“Box turtle” by Gabrielle Mc
Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Box turtles can’t regulate their own body temperature without help.
In nature they rely on the sun for heat and shade or water to cool down.
When you keep one as a pet, you need to make sure she has access to both warm and cool areas so she can still move around her environment to warm up or cool off.
Why Can’t Box Turtles Control Their Own Body Temperature?
Well, technically they can, they just have to use their environment to do it. Humans are endotherms, meaning their bodies can generate heat as needed to keep their body at a constant temperature. Box turtles are ectotherms, which can’t generate heat. Their body temperatures vary depending on the temperature of the air around them.
This means they get very sluggish in cold weather. And they can overheat on a hot, sunny day if they can’t find shade or somewhere to burrow.
How Does the Right Temperature Help Your Turtle?
Turtles need warm temperatures to eat. When temperatures are too cold, their metabolism slows down, as if they are preparing for hibernation. They move around less and eat less. Warm, moist conditions stimulate them to eat. They also like to bask (sit in a warm spot) after eating.
And if they have an infection, they will also look for an area with high heat. This is similar to humans getting a fever from an infection. It raises the body temperature to try to kill the invading germs.
So What Daytime Temperature Does a Box Turtle Need?
In general, you want a temperature gradient that ranges from around 75 °F – 80 °F (24 °C to 27 °C) on the warm side and about 70 °F ( 21 °C) on the cool side.
She will also enjoy a basking area that gets to about 85 °F (29 °C). This is not as critical as the gradient, but if you have room to provide it, try to do so. But most of the pen should be on the cooler side, so if trying to provide a basking area heats up the whole cage too much, then just go with the gradient.
The water source should be on the cool side. If you don’t have bedding in the whole habitat, at least keep moist bedding (deep enough to burrow into) on the cool side, too.
Can Nighttime Temperatures Be Cooler?
Yes, just like in nature, over-night temps can be cooler. Down to about 60 °F (15 °C) is acceptable. If you keep your home at least that warm, then you can simply turn off heat lamps at night.
How Do You Create a Temperature Gradient?
The simplest way is to set up a heat lamp at one end of the habitat. Depending on the size of your set-up, this might be all you need. Regular incandescent bulbs also give off heat. In a smaller cage, these could also provide enough heat.
No matter what bulb you use, when first setting up your heat source, you will need to check the temperatures directly below it and at the other end. They should fall within the above ranges. Remember to measure the temperatures at the same level as the turtles. Measuring closer to the lamp will give you an artificially high temperature.
You might need to adjust the height of the lamp up or down to get the temperature right. Just make sure the lamp doesn’t get too close to any wood or plastic.
Some people recommend under-tank heating pads, but this is not really natural. Turtles are used to overhead heat, and you want to mimic nature as much as possible to keep your pet happiest.
Setting a rock directly under a basking lamp is a good way to create the higher-temperature basking area. Be careful, though. You don’t want it to get too hot and burn your pet. That’s also why the electric heated rocks you can buy are also not a very good idea. You can’t really control the temperature on them.
Creating Hot and Cool Areas Outside
If you keep your box turtles outside year-round (or even just during the warmer months), you’ll generally have an easier time with the temperature control. Just make sure one side of the enclosure gets plenty of sun for most of the day. And keep the other side shaded. You can either cover one end or plant shrubs next to or in the pen (depending on how big it is). Just be sure your turtles can’t use the plants to climb out! Even if you do cover one side, that side should still be in a relatively shady area or the sun can still overheat it.
And that’s it. It can take a little time and effort to get it all set up and the temperatures in the right ranges. But once you’ve done that, you just need to check the temperatures once in a while to make sure they’re still where they need to be.
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We really want to build our box turtle an outside area to live, he’s been living in our bathtub for the past year. However reading the temperature gradient that’s ideal we’re going to have a problem. We’re in Central Texas (Hill country) and can run 50+ days over 100F in the summer, and right now we’re about to have some overnight temps around 15F. Can a box turtle survive outside here. I’m assuming I could build a ‘house’ area with a heat lamp in for the colder times. But I can really air con an outdoor pen for the summer. Are we stuck with an inside turtle forever ?
My apologies for the delay in answering! Although I can’t advise you directly one way or the other, I can say box turtles do live in Texas in the wild. Both Ornate and Eastern box turtles live throughout the state (although the two don’t necessarily live in the same areas). If yours is a subspecies native to your area of the state it may be easier for it to live outside than if it’s not.
Turtles do have ways to survive extreme temperatures. During hot days they’ll burrow into the ground where it can be cooler. During extreme heat they may actually stay burrowed in and lower their metabolism, similar to hibernation. We have a short explanation of this here.
If you do build an outdoor habitat, make sure there’s a shady area (possibly with vegetation to hide under) & loose dirt to dig into if it wants to. Definitely do some research to see how others have set up their outdoor habitats (I think I may do that myself & set up a page with some links to some nice setups with pictures). And evaluate your yard to make sure the spot you choose provides both nice sunny basking spots and a cool area.
Check out the rest of our site for some more basics on setting up a habitat. Including making it escape proof!
Good luck!
We have an eastern box turtle now for over 10 yrs. He is very friendly and lives in a 40 gallon breeder with sunlight during the day and a red night light at night. In the summer when A/c is on I have always kept his red night light on and change it to sunlight in mornings. If the A/c runs alot but not all night does he still need his night light on? It worries me he could get cold. Of course its kept at the opposite end of his water. So my question is should we still put his red light on at night time, and what about in the winter months when the heat is back on in the house.. I feed him everyother day with box turtle food and tomatoes or fruit. He does eat night crawlers and usuallly eats about 2 or 3 in one time. Is everything I am doing okay. He is thriving very well and sometimes I take him outside to run in our back yard or let him run around the house for exercise. My concern is the night light situation, what do you think I should do? Thank you for your time
The best way to make sure your box turtle’s home is at the right temperature is to have a thermometer in his habitat. Since I don’t know what temperature your AC is set for (or the heat in the winter) nor how your air temperature affects the habitat temperature I can’t give you a good answer. I will say that unless you keep your house below about 60-65 degrees the nighttime light is probably not strictly necessary. But again, measuring the actual temperatures is the best way to make the best decision for your turtle.