Soaking & Hibernation

Question
Hi Mark,

If my turtle has a soak dish in its living space, should I still additionally soak him every other day in a large tub for 30-40 minutes? I read that you should do this.

Also, I read that you should not feed your turtle 2 weeks before hibernation. Apparently, leftover food in its stomach will rot and cause harm. Is this true? And if so, how will I know when 2 weeks before hibernation actually begins?

Thank you,
Amber  

Answer
I would not soak a box turtle every other day for that kind of time- it is not what they would do in the wild. I am not sure what their reasoning was, but unless your house is unusually dry, I would only do an occasional soak and bath.

One every week or less, I would soak it in a shallow tub of warm water with a little iodinized salt in it. The water should not be any deeper than the front top edge of the shell over its head. I'd let it soak until it seemed like it really wanted out.

After a decent soak, I'd gently scrub the shell with a damp washcloth dipped in a little salt (to act as a scrubbing agent).

If the turtle seemed dehydrated, I'd do it more often or for longer. The best test for dehydration is weight- a healthy turtle feels nice and heavy for its size.



Turtles usually do not hibernate on a full stomach- they will usually stop eating themselves in the wild or in outdoor pens.

Inside a house, they become confused and cannot really tell when to hibernate, so enter into a form of 'fake hibernation' which is very dangerous.

If you try to hibernate your turtle by placing it in a hibernarium, just stop feeding it two weeks before you do so. Some keepers feed the turtles a special diaet in the weeks before hibernation to get them ready.

As a reminder, it IS NOT recommended that most keepers try to hibernate turtles.