Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok well my three toed box turtle has been living indoors all her life and ive had her for a little over a year now. but the thing is im building her an enclosure outside in the spring...anyways i never really see her come out of the dirt anymore and yesterday i dug her out and soaked her and trying to feed her frozen fruits and collard greens but she/he didnt eat anything!!! is this a sign of hibernation...i never see her out i mean she is always in the dirt is she trying to hiernate? should i hibernate? what i should i do? y isnt she eating? please any info would be great!

Do you mean you have her inside with a dirt setup? If so, make sure she has a warm basking area and give her 12-14 hours per day of light. Less light can trigger hibernation mode. Hibernation indoors in that situation is bad. True hibernation has to be below about 55 degrees. Temps above that but below 80 degrees can lead to starvation and organ damage. If you have no problems with the above, a trip to a qualified vet may be in order to check for illness.

Temps above that but below 80 degrees can lead to starvation and organ damage. ????

Most box turtles kept indoors in the winter will slow their eating a bit. In most cases this leads to no ill effects. They may need to be forcibly soaked a bit more often and they frequently cut back to eating only about once a week. Everybody likes to tell you that you can't keep them awake and indoors but, of course, you can. Its a good idea to make sure the lights are on with a pretty high intensity for about 14 hours and to keep one area warmer tha the rest as you would normally do. Burt they must be able to smell something in the air because they almost always slow down a bit.

If you are sure to check on the turtle frequnetly and monitor its weight it will probably be fione and resume normal eating ina few months. I wouldn't worry about starvation until more than two weeks of no food intake goes by.

ok thanks for the replies everyone....i havent seen her eat in oh 3 weeks...i mean this is really getting serious today i dug her up again and this thing like this clear eyelid thing was covered over her eye and finally her regular eye came back...i mean i put the light on and soaked her and all thast but she just doesnt eat!!!

>>ok thanks for the replies everyone....i havent seen her eat in oh 3 weeks...i mean this is really getting serious today i dug her up again and this thing like this clear eyelid thing was covered over her eye and finally her regular eye came back...i mean i put the light on and soaked her and all thast but she just doesnt eat!!!

There is alot of information on the internet about the natural history and husbandry of box turtles, please read up on some so you know what you are dealing with here. Your set up is probably not good enough to stop your turtle from doing the natural thing this time of year, which is hibernate. However, you must not let your turtle hibernate inside the house because it is not safe for long lengths of time. Some people let their turtles have a down period this time of year but it is not safe for a new turtle owner to do this because they don't know when and how to bring a turtle back out of the slumber and into feeding mode.

Therefore you need to examine your setup and make it reproduce summer-like conditions. How warm do you have the turtle's home? Do you have both UVB and UVA and heat lamos for the turtle? Are they left on 12-14 hours a day? Is the tank humid? Are you feeding the turtle live foods? All these things make the turtle think it's summer.

If you have a vet or an experienced turtle keeper near by, ask them to look at your turtle. It could be sick and therefore not eating. You have to rule that out as well.
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Tess
Kingsnake.com Forum Host

Here's something else you might try. Since the turtle is burying itself in the dirt, I'd put it in a container without dirt. Just put newspaper on the bottom and use a tissue box cut in half for a hiding place. Maybe forcing the turtle to be more in the open would help it change modes. Again, keep it plenty warm and plenty of light hours per day. It could be sick and need a vet exam. Don't wait much longer if it doesn't start eating. Turtles not in true hibernation and not eating can start having major organ damage in six weeks. In the rehab business sometimes we have to keep box turtles all winter in tanks with paper lined bottoms. It doesn't hurt them.

sorry if this sounds like an attack.. but I'd be suprised if your turtles did anything over winter, newpaper in an aquarium will just cause the turtle to become depressed and depending on the turtle some will die in a couple months others will die in a number of years..

I live in Southeast Texas so our winters are fairly mild so there are days when it's warm enough for the turtles to go outside in pens. Our rehab organization has been overwintering turtles in containers with newspaper for years and yes, some get bored I'm sure but we've never had any die because of it. These turtles are put into outside pens permanently as soon as Spring arrives. I agree, containers with paper is NOT a good permanent set up.