Three Toed Box Turtle- Hibernating?

Question
Hello,

I am new to taking care of turtles. Since June 2008 I have a grown Three Toed Box Turtle. She stays in a bunny cage, I use Bed-a-Beast bedding, she does have shallow water bowl in her cage and I do bathe her almost every morning in a warm water (recently she does not want to come out of her little house). She has a UVA, UVB and heat lamp (all in one) and she was eating fine (greens and meal worms, occasionally some lean cooked  chicken and soaked dog food). A month ago we had to take in a Sulcata baby tortoise because it had nowhere else to go. I had to switch my box turtle to a bigger cage because baby tort got the smaller cage. Since then my box turtle seems not to eat anything (except when I offer her dog food- but I do not want her to eat dog food everyday because I hear it is not always good for them). I offer her greens and worms and commercial turtle food everyday, but she does not touch it. She even refuses to eat strawberries (her all time favorite treat). She sleeps in her house dug in under the bedding all day long. I try to bathe her at least every other day. But she does not go under her light anymore (and she used to like to sun bathe under it). I am worried. I do not know is it because she is trying to hibernate, or should I take her to the vet?

Answer
Three-toes and other turtles hibernate when triggered by shortening days and dropping temps. I don't know of this is the situation with your turtle or not, but if it even has a hint of those conditions, it will start to slow down.

We fight this by providing summery conditions- temps, humidity, and day cycles- all year.

I am not a big fan of daily or frequent baths, and not really a fan of the 'all-in-one' light- I find that it lets the temps drop too much at night, and tends to 'light blast' the turtle.

Try getting the temps to 80-85 (days) and 0ver 75 at night, with humidity in the 80% or higher range at least inside a hide box or sheltered corner (that is still warm). Offer light for about 12-14 hours a day (Boxies hide from strong light, so I generally go with a 'night light' most of the day and the UVB for about 2 hours at 'noon'.)

You may also want to revisit the diet.

All-in-all, try http://ww.boxturtlesite.info for some decent care guidelines.



As for the Sulcata- are you really ready for one of these monsters? You may want to research this. These guys get BIG!!