Staying buried?

Hey everyone, we've had our three toed, Clem, for almost two months now. I've been worried about her recently because she literally stays buried under her substrate all day (and I think night too). At first I thought she might just be nervous in her new habitat, but its been almost two months now.

I've been able to get her to eat a mix of proteins and veg and I think she eats well for her size. The way I get her to eat is to sun her under her lamp for an hour and then soak her in tepid water for about 15 mins. Then I place her in her hut with the mix of food and she'll eat. Sometimes she walks around a bit after (longest has been for about 30 mins) then goes straight back to being buried. She doesn't come out until I disturb her the next morning.

Her enclosure stays 81 degrees on the one side with an 85 degree basking spot, and on the opposite side it stays at around 70. Humidity is usually around 60%. The lowest the house gets at night is like 66, so the habitat never gets lower than that. Right now she's in a 3ft X 1.5ft terrarium with a water dish, basking rock, plants and a hut and we plan on building her a bigger turtle table this summer. She has a heat light and a tube UVB light that are on for 13 hours a day.

If anyone has experience with this I'd appreciate help, I've been so worried!

Sounds like Clem is doing what box turtles do. They like to hide for the majority of the day and will usually come out to look for food in the early mornings and late afternoon. Since you are taking her out to feed there is little else for her to check off of her daily activity list. Its very common for a box turtle to take some time to acclimate to a new home and routine. You've only had her for two months so the fact that she eats and roams around is a good sign.

PJay said:

Sounds like Clem is doing what box turtles do. They like to hide for the majority of the day and will usually come out to look for food in the early mornings and late afternoon. Since you are taking her out to feed there is little else for her to check off of her daily activity list. Its very common for a box turtle to take some time to acclimate to a new home and routine. You've only had her for two months so the fact that she eats and roams around is a good sign.

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Ah ok, I’m glad it’s pretty normal then! I hope she’ll come out on her own one day too!