Question: Minimum Outdoor Temps for Adult CB Box Turtles {Eastern Gulf Three-Toed and Florida}

[augie1975]

I have a nice outdoor pen. Outdoors is best for any adult turtle. Problem. In my neck of Ontario Canada, only 2-3 months of the year do nighttime temperatures stay above 65 degrees at night. Is there possibly a lower threshold for these creatures?
Finding them to bring them in for the night, at times, is difficult to impossible. So it becomes an all-or-nothing proposition very often since I am on twelve-hour shifts. Any insights or suggestions?
Indoors, their enclosure does not drop below 65 degrees at night.

 

[wellington]

Can you build them a heated hide? Make the flooring a pile of leaves grass wood chips, whatever they like to dig Duane into. Use a che on a thermostat. You might have to put them in every night in the beginning but they should catch on.

 

[mark1]

as for eastern box turtles ,in the northern part of their range it's not 65 or above at night most of the year ......... they are native to where i live , it's been like 50 most every night so far this month (june), one morning last week it was 49 ....seems to me 5B plant zone is their climate limit ....... if they have access to the natural ground , provided with what they need they do fine ....... the limiting problem at northerly limits i believe is the active season length . i think conditions for reproduction become sketchy , i believe it's the biggest factor as to their northerly limit ..... and why they seem to become extirpated from their northern most ranges more easily .....


they may be extirpated from ontario at this time , but i believe they were at one time native to southernmost ontario , along the lake erie shore line , it is definitely the northernmost part of their range ...... i can tell you for sure they live along the lake erie shoreline in the U.S. ..... that is eastern box turtles ,terrapene carolina carolina

 

[augie1975]

Can you build them a heated hide? Make the flooring a pile of leaves grass wood chips, whatever they like to dig Duane into. Use a che on a thermostat. You might have to put them in every night in the beginning but they should catch on.

as for eastern box turtles ,in the northern part of their range it's not 65 or above at night most of the year ......... they are native to where i live , it's been like 50 most every night so far this month (june), one morning last week it was 49 ....seems to me 5B plant zone is their climate limit ....... if they have access to the natural ground , provided with what they need they do fine ....... the limiting problem at northerly limits i believe is the active season length . i think conditions for reproduction become sketchy , i believe it's the biggest factor as to their northerly limit ..... and why they seem to become extirpated from their northern most ranges more easily .....


they may be extirpated from ontario at this time , but i believe they were at one time native to southernmost ontario , along the lake erie shore line , it is definitely the northernmost part of their range ...... i can tell you for sure they live along the lake erie shoreline in the U.S. ..... that is eastern box turtles ,terrapene carolina carolina

Thanks for the info. It makes sense and will inform on what I elect to do.

 

[augie1975]

Can you build them a heated hide? Make the flooring a pile of leaves grass wood chips, whatever they like to dig Duane into. Use a che on a thermostat. You might have to put them in every night in the beginning but they should catch on.

I have a Hubba Cave, CMES, and a power source. Need a thermostat I just have to configure the thing so they don't scorch themselves. Thanks for the time and advice!

 

[Beasty_Artemis]

What's a hubba cave?