Matilda stopped eating....ready for Fall

[jeff kushner]

Well, like clockwork, all the local reptiles stopped eating at about the same time around here. I noticed the lizards stopped eating and so did Matilda. I cooked a steak the other day with Kansas Steak seasoning on it.....and this time I shared. She didn't touch it. She normally goes nuts over it once she smells it. Her choice, I'm not concerned. She has great health and good weight to go into the Winter this year.....gonna be a whole new experience for her! I did it once in this climate w/o heat for an entire winter(it wasn't my best moment) and I was out and about, she can do it buried! LOL

She(he) is very active these days, mostly climbing around the hill I built for her to dig into. I have faith that she'll catch on when it gets cool.....LOL

She's just relaxing.....well till I lifted her ceiling up to take her pic!

 

[TammyJ]

What are day and night temperatures there now?

 

[wellington]

Seems a lot of Russians are doing the same thing.

 

[TammyJ]

The US is such a huge area with varying temperatures. I was wondering what the temperature has to be for the hibernation process to begin in any one location.

 

[jeff kushner]

What are day and night temperatures there now?

We are beginning to get into the 50'sF at night, 80 during the days....today it's 77F out at 2:30pm.

It's kind of funny, leaves began falling here 7-10 days ago, not a lot yet but 2 dozen a day and increasing on my bedroom outdoor deck. Kerry lives about 70 miles away, her leaves aren't falling at all yet!

 

[TammyJ]

We get the 50's sometimes at night here in the mountains in December and January usually. Now it's like 75 here at night.

 

[mark1]

are you continuing offering her food ? here i try to get them to eat as much as i can in september ........ they definitely have a lot of days they won't eat ..... we're 50's at night and 70's in the day , 12hrs daylight ........

Well, like clockwork, all the local reptiles stopped eating at about the same time around here. I noticed the lizards stopped eating and so did Matilda. I cooked a steak the other day with Kansas Steak seasoning on it.....and this time I shared. She didn't touch it. She normally goes nuts over it once she smells it. Her choice, I'm not concerned. She has great health and good weight to go into the Winter this year.....gonna be a whole new experience for her! I did it once in this climate w/o heat for an entire winter(it wasn't my best moment) and I was out and about, she can do it buried! LOL

She(he) is very active these days, mostly climbing around the hill I built for her to dig into. I have faith that she'll catch on when it gets cool.....LOL

She's just relaxing.....well till I lifted her ceiling up to take her pic!

View attachment 361390

are you going to continue to offer her food?

 

[jeff kushner]

I continue to make food available.......she doesn't have to eat it. She's all over her home as the greenery inside her home begins to thin out. She watched as the worms made their way from the top of her home when I had dropped them off my deck, to inside the mesh to plop down next to her....she didn't eat them. She also has a half plum if she gets the urge.

As the leave fall, I'll build her another thick pile over loose dirt as was suggested.....




Hope I'm doing the right thing.....I figure that in nature, there is still food if she wanted it, all I try to do is replicate.

 

[mark1]

.I figure that in nature, there is still food if she wanted it

that's been my thinking , and i've yet to see an issue with that thinking ...... i've seen these guys eat into october here, all the box turtles here are still eating , the blanding's are nowhere near stopping , they're like a school of piranha's , the wood turtles in the shadier enclosure are getting picky , the wood turtles in the pens that get almost all day sun are eating like normal ...... the spot i got for the box turtles to hibernate is south facing , when the leaves fall it's all day sun ....... the grass clippings also give off a good amount of heat ...... i've seen them eat here when even i thought it wasn't alright ........

 

[SuzanneZ]

We are beginning to get into the 50'sF at night, 80 during the days....today it's 77F out at 2:30pm.

It's kind of funny, leaves began falling here 7-10 days ago, not a lot yet but 2 dozen a day and increasing on my bedroom outdoor deck. Kerry lives about 70 miles away, her leaves aren't falling at all yet!

Oct. 18 '23 now in central MS. Let my Russian children get too cold last night - about 65. They slept very late. Didn't come to breakfast until after 10. I warm- soaked the 5" male on the south porch in the sun. He practically melted and then slept. She had her soak yesterday. She was very pleased.

I ordered two more clamp lamps with porcelain sockets, the only kind I trust. Can take up to 150 watts. I don't heat my 95-year-old house (actually can't for the 9' ceilings where all heat collects), but I spot-heated even before the tortoises came.

Should I put leaves on top of the the substrate? He burrows under the Timothy hay he's supposed to snack on, but it's too open to make a good blanket. In her apartment the 5.5" quiet one (not that he's loud) sleeps between two bricks 6" away from her heat source. She ignores the hay. (Substrate is about two inches of dampened yard dirt and chopped coir.)

Do you see anything so far I need to do differently? Will be 54 tonight/80 in the afternoon.

 

[jeff kushner]

Most turtles like to have a place to hide. I guess when you can't outrun ANYONE, hiding is a good survival strategy? LOL

I don't know about Russians but all my turtles have loved to borrow to some extent.

My fav is when they hide their heads and front of their shells.....only. It's like a kid who covers his eyes and thinks no one can see him! LOL

The best advice I ever got was "throw some dry leaves in there"(thanks Y). A pile of leaves is heaven to a box turtle!