Box turtle help

[Crazyturtlelady]

I am hoping someone can help me with understanding what is going on with my turtle.
I inherited a western box turtle in late spring, and have tried to research and do my best to take care of her. While I am not a newbie to tortoise keeping, I am unfamiliar with raising box turtles.
Her history is relatively unknown, as the only information given to me was that she is an older female named Chloe.
Chloe has seemed to be doing well up to this point. However in the last few weeks, she has barely eaten or gone in her bath. She rarely comes out from her log tunnel. Nothing has changed environmentally, and I wonder if she is trying to brumate?
I have not brumated any of my tortoises, and this will be a new experience for me (if that is what she is trying to do).
If anyone could offer some advice, it would be greatly appreciated

 

[Ink]

Happy birthday! Hopefully @Yvonne G will be able to help you.

 

[Tom]

I am hoping someone can help me with understanding what is going on with my turtle.
I inherited a western box turtle in late spring, and have tried to research and do my best to take care of her. While I am not a newbie to tortoise keeping, I am unfamiliar with raising box turtles.
Her history is relatively unknown, as the only information given to me was that she is an older female named Chloe.
Chloe has seemed to be doing well up to this point. However in the last few weeks, she has barely eaten or gone in her bath. She rarely comes out from her log tunnel. Nothing has changed environmentally, and I wonder if she is trying to brumate?
I have not brumated any of my tortoises, and this will be a new experience for me (if that is what she is trying to do).
If anyone could offer some advice, it would be greatly appreciated

We need to know more about her housing and temperature.
1. What size enclosure?
2. What substrate?
3. What type of heating and lighting?
4. What type of UV bulb?
5. How long are the lights on each day?
6. What are your four temperatures? Warm side, cool side, basking area, and overnight low?
7. What do you feed her?

 

[xyhapu]

Is there a correlation between her behavior and outdoor temperatures? One of my eastern box turtles behaves the same way as soon as the first cold spell hits, despite there being little change to indoor temps/humidity/light. This is only the second year I've had him, but so far he's been very consistent about it.

On the other hand, his clutchmate in the same enclosure becomes slightly less active, but is otherwise 90% normal. I might even be imagining any change.

What I've done in my limited experience is keep him hydrated with a soak every few days, keep track of his weight, and keep offering food, especially live food. I'll only worry if he starts to lose significant weight and/or it's been several months since he's eaten.

Mine is on the second month of his hunger strike at the moment, though he did halfheartedly eat a couple slugs a week ago when the weather warmed up a bit and I took him outside. Since then, he has shown a little more interest in food (for example staring/sniffing at worms, even biting and swallowing before spitting it back out). I think he's starting to snap out of it, despite the weather only getting colder, the same thing happened the previous year.

 

[Crazyturtlelady]

Happy birthday! Hopefully @Yvonne G will be able to help you.

Thank you!

 

[Crazyturtlelady]

We need to know more about her housing and temperature.
1. What size enclosure? Large livestock tank/tub
2. What substrate? Fir bark/coco coir
3. What type of heating and lighting? MVB & CHE
4. What type of UV bulb? 100w MVB
5. How long are the lights on each day? 10-12 hrs
6. What are your four temperatures? Warm side, cool side, basking area, and overnight low? Basking 80-85, warm mid-high 70s, cool high 60s, overall overnight temp is room temperature
7. What do you feed her? Leafy greens (red, green, romaine lettuce) Mazuri mash, mealworms and crickets, occasional berries/cactus fruit/cucumber/carrots/bell pepper

Thank you @Tom for your reply and help!

 

[Crazyturtlelady]

Is there a correlation between her behavior and outdoor temperatures? One of my eastern box turtles behaves the same way as soon as the first cold spell hits, despite there being little change to indoor temps/humidity/light. This is only the second year I've had him, but so far he's been very consistent about it.

On the other hand, his clutchmate in the same enclosure becomes slightly less active, but is otherwise 90% normal. I might even be imagining any change.

What I've done in my limited experience is keep him hydrated with a soak every few days, keep track of his weight, and keep offering food, especially live food. I'll only worry if he starts to lose significant weight and/or it's been several months since he's eaten.

Mine is on the second month of his hunger strike at the moment, though he did halfheartedly eat a couple slugs a week ago when the weather warmed up a bit and I took him outside. Since then, he has shown a little more interest in food (for example staring/sniffing at worms, even biting and swallowing before spitting it back out). I think he's starting to snap out of it, despite the weather only getting colder, the same thing happened the previous year.

Yes, exactly this! My area recently had the first snow of the year…but there has been no changes to the environment in Chloe’s enclosure. This behavior appeared to have started as the seasons changed outside, even though she is not housed outside.
I have continued to give her warm soaks every few days, although she still refuses to eat.
Thank you for replying, I will try to offer more live food and give slugs a try.

 

[TammyJ]

It seems like some animals suspect that it's time to brumate or hibernate even though there has been no change made to their enclosure conditions?

 

[jeff kushner]

My guess is exactly as Tammy suggests, that inherently, he knows "it's time".

Since you aren't super-familiar with box turtles, I will suggest that in caring for him/her, think "bog", not "desert". A lot of folks don't know and I'd rather say it. A Box turtles happiest day is when it rains....when you list their leaves, they automatically go into "dink mode" and press their face against any pool made by the misting....cool little dinosaurs!

jeff