My Turtles and Tortoises in the Winter

People are always curious about what I do with the turtles and tortoises during the winter.  The quick answer is nothing (excluding the tiny ones who are living in an aquarium on my dinning room buffet.)

Petunia our Marginated Tortoise

The more in depth answer is a little longer.  The two tortoises could technically hibernate outside here, though it is a little wet for them.  We choose to put them in the greenhouse and try to keep them from hibernating.  Last year this worked out great for Petunia.  This year, both tortoises have dug down into the gravel floor and are apparently hibernating.  Now that the days are getting longer, I just need a warm weekend where I can move stuff around/out of the the greenhouse and wake those two guys up.  Even though the greenhouse air temperature is pretty warm, the soil is really cold, so I'm not too worried (to warm, means they use too much energy while they hibernate), but I'm not exactly happy either.  Hopefully a nice weekend will happen soon.  I don't like not being able to see them.

Ella our Hermann's Tortoise

The box turtles are all hibernating underground in their respective enclosures.  This includes three Three-toed, one Gulf Coast and one Dessert.  Fortunately, they all picked good locations in their enclosures and I've added a layer of hay to the ground above them to help better insulate them.  Honestly, I don't like not being able to see them and check on how they are doing.  They all went down for good in November and we won't see them again until spring.  I've checked to see if any of them was dug out on a warm day, but so far they haven't.  Not surprising since the ground temperatures have stayed pretty cold.

Cinnamon a male Three-toed Box Turtle

 
Two of the box turtles are currently living inside on my dinning room buffet because we are classy like that. They are too small to hibernate outside (one is less than a year old), so inside they stay.  They aren't hibernating, but due to the shorter days, have slowed down a lot. 

Gizmo our Hybrid Three-toed-Ornate Box Turtle and "Baby Turtle" our Ornate Box Turtle

I can't wait until spring when I can make sure that all of these guys are happy and healthy again.  While all of these turtles and tortoises would naturally hibernate (and many are adapted to our climate or harsher ones), I still worry about them, probably too much.