Reptile & Amphibian Forums

how would you hibernate and breed box turtles outside?

>>how would you hibernate and breed box turtles outside?

Build something like this. Mine live, eat, swim, breed, brumate, sleep in it.

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Vichris
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"- Marcus Aurelius

I wrote a book. It tells you how to do both. Ask your library to carry it

Tess Cook

>>how would you hibernate and breed box turtles outside?

thank you for the info. we have an out door enclosur, i was curious if we had to do anything special for it.

>>thank you for the info. we have an out door enclosur, i was curious if we had to do anything special for it.

Well, make sure they have a good diet. Mine breed, and the females dig holes and lay eggs right in the enclosure. Some people dig up the eggs and incubate them themselves. I've had two successful clutchs hatch out in my yard.

In the fall when they are starting to dig in to hibernate (brumate) I put alot of leaves in the enclosure. The leaves act as insulation and its pretty much how they would brumate if they were in a natural environment.

Here is what my enclosure looks like now. You'll notice one of my young turtles came up on a warmish day in January. (upper left corner of pic)

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Vichris
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"- Marcus Aurelius

There is just so much to say about safe outdoor hibernation-it is covered so well in my book, and others. Just to give you an idea of some of the things to consider-the location of the outdoor pen must be good. A place that is covered with frozen water all winter long would be bad, obviously. One that floods due to spring rains would be bad, too. And the condition of the soil has to be good, and if not good, amended. Depending on where you live the soil might have to be friable up to 3 feet down so the turtles can dig deep enough to keep from freezing. Plus there is the concern for predators. The hibernation area has to to safe.

You mentioned you have an outdoor pen now-depending on where you live, what kind of box turtles you have, their ages, the soil type, the location of the pen (next to the house, out in the open, etc), a plan can be made now for safe hibernation next year I have information on my online book you can check out. www.boxturtlesite.info/hib.html
Tess