Expert Warns Why Burying Your Pet Turtles For The Winter In Your Yard Is A 'Horrible Idea'

If you've ever thought about having a box turtle as a pet, there is a lot of mixed information on the internet about how to care for turtles during the winter time.

Turtles have their own form of hibernation, called brumation, during which they dig themselves down several feet into the ground and go to sleep for approximately three months. Due to the cooler temperatures and their dormant state, turtles' needs for oxygen are very low, so they can comfortably sleep while buried, and will emerge when they're ready.

The important thing to note is that turtles will do this naturally. They will dig themselves down, go to sleep, and climb back out when they are ready and on their own terms. Turtle parents only need to provide them the tools they need to achieve brumation, whether that's filling a large tub with dirt or allowing them to stay in a cool place for a "buffered brumation," like a basement, during the winter, where they will tuck themselves in somewhere without actually burying themselves.

But there are some turtle owners online who treat "turtle day" like a holiday, posting videos of digging two- and three-feet-deep holes in the ground that they put their turtles in, and then dig them back out when winter is ending, sometimes tying the occasion to planting flowers.

TikToker and turtle expert "Dan the Turtle Man" stated—for the fifth year in a row—that the problem with this is that this is not natural brumation, but forced brumation, and forcing a turtle to hibernate before they're ready, and forcing them to wake up before they're ready, can actually hinder their health and shorten their lifespan, much like a person who constantly hits the snooze button can throw off their circadian rhythm and possibly cause other health problems.

Dan warned:

"It's turtle day! Time for my yearly crash out!"

"This is a horrible idea. Eastern box turtles will bury themselves when winter comes."

"If they have trouble burying in the soil, do what I do with a buffered brumation."

"When you bury them, you don’t give them a choice. You send them, and then you pull them back up, whether they’re ready to or not."

You can watch the video here:

Fellow reptile-loving TikTokers were in enthusiastic agreement with Dan about forced brumation.

@dantheturtleman/TikTok

@dantheturtleman/TikTok

@dantheturtleman/TikTok

@dantheturtleman/TikTok

@dantheturtleman/TikTok

@dantheturtleman/TikTok

@dantheturtleman/TikTok

@dantheturtleman/TikTok

@dantheturtleman/TikTok

@dantheturtleman/TikTok

Exotic pets can be much more difficult to care for since the information found online can either be scarce or conflicting, and veterinarians will often have basic knowledge about these pets but not the deep knowledge that they might have about cats and dogs.

If you have a turtle or other exotic pet, it's important to research what their natural behaviors are—and rather than doing it for them, give them opportunities to do it themselves, like allowing them safely achieve brumation on their own terms.