Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My question is for winter sleeping for ornate box turtles. I have all of my reptiles(listed below) in one room. I keep my thermostat in my house from 68-70 degrees. The box turtles light is on from 7:30am to 5:00pm along with the other turtles. I just follow the daylight hours outside as I have been doing for years. I bought my box turtles in October and the female has kind of been in a sleepy state of mind since I got them. What I mean is that she always keeps her eyes closed. She will open them here and there though and move around in their cage. The male has been eating since I got him till about two weeks ago, now he is acting the same way as the female. She buried herself a few times and always comes back up. I also catch her with her head up in the air and her mouth open once in a while. I don't have anywhere that I can put them in my place for them to be any colder. I offer them some food three times a week and no response. Does anybody know if it is going to be alright for them to act this way for the winter? I don't want them to become malnourished or get messed up psychologically. I was thinking of trying to squirt some jump start in their mouths of that will help. Any help? thanks
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Mike

1.1 Peninsula Cooters
0.1 Green Iguana
1.0.2 Southern Painteds
0.0.3 Western Painteds
1.1 Ornate Box Turtles
0.0.2 Pink Belly Alligator Snappers

"Does anybody know if it is going to be alright for them to act this way for the winter?"

I would have to say no. Open mouthed breathing is never good. Do they have a hot basking spot? If they are being kept constantly at 68 to 70 degrees, they are at serious risk for illness. It is best to either fully brumate them (about 45 to 50 degrees), or provide them with full access to a summertime thermal gradient (anywhere from 70 at one end to near 90 at the other end). If you decide to keep them awake, I would recommend increasing the daylength to about 12 hours. Also, ornates need access to a nicely sized water dish for soaking and an area of humidity in order to burrow. However, the overall air humidity should be around 50%. In my area, this is ambient room humidity. Further North or West, ambient humidity may be lower.

Ornates are not to be trifled with. They just love to get respiratory infections! I hate to be the harbinger of bad news, but you are describing the classic first signs. If you hear bubbling or gurgling, I would get them to a Vet. immediately. Brumation is perfectly natural and non-threatening for a healthy turtle. However, being that these are recent acquisitions, probably originally wild caught, and seem to be under the weather I would recommend against trying to brumate them at this point.

Good luck. I truly hope this helps.

The turtles frequent their water dish, the repti ramp from ZM. They are also not from the wild. I wanted to brumate them but I don't have any spots to put them in my place that is cold enough to do that.
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Mike

1.1 Peninsula Cooters
0.1 Green Iguana
1.0.2 Southern Painteds
0.0.3 Western Painteds
1.1 Ornate Box Turtles
0.0.2 Pink Belly Alligator Snappers

I agree with Ken...you really should make their environment warmer (summer temps) or cooler...right now they are in a limbo that is unhealthy.

I kind of had a feeling of that. I have a question now. I hear about people using a "refrigerator" to hibernate their turtles. Can I use my kitchen fridge. I put a thermometer in the crisper drawer earlier and it read 40.7 degrees fahrenheit. Is that possible to do?
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Mike

1.1 Peninsula Cooters
0.1 Green Iguana
1.0.2 Southern Painteds
0.0.3 Western Painteds
1.1 Ornate Box Turtles
0.0.2 Pink Belly Alligator Snappers

Many people use refrigerators with great success. 40 is a bit close. I would shoot for more like 45. The small "dorm type" refrigerators can be purchased pretty cheaply either new or used. Universities, at the end of the semester, are great places to look for one, even in the trash areas. Some of the Craig's list type internet sites are good also. Brand new, they are around $60 or $80. Small refrigerators need to be opened often for air exchange.

If it were me, I would proceed with great caution with these turtles. If they are showing any signs of illness it may not be a good idea to brumate them this year. I don't know if that was the way you were leaning.

Good luck with them!

Thanks! I'm going to the pet store tonight to get a 150 watt bulb to warm things up for them. Yesterday I turned their light hours to twelve. To be honest I did the dumb thing and bought these turtles on impluse. I wanted to get something to breed this coming year and the seller said that these are possibly big enough to breed. He said I might get a couple of eggs and I went for them. I was thinking about box turtles for a while before I seen them. They're really nice looking turtles though. I won't buy from that "company" again though because of a shady sale 5 weeks ago. Thanks for the info. The books I have didn't have all of the information that I can get on here from talking to people experiencing the same problems I face here and there.
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Mike

1.1 Peninsula Cooters(Matt & Katt)
0.1 Green Iguana(D Rex)
1.0.2 Southern Painteds(Badd, little ones)
0.0.3 Western Painteds
1.1 Ornate Box Turtles(Terra & Nate)
0.0.2 Pink Belly Alligator Snappers

I truly hope they improve! A 150 watt bulb is very powerful, just make sure that they can escape to a cool area. I think that they will appreciate it...I have had much better luck since I started treating ornates like basking turtles.

As far as eggs, it has seemed to me that ornate females are less likely to lay eggs under "non-ideal" conditions. This is unlike an Eastern, which will form and drop eggs practically no matter what. I was talking with a friend last night about that very issue. He said the same thing. I wouldn't get my hopes up this year, but you never know.