# Hibernation Problems



## VickieLee (Nov 24, 2012)

I'm in Southern California. My desert tortoise(40+ years) usually starts hibernation around the middle of November every year. He hibernates in a dog house. This year he'll stay in the house for days and then suddenly when it's a sunnier, warmer day he's up again and eating. He was late coming out of hibernation this year, usually mid March, but this year it was late April. My question is should I continue feeding him? I thought tortoises usually stopped eating for awhile before hibernating, but he seems to still want to eat. I have to put out food out or move him to a grass enclosure because I have a pool.


----------



## Laura (Nov 24, 2012)

watch the weather.. Id stop feeding him,, and just provide water.. or plan to keep him up all winter..


----------



## ascott (Nov 24, 2012)

I absolutely would not offer any supplemental food at all....the grass grazing will satisfy him mentally but will not fill his gut with store bought supplements...

I absolutely would do as suggested and make sure to keep water out for him as long as he is up and mobile for now...this winter is getting off to a warm start and I am not surprised he may trek out once in a while....

I have 3 CDTs in their boxes already and in their cool dark closet and they are resting...the other CDT is still out in his enclosure as he has a natural dug burrow and he was determined to get in it even after my attempts to cover the entrance were set in place...little bugger, while I have not seen him---I did clear the entrance dirt into a smooth surface and when I checked back I observed his tort foot print and shell resting spot barely at the entrance...so I suspect he grooves on out some still but not all the way out...

Is your tort heavy/solid when you lift him ? Is he well hydrated? Is he is brumation health?


----------



## VickieLee (Nov 25, 2012)

ascott said:


> I absolutely would not offer any supplemental food at all....the grass grazing will satisfy him mentally but will not fill his gut with store bought supplements...
> 
> I absolutely would do as suggested and make sure to keep water out for him as long as he is up and mobile for now...this winter is getting off to a warm start and I am not surprised he may trek out once in a while....
> 
> ...



Yes, he is heavy/solid. I don't know how well hydrated. I had him since I was a child, in the 40 years I've had him I've only actually seen him drink a few times. I didn't think it would be a good idea to soak him.




Laura said:


> watch the weather.. Id stop feeding him,, and just provide water.. or plan to keep him up all winter..


How would I keep him up all winter? I can't bring him in the house. Yesterday when he came out, I wasn't home. I don't know how long he'd been out. When I came home I saw him walking around a bit and then he got behind the trash can. I moved him into his house.


----------



## kimber_lee_314 (Nov 25, 2012)

The last couple days have been pretty warm. Mine have been coming out and grazing. I soak them for a while, let them dry, and then they go back into their house. Grazing on dry grasses is the only thing I let mine eat - definitely no grocery store greens or flowers.


----------



## Yvonne G (Nov 25, 2012)

Hi VickieLee:

Don't worry about him. He's been hibernating on his own in your backyard for 40 years. He knows how to do it and what's expected of him. When you see him out, just make sure he's back inside his house by night fall, or if its going to rain. Don't offer him any food. If he finds something to eat on his own, just let him be. 

When a tortoise goes into the brumation state, it doesn't happen all at once. He just sits around being too cold to move much, and eventually, maybe after a couple weeks or more, slows down and brumates. So if your tortoise has had a bite to eat then stays inside his house, chances are he's going to do a little pooping and peeing in there before he really goes to sleep.


----------



## VickieLee (Nov 25, 2012)

Thanks for all the advice. It was 10 degrees cooler today. He stayed in his dog house. We've had such crazy weather, yesterday it was 78 during the day, then cold at night with heavy fog. The poor guy is confused. Hopefully the days will stay cooler.


----------



## Laura (Nov 29, 2012)

with the flood warnings we have here for the next few days. I just dug my guy out of his burrow. He was fine last year , but this is A LOT of rains expected over a few days and didnt want to chance it.. so he is now in a box with newpapers tucked securely n a shelf in the garage.. i wrote all over the box.. LIVE TORT! 
It will be interesting to see if his burrow floods or not.. good test!


----------



## jaydog6644 (Jan 5, 2013)

i didnt know that they hibernate???


----------



## Yvonne G (Jan 6, 2013)

jaydog6644 said:


> i didnt know that they hibernate???



Yes, quite a few different species of tortoise hibernate (brumate), the desert tortoise being one of them.


----------



## Tom (Jan 6, 2013)

I see this thread is old, but it illustrates the problem with hibernating tortoises above ground in a climate like ours here in SoCal. We have some cold spells, but it is not consistently cold enough. Imagine how steady the temp is in an underground burrow. Even with sunny days near 80 and cold nights in the 20s or 30s the temp in my three foot deep burrows stays within a couple of degrees of 50. Just two or three feet of earth over them averages out these fluctuating temps and helps them to have a nice steady hibernation.

Consider something like this, but with out the heat. I'm using heat because I have a tropical species housed here, but I use the same sort of burrows, with no heat, for my hibernators. These burrows drop to 50ish in the fall, and rise to 80ish all Summer long. It gives them a cool place to be in summer when the above ground temps are 100+. And it gives them a cold, but not TOO cold, place to hibernate with steady temps in the winter.

Check it out:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-28662.html


----------



## VickieLee (Jan 18, 2013)

I've never had any hibernation problems in the 40 + years I've had my tortoise, until this year. Rocky has been hibernating since Nov 25th. The last few days it has been much warmer during the day, could be as high as 81 over the weekend. Today I heard Rocky moving around in the dog house. I'm hoping the warmth doesn't make him come out. My question is what do I do if he does emerge from the dog house?


----------



## reticguy76 (Jan 18, 2013)

They emerge in the wild on warm days, also, for the warm couple hours of the day, and then back in. I say, if thats what he does, let him do it. They know what to do, and as long as you provide the ability for him to come out and then go back into brumation as he wishes, then its all good. My cooter has been brumating since around mid-late November, and has come out a day here and there, when its warm and then back in for several days to weeks, then another random warmer day out.


----------



## VickieLee (Jan 21, 2013)

Thanks for replying. It's good to know it's nothing to worry about. It's been really warm and he hasn't emerged[/i].


----------



## MikeCow1 (Jan 28, 2013)

I'm having the same problem this year. And, in my 40+ years of keeping deserts I've never seen anything like it. They went sown way late and now even though it's in the 30s and 40s at night, they're starting to come out during the day. For the first time, I've lost two. So, I guess I'm going to bring them in, warm them up and keep them awake the rest of the winter. It's not just the deserts, either. My Russians went down super late as did my boxies. I saw one of my Eastern box roaming the other day when it hit 63. Never seen anything like this year before and hope never to again


----------



## sibi (Jan 28, 2013)

Is there a possibility that the ground is warmer than usual? Is that perhaps a warning that deep down something is brewing like in a big earthquake? It's just a thought. I never lived in California, and earthquakes scares me. So, when animals behave differently, I'd pay attention to what's going on underground. It's just a thought.


----------



## VickieLee (Feb 28, 2013)

Well my tortoise who started hibernating late November 25th has now emerged from the doghouse early. He usually don't come out until around March 17th. It's going to be 80's next 3 days, then 60's and rain. I put out some water, but he doesn't have access to grass without me moving him to the side yard. My question - What should I do regarding feeding him? Should I just wait and see if he goes back in or should I offer him something. Any advice would be appreciated. Never had hibernation problems in the 40 some years I've had him.


----------

