Darren1965
New Member
Thank you for your reply. The scenario you suggest is the most likely explanation. I do wish I’d known much more about the specifics of their care and maybe we could have avoided this very sad occurrence. I think because they’d never displayed any outward signs that they’d struggled or only just made it through in previous years we were oblivious to their plight. And that had led to their deaths. You are right about a prolonged colder period over here. In previous years they have had the opportunity to warm up earlier.I've seen plenty of examples of tortoises surviving for years in similar situations. We don't realize they are on the edge many times, but pull through. Just enough warmth comes along before it's too late, or it cooled down slow enough that they did not have too much food in the gut. This can happen for years. Then, one year, there is a warm spell and they eat a bit more than usual. followed by an extended cold spell where the sun doesn't even come out for 2 weeks or more and they never get a chance to warm up. A bulb in their night box goes out and its a few more days before it's realized. Food in the gut and extended cold with no chance to warm up is a recipe for this to happen.
Same thing will happen to a hibernating species if they don't prepare for hibernation properly. They are certainly capable of hibernating, but here, they are not hibernating, yet allowed to eat, stay awake, yet not provided enough heat to properly metabolize. So both leopard and hermans are in the same state.
This year there was an extended cold snap which prevented them from getting sun and, it would seem, was just too much for each of them to cope with. Knowing these things after the fact is too late for the tortoises and very difficult to know I have let them down.