Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm sooooooooooo upset! Yesterday I was painting in the "animal room" Sparky, my female OBT, was climbing the walls of her tub and I figured she could use some exercise. So I let her out to wander around the room. I saw her a couple of times, but didn't really think about her until a couple of hours later when I couldn't find her to put her back in her pen!

I tore the room apart, although there isn't really very many places to hide. Then I realized I had left the slider door open! I had the screen door closed, but there is a hole in the door that the rabbit had chewed through. I still wasn't too worried, as the "porch" beyound the screen is fenced in, as that is where my EBT spends his summer. But it was still pretty cold out (there is plastic over the screen so the room doesn't get cold).

I started to panic when couldn't find her out there either. Then I saw the turtle tracks in the sand, leading right into the tunnel the rabbit had dug last summer! I reached into the tunnel and was suprise at how long it was! I couldn't get my arm to the end. In fact, the tunnel is dug under a retaining wall and it goes into a hill. I put a golf ball retriever in the tunnel and it has to be longer than 7 feet!

Needless to say, I have not found poor Sparky yet! I put a Havaheart trap over the entrance to the tunnel with a heat light on it, but so far, no sign of her! It still gets very cold here, 40's during the day, high 20's at night!

The only things that keep me hoping is that I know she can't get out of the pen, and if she is indeed in the tunnel, she is below the frost line, so at least she isn't freezing!

What can I do? I can't dig under the wall or through the hill, I'd need a bulldozer! Any ideas on how to coax her out? Will she be ok in there until she decides to come out? Could she not know how to get out? ARGGGG! I am beside myself for being so stupid!!
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.11.0 chickens
1.0.0 Dutch(rabbit)
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

I would put a old blanket over the hole and trap to hold in the ground heat. Also maybe use a heating pad on low to have a radiant heat which could be raising the hole temps a bit. Also for caution use a thermometer to make sure the temps don't go much over the outside highs. She should be fine if she doesn't get out of the hole and into freezing temps.

Done! Thanks for the great idea and reassurance! I need them both!
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.11.0 chickens
1.0.0 Dutch(rabbit)
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

Ornate box turtles are very cold tolerant. The cold temperatures shouldn't harm her a bit. At 7 feet deep, the tunnel is most certainly below the frost line. In the wild, ornates and deserts often live in rodent burrows. She's probably as happy as a pig in slop right now! Don't kick yourself, just be patient.

Thanks so much for the reassurance! I wonder now, should I take away the cage? Maybe that just scares her and makes it less likely she will come out! Maybe I should just patiently wait until it warms up?
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.11.0 chickens
1.0.0 Dutch(rabbit)
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

I hope this will have a happy ending, keep us posted.
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You got your regius's to the wall, man!
1.0 pastel Python regius
0.1 mojave Python regius
0.1 normal Python regius
0.2 Terrapene carolina thriunguis
2.3 Terrapene carolina carolina
4.1 Kinosternon baurii
1.1 Malaclemys terrapin terrapin
2.1 Ambystoma tigrinum
1.1 Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.0 anerythristic Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.1 Iowa snow Thamnophis radix
1.1 heterozygous for amelanistic,carmel, and stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 anerythristic motley Pantherophis guttatus

Thanks, you don't know how much I hope so too! She is a captive breed 8 year old who never had to deal w/ the "real world" so I hope she knows what she is doing! lol!
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.11.0 chickens
1.0.0 Dutch(rabbit)
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband