Preparing for winter (in advance)

[DonnaT]

Hello, I have a Terrapene ornata ornata who appears to be fairly young. I am making plans ahead of time to ensure that my tortoise is safe this winter. We reside in southern New Mexico (8B) where winters are fairly mild but it does get chilly at night. I worry about our tortoise having free range to burrow because the previous home owner mentioned broken glass that is buried in the yard. Is a rabbit hutch or chicken coupon okay?

 

[DonnaT]

 

[DonnaT]

 

[wellington]

That is a box turtle not a tortoise.
Is this for inside or you plan on housing him outside for winter?
An insulated heated night box might be better then a rabbit hutch which will still get very cold without being heated and because it's not insulated it will be hard to keep heated
Do they normally brumate/hibernate in the area you live?
@Yvonne may be able to help.

 

[mark1]

Is a rabbit hutch or chicken coupon okay?

imo, no...... they need access to the natural ground to thermoregulate........ you can dig down about 10" in as small as a 2'x3' area , break up the soil, make sure it's free of glass.... you can direct them to hibernate in that spot with a pile of grass and leaves........ i'm told ornata can dig really deep, but they only go as deep as the need to, depending on how cold it gets.......... here we can get bellow 0 for days, below 32 for a month, and the eastern box turtles appear to never go deeper than 6"..........

 

[DonnaT]

Thank you for your insight. I would like to allow DonnaTella to hibernate outside in order to be as least restrictive and intrusive to her natural-needs as possible. It’s so hard not to worry about her though.

 

[mark1]

give them what they need in the way of an optimum hibernacula, i live in way more extreme cold than texas and after hibernating box turtles in a pen outside since 2000, i see zero risk in it........ make sure you know what makes for an optimum hibernacula........ it's ground temps that determine them staying down and emerging..... good insulation on top of them is important, so the air temp doesn't effect the ground they're in too quickly...... your winters should be a breeze for that turtle....... info like the below 2 links is everywhere.......

Thermal environment and microhabitat of ornate box turtle hibernacula


Seasonal Inactivity of the Desert Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata luteola, at the Species' Southwestern Range Limit in Arizona