Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I haven't posted in this forum before. I have an adult male Eastern Boxie who is brumating for the first time (for me) outside. His hibernaculum is a two foot square pile with peat and garden soil on the bottom, then peat, then dried leaves, then leaves and grass and hay and big dead weeds, then newspaper and plastic covered with more dead foliage to hold it together. He chose to brumate near the center of this. He went down in the fall earlier than I expected- late October, woke up once in November, ate two nightcrawlers, and I soaked him, once in December, same procedure, and I just took him out a few days ago to check him, and he ate four nightcrawlers, soaked, and went back to "sleep." He has gained weight in small amounts (like five grams each check up) over the course of the winter. On the nights where the temps were predicted to go lower than 32F, I covered the whole thing with big thick rugs and blankets. I wish I'd have thought to put a recording thermometer in with him.

My questions are- how does a turtle who is virtually not eating gain weight, and if anyone else is brumating boxies outside in Florida, when might I expect him to emerge for good?

Thanks,

Nanci

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*****
0.0.1 Normal Corn, 0.0.1 Cali King 0.1 Nelson's Milk
0.1 Tricolor Hog, 0.0.1 Eastern Hog, 1.0 Eastern Box Turtle
0.0.2 Desert Torts, 2.0 Feral Pigeons

your temp got below 32 down there?

Yes, three or four times. We still have a freeze predictied tomorrow night! And then it gets up in the 80s, too. He comes out and he's wide awake, but then he goes right back to bed in the late afternoon, and is gone for weeks.

Nanci
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*****
0.0.1 Classic Corn, 0.0.1 Cali King, 0.1 Nelson's Milk
1.0 Tricolor Hog, 0.0.1 Eastern Hog, 1.0 Florida King
1.0 Eastern Box Turtle, 1.0 Florida Box Turtle
0.0.2 Desert Torts, 2.0 Feral Pigeons

Turtles can gain weight during brumation via water intake. You should not feed a reptile while it is brumating. The temperatures are not warm enough to allow for proper digestion. This could cause the food to rot in the animal's gut, causing serious health problems.

I'm not sure how they do it, but box turtles routinely hibernate above the frostline in the wild and do not die when temperatures dip to freezing. Perhaps their shell affords them some protection (although they cannot generate body heat).

Box turtles emerge from brumation in relation to the weather where they live. I'd imagine that in Florida, box turtles will start becoming active as early as next month.

Tim

Third Eye

"Turtles can gain weight during brumation via water intake."

Yup, I've had a couple do that. It wasn't much, but enough to make me say 'hmmm'.

Good point about the digestion temp. I went through that whole not feeding him for a couple weeks before he went down thing, too. It's weird when they are outside and not controlled and can just come out and do whatever they want and look for food and water, instead of being somewhere in a box in "cold storage."

This was a weird winter, too- all my flowers/tender plants/fruit trees made it through, too, with only being covered on a few really cold nights. We had lots of 70s and 80s, lots of nights when we could leave windows open. Not so much rain.

Last winter, the first winter we had him, he just stayed in the house. This year I thought it would be healthier to brumate him.

Thanks,

Nanci
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*****
0.0.1 Classic Corn, 0.0.1 Cali King, 0.1 Nelson's Milk
1.0 Tricolor Hog, 0.0.1 Eastern Hog, 1.0 Florida King
1.0 Eastern Box Turtle, 1.0 Florida Box Turtle
0.0.2 Desert Torts, 2.0 Feral Pigeons

" how does a turtle who is virtually not eating gain weight"

Probably because it isn't warm enough to burn any calories.
Ordinarily, a hibernating turtle wouldn't eat AT ALL during the winter months.

We've got an expected low tomorrow night in the mid-20s. I put the recording thermometer in with him tonight to see how low it gets where he is. And covered the hibernaculum with a thick wooly rug and a quadrupled wool blanket.

Nanci
-----
*****
0.0.1 Classic Corn, 0.0.1 Cali King, 0.1 Nelson's Milk
1.0 Tricolor Hog, 0.0.1 Eastern Hog, 1.0 Florida King
1.0 Eastern Box Turtle, 1.0 Florida Box Turtle
0.0.2 Desert Torts, 2.0 Feral Pigeons