over winter. Others here may better say how to hibernate them indoors, if that is your preference. If your lawnmower turtle has not completely healed, it may be better to keep him active and warm this year. However, consider ultimately building a large outdoor pen for them.

Unfortunately, yes, the entire yard floods. I live on a barrier island and flooding is a major problem. I would love to leave them in a pen so they could dig into the earth, but I worry that they could drown while hibernating (it floods here a lot in September and October with the increased winds). The lawnmower turtle is completely healed, although I am not sure if he is heavy enough to hibernate. When he was found, he was incredibly thin. He has proven to be a great eater, although in the past few days (since the temp has dropped) he hasnt been eating as much. I will post photos in the next fews days and perhaps you could give me your opinion May I ask when your Boxies start hibernating and when they come out? Also, in what part of NJ do you live? Any advice you could give me would be great! Thanks in advance!

I live in south/central NJ(Shore area). I keep mine outside all year. They dig down on their own. They usually stop eating late Sept. early Oct. They usually start digging in Oct/ Nov. some I see on warm days into Dec. Depends on the weather. They usually start emerging early/ mid april, also depends on the weather.
One year I saw a wild male in the road the second week of dec. We had a few warm days so even in the wild they come up to look around.
I load up the pen with leaves in the fall for them to burrow in. They don't go real deep underground. I was surprised,the first few years I put the ones I could find deeper, I gave up doing that and haven't lost any to date.
You may want to try refridgerator hibernation, or putting them in a cool area(unheated basement).

Hope this helps,
Phil

Hi Phil.
Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately, I dont have a basement... but I just had another idea. What if I partially buried the rubbermaid container so that they would be underground, but protected from the flooding? My only concern would be very high flooding that may go over the lip of the rubbermade, although I suppose I could just cover the container with the lid. About how far down did yours bury themselves? The soil in the rubbermade can only be about 1 1/4 ft deep. Thanks for any advice.

Lisa

Lisa,

If you scroll down about a page on the forum, to August 24th, you'll see a post by buffysmom titled "what temp to bring them inside". Although she lives in Utah, you'll find some of the information on this thread useful. There are also several links that contain great info.

I lived in NJ for 21 years...smack in the middle between Philly and the shore. Your climate on a barrier island is going to be vastly different than most of the mainland. There are neotropical plants growing on Island Beach State Park, for instance. The good news is, box turtles occur in good numbers up to and into shoreline sand dunes in NJ. The flooding, however, makes outdoor hibernation a deal breaker. You may be able to construct something for the outdoors, though. Happy reading. Let us know what you decide.

lilypad-
I am in northern central NJ, probably just a bit cooler than you and Phil. I would not hibernate them in the Rubbermaid outside.
You do not have a basement, but do you have an attached garage, or crawlspace or enclosed porch that is cooler than the rest of the house? It may be significantly cooler on the floor, near an outside wall, away from the heat vents. Keep us posted!

We do have a garage, and I have considered hibernating them in there.... however, it is an unheated garage and the temperatures in there reach well-below freezing during the dead of winter. I worry that they might freeze to death in there as well. Hehe, it seems that I dont have a very good environment over-all for hibernating these little guys! Maybe I should just move them indoors for this season and start my hibernation planning for next year