box turtles.

Question
i have a box turtle and i have no inside cage for it.
i was wondering if it was safe to put this turtle in a lake for winter.

Answer
Oh, Jordan, are you trying to give me a heart attack?

For goodness sakes, no, it is not safe to put the turtle in a lake for the winter.  I am very glad you wrote to me.

If you visit this page:

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheets.htm

and select the type of box turtle you have in the lower left-hand corner, you can get some information about your turtle.

If the turtle is much more work than you thought it was going to be (since you have no indoor cage, and are wanting to hibernate the turtle), you may want to put it up for adoption or give him or her to a local reptile rescue.  If you tell me where you live, I can help you find one.

Now about hibernation, it is difficult to successfully do this, so I advise against it.  There are many steps involved, and the turtle could starve to death or get an infection.

If you decide to keep the turtle, he will need an inside cage, a heat lamp, and a UVA/UVB lamp.  

If this is a wild turtle that you caught near your home, I would keep him through the winter and then release him back into the wild in early May.  But only do this is you found him there, and it was fairly recently.

-Amanda