box turtle hibernation

Question
We live in Colorado and it's starting to get cold. We brought our box turtle in the house about mid September. He has full run of the house (no enclosure)and loves to cruise around. In the last week or so he has been looking for a place to hibernate. Three days ago he found a dark spot in our closet and hasn't "cruised" or eaten since then. I understand that this is acceptable because he found a spot to hibernate. My question is: Should I put him in a large storage container (rubbermaid) with some deep bedding so he can burrow. Should I put a heater strip in the container with him. Or should I just leave him where he is in the closet. Either way he has water with him.
Also, since he cruises around the house, what precautions should we do to protect against Salmonella contamination in the carpet and so forth....he is pretty good about going to the toilet in his "special" spot in the bathroom (smart), but we worry about Salmonella contamination due to the fact that all reptiles carry Salmonella as a natural fauna on their bodies.

Answer
Hibernation- your turtle is looking for a hibernation site, but it is unlikely it will hibernate in the closet unless the closet is about 45-50 degrees with about 70% relative humidity.

What happens in situations like this is that the turtle's hibernation instinct is triggered by shortening days and dropping temps- but the temps do not drop enough to trigger the physiological changes true hibernation (technically 'brumation') requires, so the turtle basically wastes away.

The wasting is stressful, but if the turtle is healthy it may survive it, but many turtles pass away during this phase. To combat this, you need to either provide a fake 'super summer' level of light and heat, or put it into real brumation.

Here is a link to a how-to article for this: http://boxturtlesite.info/hib.html

Salmonella- "all reptiles" do not automatically carry Salmonella, but indeed many do- mostly those that either pick it up from contaminated foods or surfaces, or those in too much contact with their own feces. Normal cleaning should keep the levels of contamination down, but if it worries you, add some disinfectant to the cleaning solutions used.

You do not mention the species, but I am not a big fan of free-roaming Box Turtles- few homes offer the right combination of temps and humidity that box turtles like- especially in the winter. They usually do OK for a while, but they generally do not thrive like turtles with the right conditions do. If you decide to offer a 'super summer', you'll need to rig up a container that is nice and big, can be kept at about 80-85F near the warm end, has a god humidity level (about 90% for Eastern Boxes), and ideally offers UVB lighting.

You can learn more at the site above- http://www.boxturtlesite.info

Good luck!