Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I live in eastern Pa and its was a very cold winter and its been a very cold spring. One of my 2 eastern box turtles came out of hibernation the end of april. But it was still cold so she when back down into her hibernation burrow. It was not till yesterday during a thunder storm that they both came out form there burrow. The went into hibernation at the begining of Nov.
Thats 7 mouths. They look in fine shape to me, but have not eaten yet. Is this normal to hibernate this long? They hibernate outside in a deep ( 4-5 foot) burrow i had dug for them. I had read they like to hibernate in old rabbit borrows,so thats waht i made for them. They came through the coldest winter in a long time, so i guess that it worked fine.
How long did other eastern box turtles hibernate this winter? I know that there are places that get a lot colder then here??

I live in N. Central Massachusetts, and I had (amazingly enough) a juvenile 3-toed box turtle who hibernated outdoors this past winter. I think the permanent snow cover from xmas to the end of march had something to do with it, otherwise she likely wouldnt have survived.

I found the hole she was in, it was only 6-8 inches deep in normal soil. Most of the winter, there was at least a foot of snow cover.

I lost track of her in mid october (thought she escaped) but found her in the pen about 10 days ago.... bright eyed and healthy.

Greg

>>I live in eastern Pa and its was a very cold winter and its been a very cold spring. One of my 2 eastern box turtles came out of hibernation the end of april. But it was still cold so she when back down into her hibernation burrow. It was not till yesterday during a thunder storm that they both came out form there burrow. The went into hibernation at the begining of Nov.
>>Thats 7 mouths. They look in fine shape to me, but have not eaten yet. Is this normal to hibernate this long? They hibernate outside in a deep ( 4-5 foot) burrow i had dug for them. I had read they like to hibernate in old rabbit borrows,so thats waht i made for them. They came through the coldest winter in a long time, so i guess that it worked fine.
>> How long did other eastern box turtles hibernate this winter? I know that there are places that get a lot colder then here??
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Greg
http://greg978.tripod.com/

If they came up, I'd say the hibernation was an outstanding success. My guys always get real active during rains and when the sprinkler is on.
On the freezing, I just had this thought. As long as there is snow on the ground the Ground temperature cannot go below 32 F. So there is less chance of the turtle freezing. Does that make sense?
Ed

Being a former pennsylvanian (now in north carolina) I can assure you that in many parts of the northeast, turtles will hibernate more of the year then they are awake, eastern box turtles included. It seems that any species that can handle a real hibernation can handle a very long one. Perhaps there's not much difference in shutting down for 3 months or for 7.

I am curious about your "rabbit burrow". Can you describe what you did or show us photographs? I have some ideas for a tortoise hibernation den for hermann's or russian's that I'd like to build some day and your experience may be relevant.

Like i said i read some were that box turltes like to hibernate in old rabbie holes. So thats what i tried to make for them. I used a trench shove, which is used to dig trenches for underground cables. So its only 6" wide compaired to a regular shove of 10-12".The shove is about 4 foot long and i dug the hole as deep as the shover and my arm could reach down the hole. I tried to dig at a 45 degree angle but it came out much steeper. When the turtles did not go down it in the fall i put one down as far as my arm could reach. He turned around and climbed out with out any problems. At the beginig of Nov they both climbed down the burrow on there own. At first i could see them with a flashlight but in a day or two they had gone all the way down and out of sight. Now that they are up and its starting to get warm i covered the entriance to the burrow, The burrow is so deep that once they go down, there is no way to get them out, they have to climb out on there own.

that's pretty cool. I was considerring building something like this but using a layer of stones to cover it so I could open up the chamber and pack it with leaves/straw in the fall and recover it, then pile stuff on top for extra insulation. I had planned to build mine in it's own dirt hill above ground level to help for drainage, then see how it worked inside with thermometers and testing for dampness to see if it would handle tortoises well in winter here where the weather gets really wet.

Great ideas. Nathan with European tortoises, I would advise extreme caution on hibernating them outside in a humid client - that can catch a cold quicker then you would believe. And if they go in with a cold that isn't noticed, it can be fatel. I know you are a very experience turtle keeper, and that you have considered this, just thought I would point a possible problem out.

I guess I am pretty lucky, as So. Cal. does not have that extreme winters. Although it does pose problems with turtles going of the feed, and not going into hibernation.

Bill G.

your's sounds like the hilton of turtle hibernation homes. Which is good. I took the dirt that dug out of the burrow and piled it around the opening so that if we had lots of snow and heavy rain ( which happened ) the burrow would not flood. I did not build one above ground because it just gets to cold here. We went weeks this winter with the tempeture never going above frezing and in the single digets at night. It would have been nice to check on them but they needed to get deep below the frost line. They came through the worst winter in like 10 years, so i guess i will keep them using this system of hipernation. Yesterday both turtles were eating night crawler warms. these warms are big and they had to work hard to eat them.
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Jack