First Time Ornate Box Turtle Brumation - Nervous and Seeking Advice

mark1 · Mar 8, 2025

this guy came out wednesday, he is one i worry about , he doesn't like to dig in at all, might have something to do with losing the front 1/4 of his shell and plastron to a dog, i don't remember having a problem with him before the dog incident, and not leaving him out for that year........ as far as i could tell he just gets under the grass and leaves and stays on the surface, he's never caked in dirt/mud when i see him emerge, and it's usually too early........ he came out after two 60F days..... i brought him inside, i know winter isn't done ..... since he came out we've been in the 20's with snow for the last 2 days...... it's going to be 50 tomorrow...........i fed him so i'll probably keep him inside until the nights are staying in the 40's....

this is what got him out

air and ground temps....

this is a snapshot of his winter outside

ground temps

Screenshot_20-2-2025_10752_www.greencastonline.com.jpg

the last time i seen him eat was oct 29th 2024, after that date we were above 60F six times , until march 4th 2025..... he's fat and doesn't look like he missed a meal

lungswig · Mar 11, 2025

Thank you Mark1! All that info is really helpful. On Monday afternoon we removed all the leaves from the enclosure and carefully dug around just to see if we could find them and almost right away we found one about 1/2 buried with her head sticking out of the dirt and she is alive! We covered her back over and then looked around some more yesterday and found our other turtle right next to her, fully buried just under the surface and she's alive too! We are thrilled and amazed by these animals!

Since we know exactly where they are, we removed most of the leaves and left just their area covered. We put some water out for them and will leave some food once it gets closer to consistent 50 degrees, even though it's been getting to 60 on a lot of days, it's still dropping below 40 on a lot of nights.

jeff kushner · Mar 19, 2025

So glad your little guys made it. They are really very resilient animals!

I put Matt outside today in his outside home for the day but brought him back in for the night. He's not acclimated to low 30's! He loved it...if I had to guess....eating worms and slugs, climbing in his big pool....yeah, he was good!

lungswig · Apr 23, 2026

Hi All, I hope you are well. My two little ornate box turtles are still underground. We are very concerned, especially because they went down mid-November. They're so small I just can't imagine they have enough reserves. It's been a cold winter in NYC and just when it warms up, there's another cold flash. Has hit the mid 30's a couple of times just within the last week. Looks like now the lows will be in mid 40's for the next week. I gently search within about 6 inches down but couldn't find them. I guess that's a good sign. But I'm concerned they are buried deep and don't have enough energy to climb out if they're even still alive. Should I search deeper? If I find them what do I do?

Thanks for any advice.

mark1 · Apr 23, 2026

here they can stay in the ground until may on cold years...... this year most everyone was up in march, one came up in february......... ornates are said to dig deeper than easterns, i've never seen one 6" deep, and we get some cold winters, your ground is warmer than ours...... i'd definitely be digging them up....... they're alway up against something or in the corners, under roots, rocks...... if they're small be careful if your throwing out leaves , at this time of year they shouldn't be in the ground they should be in the leaves......

lungswig · Apr 24, 2026

Thank you so much for the advice. They weren't in the leaves, so I excavated a ton of dirt and still couldn't find them. Then I dissembled the rock pile in the corner and there they were! I'm completely stunned that they survived 5 full months of a very cold winter just sitting under a rock above ground. They did have about 18" of leaves over them, but still seems crazy to me!

Maybe next year I'll bury a container and place the in it at a certain point so I know where they are. But they DID just prove they're capable of surviving on their own.

We are also thinking about skipping a winter of brumation to let them continue growing. I think I read that alternating years is ok, but will research again. Any experience with that?

mark1 · Apr 24, 2026

lungswig said:
Maybe next year I'll bury a container and place the in it at a certain point so I know where they are. But they DID just prove they're capable of surviving on their own.

We are also thinking about skipping a winter of brumation to let them continue growing. I think I read that alternating years is ok, but will research again. Any experience with that?

imo, both are bad ideas, the container being an especially bad idea....if they act abnormally, or are obviously sick, imo, is the only reason not to hibernate them............. the plant zone here is 6a, the box turtles that hibernate here, i have not seen one go deeper than the top of it's shell barely covered by dirt, an inch or two........ the frostline here is 36"-42".......... being freeze tolerant and not going too deep i believe both serve a purpose......

lungswig · Apr 24, 2026

mark1 said:
imo, both are bad ideas, the container being an especially bad idea....if they act abnormally, or are obviously sick, imo, is the only reason not to hibernate them............. the plant zone here is 6a, the box turtles that hibernate here, i have not seen one go deeper than the top of it's shell barely covered by dirt, an inch or two........ the frostline here is 36"-42".......... being freeze tolerant and not going too deep i believe both serve a purpose......

Understood. Thank you again!

mark1 · Apr 24, 2026

soak them in a container of luke warm water with leaves floating in it, so they can feel secure.......... put the leaves back in their pen, they'll still use them to thermoregulate......... they are always against something, or under something, an edge or like these guys a corner........ when the weather turns extremely cold it's a good idea to have leaves piled around the outside of what they are up against also...... left the same they would probably hibernate in exactley the same spot next year..... feed them good spring, summer, and fall, not eating for 6-7 months in the winter is never an issue....

lungswig · Apr 27, 2026

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