Minimum age for Russian Tortoise to hibernate

Damkri

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Hi what's the minimum age I should hibernate my tortoise? If so, how long for and when in the year?
Is it necessary to hibernate my Tortoise. I'm not planning for her to have babies.
 

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TechnoCheese

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I’m not sure about the first two questions, but no, it is not necessary to hibernate :)
 

Tom

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Hi what's the minimum age I should hibernate my tortoise? If so, how long for and when in the year?
Is it necessary to hibernate my Tortoise. I'm not planning for her to have babies.

I hibernate them every winter, including their first, but I do it right. Some people wait longer, and that is okay too.

How long to hibernate depends on many factors. I usually do 8-10 weeks for little ones and 12-14 weeks for older ones. There is no set answer. Its personal preference.

It is not "necessary" to hibernate your tortoise, and this has little to do with making babies.
 

DARKFIRE007

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You may not get a choice in the matter. She will likely stop eating and dig down really deep and start hibernating on her own. Mine did it when the humidity in my state plummeted in October. I agree with the other posts on time, you can expect 10-14 weeks. I always got mine and soaked him once a week to prevent dehydration, he always dug right back down...seemed to work well.
 

Tom

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You may not get a choice in the matter. She will likely stop eating and dig down really deep and start hibernating on her own. Mine did it when the humidity in my state plummeted in October. I agree with the other posts on time, you can expect 10-14 weeks. I always got mine and soaked him once a week to prevent dehydration, he always dug right back down...seemed to work well.
There are ways to get them to stay up, and digging down into the substrate because of shorter days and cooler temps is not hibernating. Room temps are much too warm for them to hibernate at. This is a dangerous practice. I call it "limbo". You need to decide to either keep the tortoise sufficiently warm and lit enough to stay up and eating over winter, or hibernate the tortoise properly at the correct consistent low temps with a proper lead in and lead out.
 

DARKFIRE007

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There are ways to get them to stay up, and digging down into the substrate because of shorter days and cooler temps is not hibernating. Room temps are much too warm for them to hibernate at. This is a dangerous practice. I call it "limbo". You need to decide to either keep the tortoise sufficiently warm and lit enough to stay up and eating over winter, or hibernate the tortoise properly at the correct consistent low temps with a proper lead in and lead out.

It was plenty warm in there, the cool side never went under 79...basking area was 96-97, he just went off food and literally buried himself under the substrate. 2 months later he came out and started eating and got active. I assumed it was my change in humidity and it was hibernation. I better research how to keep him up, I refuse to stick him in a fridge, not happening.
 

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It was plenty warm in there, the cool side never went under 79...basking area was 96-97, he just went off food and literally buried himself under the substrate. 2 months later he came out and started eating and got active. I assumed it was my change in humidity and it was hibernation. I better research how to keep him up, I refuse to stick him in a fridge, not happening.
2 months at 79 degrees with no food is potentially deadly.

Why so warm for a russian? They need a night time cooling period. At least down into the 60s.

Temperature is a factor in when and why they go into hibernation, but not so much humidity. The biggest factor is light duration. There may also be other factors at work that we don't understand yet. In any case, when fall comes back around again, I hope we can help you figure out how to keep him up and eating.
 

DARKFIRE007

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Me too because force hibernating frankly scares me out of my wits. And yes, I was running low 60ish temps in the cool side when it was August, I bumped it up as it got cold because in winter that room gets ungodly cold. You have me curious...I have seen a LOT of other users whose tort does this and they see it as normal/hibernating like I did. What are your methods to keep them up and about?
 

Tom

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Me too because force hibernating frankly scares me out of my wits. And yes, I was running low 60ish temps in the cool side when it was August, I bumped it up as it got cold because in winter that room gets ungodly cold. You have me curious...I have seen a LOT of other users whose tort does this and they see it as normal/hibernating like I did. What are your methods to keep them up and about?

"Force" hibernating? What is that?

They are not "hibernating" when temps are in the 60s or 70s. They are starving to death.

There are many things that can be done to keep them up. Using the right lighting, lengthening the time the lights are on, adding more lighting, daily soaks, warming up the temps, keeping ambient and night temps warmer. Letting them dig in and stay under the substrate at room temps is not hibernating. They need to be gotten up daily and convinced its not time to hibernate. Or, just let them hibernate, but do it right and at the right temperature.
 

DARKFIRE007

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By force hibernating I mean sticking them in say a fridge at specific temps, not something I want to do. As for temps other than basking like night temps with heat lamps, I have been adjusting the degrees with bulb wattage and distance, but I recently bought an outlet controlled thermostat for more consistent results. Have a look, it is affordable and works very well, even has high and low temp alarms.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-LC...217973&hash=item1ca1c2c8fa:g:KuMAAOSwItJadBNo
 

Tom

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By force hibernating I mean sticking them in say a fridge at specific temps, not something I want to do. As for temps other than basking like night temps with heat lamps, I have been adjusting the degrees with bulb wattage and distance, but I recently bought an outlet controlled thermostat for more consistent results. Have a look, it is affordable and works very well, even has high and low temp alarms.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-LC...217973&hash=item1ca1c2c8fa:g:KuMAAOSwItJadBNo

Without using a fridge, how does one maintain a constant cold temperature indoors, safe from the whims of Mother Nature, and without going too cold and freezing their eyeballs? What is your opposition to refrigerators all about?

Controlling temperatures is good, but having enough light, the right light, and having those lights on for the right amount of time, will go farther than warm temps. A wise man (Bert Langerwurf) once told me that my Argentine tegu would turn in for the season on September 15th every year. I assured him that we stayed warm until the end of October and sometimes into November here in sunny SoCal. He informed me that temperature doesn't matter, and its the shortening days that trigger hibernation in these large lizards. Guess which one of us was right. Hint: It wasn't me...
 

DARKFIRE007

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Without using a fridge, how does one maintain a constant cold temperature indoors, safe from the whims of Mother Nature, and without going too cold and freezing their eyeballs? What is your opposition to refrigerators all about?

Controlling temperatures is good, but having enough light, the right light, and having those lights on for the right amount of time, will go farther than warm temps. A wise man (Bert Langerwurf) once told me that my Argentine tegu would turn in for the season on September 15th every year. I assured him that we stayed warm until the end of October and sometimes into November here in sunny SoCal. He informed me that temperature doesn't matter, and its the shortening days that trigger hibernation in these large lizards. Guess which one of us was right. Hint: It wasn't me...

I have just heard horror stories of torts dying when put in a fridge to hibernate. I would rather keep him up than risk trying to hibernate. And yea, I do the UVB and heat for basking, that was never an issue. The cool side has been my only tinkering spot because of room temperature changes. That won't matter now though with my new thermostat.
 

RosemaryDW

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I have just heard horror stories of torts dying when put in a fridge to hibernate. I would rather keep him up than risk trying to hibernate.

I’m curious about this. I have seen members refer to fridge hibernation horror stories but I don’t believe I have seen any directly. Are they older threads?

I have seen a few threads about tortoises being flooded out of their natural outdoor burrows; of tortoises digging down and never coming up; of tortoises coming up quite ill.

I see a lot of posts from users who don’t understand tortoises slow down when the temps and lighting isn’t consistent. I can’t believe that’s healthy.

But not the fridge hibernation horror stories. Have I missed them?

*I’m biased in that I fridge hibernate; I have an outdoor tortoise and prefer not to build and put her in an indoor enclosure to keep her awake. She did come out with a slight respiratory infection this year. I’m not sure that was related to the fridge, as they are so common in Russians. But it’s made us think again about keeping her up next year. We’ll see what her health is this summer.
 

DARKFIRE007

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I’m curious about this. I have seen members refer to fridge hibernation horror stories but I don’t believe I have seen any directly. Are they older threads?

I have seen a few threads about tortoises being flooded out of their natural outdoor burrows; of tortoises digging down and never coming up; of tortoises coming up quite ill.

I see a lot of posts from users who don’t understand tortoises slow down when the temps and lighting isn’t consistent. I can’t believe that’s healthy.

But not the fridge hibernation horror stories. Have I missed them?

*I’m biased in that I fridge hibernate; I have an outdoor tortoise and prefer not to build and put her in an indoor enclosure to keep her awake. She did come out with a slight respiratory infection this year. I’m not sure that was related to the fridge, as they are so common in Russians. But it’s made us think again about keeping her up next year. We’ll see what her health is this summer.

One story I remember came off Youtube, and another from a forum (maybe here?) likely someone who got the temperatures wrong. My own fridge leaves ice crystals on my torts greens so I would never trust it. But I have to stop the "limbo" as Tom call's it.
 
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