Reptile & Amphibian Forums

tomorrow it will be May. i have not witnessed any of my 5 boxies out of hibernation save one and he was in poor shape to say the least.
here in SC the weather has been odd to say the least. just monday we had a low temp of 39 degrees! is this odd weather pattern holding them up from emerging from hibernation? we found three still hibernating, and were unable to locate the other two. any advice would be helpful.
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"If we are good only because we fear punishment and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed."
-Albert Einstein

Where in SC are you?
You could probably root around for them without worrying about a severe cold snap at this point, if you're willing to make sure they are covered at night.
I'm in central VA and ours are up, but we're in a relatively warm micro-climate. Our neighbors have turtles, too, and their's were up a couple of weeks before ours were, and they're only 100 yds away.
Ours were up earlier last year, too, by about three weeks.
When ours did start coming up, we had ones that were 10 days or so earlier than others. The last ones up had been deeper (they left tunnels), so they may not have been as aware of warming temps. I had started to worry about them, but of course they were fine.
There are alot of variables: in our group, the young ones tend to go deeper and stay down longer, the first one up is usually a male (though not always the same one), the last one up is the youngest female, etc., etc.
In other words, don't worry, go ahead and check on them. If you don't already, start keeping a log book so you can get an idea of what's normal over time.
Stephanie

i know how you feel i go through the same thing each spring. I have one boxie that alwyas is the fist out. She is out by the second week in April. But the rest dont show up till the middle of May. Just when i think that they did not make it through the winter, they show up.
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Jack

We have the same situation here in southern Indiana. My box turtles are hiding under the leaves and straw where it is still quite cool. I haven't seen box turtles in the wild either. I would not worry too much. But I did worry a little bit so I located each turtle on May 1, soaked them in coolish water and looked for any illness. All are fine
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Tess
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