Should my tortoise still be basking whilst he is fasting before hibernation

kyle123

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Hi, I have an 8 year old male Marginated tortoise who I am hibernating for the first time this year. I have the fridge all setup and ready to go and I am very confident on his hibernation. He has kept good weight sinse September and ways about 1.1kg now. He is currently indoors in his tortoise table winding down ready for hibernation mid to late December. The room the table is in is like a workshop on the side of our house. It is heated but is still colder then the rest of the house. It's currently around 17 degrees throughout the day in there and 37 under the heat lamp. Everything has gone well to date but he has now stopped getting up through the day. My worry is he will not digest his food correctly before hibernation is he is not basking. I'm bathing him 3 times a week aswell. Any help would be appreciated
 

Yvonne G

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Has he been eating? If not, what makes you think he still has food in his digestive tract?
 

kyle123

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He's not eaten for a couple of days and I haven't seen any evidence of him pooing. I'm slightly rasing the temperature to like 19-20 ish so hopefully that'll get him up a bit more
 

Geng

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My Russian has also slowed down considerably. He wouldn't eat on his own, unless I hand feed him dandelions which I do during the weekends. I warm soak my tortoise for 45 - 60 min under his heat lamp. He would poop in that time, because the water is still warm.
 

kyle123

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Yeah I belive it's good that he's stopped eating as he's preparing himself for hibernation I just wondered wether he should still be slightly active whilst he's emptying himself for hibernation
 

drew54

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I didn't think reptiles hibernated as mammals hibernate and reptiles brumate.
 

Geng

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I have mine for 4 years already I think. I've never let him hibernate and still not planning to do it. I think there is too much risk for an unexperienced tortoise owner like me, so I'm trying my best to keep him eating / soaking during the cold dark months.
 

Tom

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I do two weeks at normal temps and no food. Then another two weeks dropping the temps and light cycle duration before fridge time. Daily warm soaks throughout.
 

kyle123

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Yeah he is not being fed now and the temperature is around 19 with the light being on for 8 hours. Then over the next 2 weeks I'll let the temperature drop to around 11 when I'll then be putting him him in the fridge.
 
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