Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my mom has a small collection of box turtles outside that had a clutch of eggs in the summer of 04. she sent 2 to a friend who is maintaining them indoors, and has noticed a drop in their food consumption. i was suggesting to hibernate them for a short time. since i have never maintained box turtles indoors (when i lived in southern california we just kept them outside where they hibernated on their own, i only have tropical tortoises now) i thought i would get some expert opinions. i told her to stop feeding for 2weeks, but provide water, then cool down to a conservative 60 degrees for about 1 month then warm them up.....what do you think, i also told her about this site so hopefully she will become a participator, and read your responses, thanks a bunch, john yocum, zoo-otics

>>my mom has a small collection of box turtles outside that had a clutch of eggs in the summer of 04. she sent 2 to a friend who is maintaining them indoors, and has noticed a drop in their food consumption. i was suggesting to hibernate them for a short time. since i have never maintained box turtles indoors (when i lived in southern california we just kept them outside where they hibernated on their own, i only have tropical tortoises now) i thought i would get some expert opinions. i told her to stop feeding for 2weeks, but provide water, then cool down to a conservative 60 degrees for about 1 month then warm them up.....what do you think, i also told her about this site so hopefully she will become a participator, and read your responses, thanks a bunch, john yocum, zoo-otics
>>

I am not going to claim to be an expert but I think you may be on the right track, however...
I am a huge believer in parasite testing because you just never know. So before I would think about trying to stop feeding I would have them tested for parasites first and be sure they are very healthy. Also if I were going to actually hibernate them the temp would need to be lower than 60. We have one male outside who is wild & he did not go under ground until the temps at night dropped into the 40s. At 60 in day time he was still out walking around doing his thing.
Here's a few URLS that may be helpful to you
http://www.anapsid.org/hibernation.html
http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/hibernationpaula.htm
http://www.tortoise.org/general/hibernat.html
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/5504/dvmhib.html
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PHRatz

btw I forgot to mention this..
Most people don't feel it's good to hibernate them if they are under 2 years old so that may be something to consider while you're thinking about this.
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PHRatz

thanks for your help, she also told me the enclosure was about 70 so i am trying to get her to increase the temps on one side of the enclosure to rule out low temps as a cause for not eating as much. the "other" box turtle (which could also be part of the problem) is doing great and very active. i suggested first a temp increase then maybe a second enclosure for awhile. my mom still has the other 3 and all are doing great so i doubt parasites would be the problem but wont rule it out.

>>thanks for your help, she also told me the enclosure was about 70 so i am trying to get her to increase the temps on one side of the enclosure to rule out low temps as a cause for not eating as much. the "other" box turtle (which could also be part of the problem) is doing great and very active. i suggested first a temp increase then maybe a second enclosure for awhile. my mom still has the other 3 and all are doing great so i doubt parasites would be the problem but wont rule it out.

You're welcome & like you said the "other" one might be the problem. I never feed mine together because they will not eat together so I just make sure that each one gets a turn at the food by herself. As for parasites.. I don't often find them in my shelled pets but it has happened so I test them periodically, just to make sure.
Sounds to me like you're going about this the right way, rule one thing out then another. I'll bet you'll find the answer soon, hope so anyway!
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PHRatz