Advice needed on wether or not to check on a possible hibernating tortoise and turtle

[terracolson]

So i adopted a 20 r old female russian, to go with my male.

I got her a month ago and She hasnt ever came out of her turtle doggie house...

I thought she might come out and check things out, but no.

she is just burried under leaves, should i check on her? If i go digging around in there. or wait till next year?

I am afraid that she doesnt have a clean system and she could use a good last soak to clean her self out. She used to be an apt russian then went to outside for a year or so.

Advice? Wake or dont wake?
soak or dont soak?

Also in the otehr area, i have a box turtle doing the same thing, So i assumed that they started hibernating early even though its still hitting 80 here in sacramento. Check or not?

 

[terracolson]

no one has advice? yvonne I am waiting on you to log in

 

[Yvonne G]

Because of the tortoise being new to you, it should not hibernate this year. She should be brought out of hiding and put in warm water to gently wake up. Not too deep, just barely to the middle of her shell on the side. Then set her up indoors in a nice roomy habitat with plenty of hiding places. But don't let her just hide all day long. Keep getting her out and setting her in front of the food. Or handle her, stroke her, be nice to her and tell her she's the prettiest tortoise in her pen. But don't let her sleep.

Yvonne

Its not harmful to check on a turtle or tortoise that you think is hibernating. Most people just touch a leg once a month to get a response from the animal, then leave it alone. Some people actually soak them during hibernation. I don't do either. But if you're worried, by all means, check on the box turtle

 

[terracolson]

cool, thank you!

All good now

 

[Maggie Cummings]

And then please let us know how they are. I am very concerned about your Russian. I don't allow mine to hibernate, any species...

 

[dmmj]

I check on my all the time you can just touch their legs and you should usually hear a hiss and they will move a bit, but like said above a newly adopted tort should not be hiibernated the first year you have it, since you are not sure of it's previous husbandry.

 

[terracolson]

Well every one is ok.... She (large russian) never opened her eyes for long, but she did move and squirm just fine. I soaked her for a few then i warmed her up under my lamp, to place her back in the doggie turtle house. I know of her care the last few years and of the owner, infact i visit her past owner frequently. Really the only thing that changed was her surrounding. The day she moved, she never came out to play. So i have let her do her thing as she has done for the last couple years outside.

My box turtles were all ok as well. Every one got a soak and warm up, dried and offered food, just in case. Only a few ate and they were the ones that come out early in the morning to eat then go back in.

I think were all good.

The baby will not be hibernating this year..

Also FYI I took all my babies to Felice's turtle meeting and had them all check out for hibernating. Which quite a few of mine came from her any way. So i dont worry about them to much.

Did any of you go to the meeting?

 

[Yvonne G]

If you are going to bring your turtles and tortoises out of hibernation just to check on them then DO NOT offer them any food.

Turtles and tortoises will stop eating before they hibernate. This insures that they can clean out their digestive tracts before they go deeply to sleep. If they go to sleep with food in their digestive tracts, the food will just sit there and rot. Not a good thing.

Am I understand that you took the Russian out of hibernation, soaked her then warmed her under a light, then PUT HER BACK INTO HIBERNATION???? If you insist upon checking on your hibernating animals, you don't want to disturb them too much. You definitely DON'T want to put them under a light and warm them up.

Yvonne

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I don't hibernate any of my animals...so I don't know anything about hibernation...but it seems to me that if you bring them out and warm them up and offer them food...they are not hibernating anymore. You can't warm them up and expect them to still hibernate...can ya???

 

[terracolson]

YIKES!! talk about me not explaining my self good.

The part of the soak was to make sure every ones system was clean. I see no problem in drying every one off in a lite if the light doesnt reach the current outside temp of 80 degrees. I refuse to put them in a bed of grass and leaves wet. Next week i will do the same to every one except the female russian, and then once they have no poops i will know they are not eating. Living outside i cant take away there food. But once i know they arent eating i know to leave them be.

Also since i only have my russian that is close to hibernating, and no she didnt get food. infact she hasnt eat since i had her. Now i am sure she is fine, after her 30 min soak no poops. I am not worried about her.

Now for the others, they come out once a day, so to feed them and warm them no big deal. a 10 min warming/drying session will hot hurt. Heck its 80 degrees today and there house is in the sun probley hotter than 80.