I have had a box turtle for about a year and a half now, presumably from the wild, found swimming in my backyard pool. I live near Sacramento, and in the winter temperatures get down to around 52 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and 36 degrees at night. The turtle is kept in a large (but moveable) terrarium, as we also have dogs. Last year, I moved the cage inside for the winter, and she, the turtle, seemed fine, though the dogs were annoyed and fruit flies had a tendency to show up hovering over her cage (though her food was generally eaten during the day and removed when not). Thus, I'm wondering if it's possible or advisable to leave her outside this winter? There's a large overhang above my backyard patio, so she will be protected from rain; it's the temperature I'm worried about. At what temperature do box turtles generally start to hibernate? Thank you for any information.
Reptile & Amphibian Forums
Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.
Indoors or out for CA winter?
Replies (3)
>>I have had a box turtle for about a year and a half now, presumably from the wild, found swimming in my backyard pool.
Can you post a picture of this turtle? Are you sure it's a box turtle? They aren't native to CA & generally they don't swim.
-----
PHRatz
Pictures:
Yep no doubt about that being a box turtle, but it must have been someone's pet who either got lost or was set free.
I know that some people do winter them outside in the warmer regions of CA without problems.
When they are outside they must have soil deep enough to burrow under any frost lines.
Your turtle looks so beaten up, has it seen a vet? It's not good to allow them to hibernate unless you are sure that they are in optimum health. If they are you can think about hibernating them indoors which tends to be safer than leaving them outside.
There are several websites with detailed instructions on how to go about doing that.
Here's a few URLs for ya:
http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/hibernationpaula.htm
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/5504/dvmhib.html
http://www.anapsid.org/hibernation.html
http://boxturtlesite.org/dvmhib.html
-----
PHRatz
