Anyone's desert torts wake up yet?

Leddagger16

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It was a rather warm 82 degree day in phoenix today and I fully expected to see my torts, but they are still in their den. Unfortunately it's that time of year where the days are warmer but the nights are still chilly. I was wondering if anyone's torts have woken up yet?
 

Grandpa Turtle 144

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What do you do with yours if they wake up this early? Do you keep them awake or let them do their own thing?
Mine are outside doing their thing . I put food out for them that they don't seem to be eating but there is sml amount for them if they want it !
 

majxmom

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Barstow woke up Feb 4 this year, which is his latest date in the last five years.
 

Kenno

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All three of mine came out between rainstorms for a drink. Today they're all down again. They usually do this once or twice in the winter.
 

Yvonne G

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Mine are all still locked up in their shelter. After it stops raining I'll open their door and see if anyone is ready to come out.

Actually, I don't unblock their door until our night time temperatures are consistently above 50F. The 7 day forecast looks like this: 35, 38, 41, 42, 46, 42, 43 - so it looks like they won't be allowed out this week.
 
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Gabriel Luna

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Both mine are still sleeping. Yesterday I check the little one, and he looks fine, just too sleepy. I guess is not wake up time for them yet.
 

Samson

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Samson has been going in and out of his house the past 2 days, he loves the rain!!!
It was great to see him again after 4 months!!! He looks very sleepy though...
ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1486770200.599871.jpg
 

Carol S

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One of my Desert Tortoises woke up today. He/she came out and laid in the sun and even nibbled on a dandelion. :)
 

Markw84

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It is amazing how suddenly things seem to change a they start waking and becoming more active. Over the years I have noticed that once the sun reaches about 37 degrees altitude, my turtles start basking in numbers, the fish start swimming the entire pond and the tortoises want to sun longer periods. Where I live now that happens about Feb 10.

In the fall the sun drops below 37 degrees on Oct 30 and that's when things pretty much stop for the winter.

Been pretty consistent with only a slight shift if the weather is abnormal one way or the other
 

majxmom

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Barstow came out Feb 4 this year, a whole month later than last year. This year hasn't been that cold but so rainy! After he came out, there was some more rain and for the first time, I did not feel comfortable leaving him in his burrow. The water table has risen to ground level and although he has a high spot inside his burrow, I was worried if there was another massive storm, he might just get caught underwater. So for the first time in the 53 years we've had him, I decided to bring him inside until the rain slacks off. For a week he has been in a carrier, pretty much just sleeping. He has been avoiding light. Three days ago, he seemed to wake up significantly, so I let him out. He's eating and drinking and moving around the whole house. I worried that he might be very disoriented in the house, but it's just normal. Every breakfast, he comes in the kitchen while we eat and sits near us. Then he toddles off into the south bedroom where he sits in the sunshine coming through the window and looks at that strange tortoise in the mirrored closet doors. He is so cute!
 

Kenno

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Barstow came out Feb 4 this year, a whole month later than last year. This year hasn't been that cold but so rainy! After he came out, there was some more rain and for the first time, I did not feel comfortable leaving him in his burrow. The water table has risen to ground level and although he has a high spot inside his burrow, I was worried if there was another massive storm, he might just get caught underwater. So for the first time in the 53 years we've had him, I decided to bring him inside until the rain slacks off. For a week he has been in a carrier, pretty much just sleeping. He has been avoiding light. Three days ago, he seemed to wake up significantly, so I let him out. He's eating and drinking and moving around the whole house. I worried that he might be very disoriented in the house, but it's just normal. Every breakfast, he comes in the kitchen while we eat and sits near us. Then he toddles off into the south bedroom where he sits in the sunshine coming through the window and looks at that strange tortoise in the mirrored closet doors. He is so cute!
Could you post a picture of Barstow? The old ones have do much character!
 

Yvonne G

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I just took possession of four 7 and 9 year old desert tortoises. The owner said they are hibernating. But when I set them down in their new, temporary enclosure, they're wide awake, and not at all groggy as if they had been hibernating. She said they were outside in a covered shelter. This is Central California, where the weather has been pretty warm for the past couple weeks, and nights not dipping down lower than 50F.
 

Lauren Tilbury

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Well, I am so new to this. I got my tortoise, inherited, in January. She has not slept more than 24 hours. She came from New York and I live in Southern California. I am wondering if next season she will hibernate. She is a gopher tortoise.
 

Yvonne G

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Well, I am so new to this. I got my tortoise, inherited, in January. She has not slept more than 24 hours. She came from New York and I live in Southern California. I am wondering if next season she will hibernate. She is a gopher tortoise.

I have never had a gopher tortoise, but my guess is that they don't hibernate. I think they would just stay in their burrow until it warms up enough to come back out. Let's ask @tortadise
 

tortadise

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Gophers are tricky like the Texas tortoises. They can hibernate for a day or a week. They bahve in ceremony to the weather. Winters in northern Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, eastern Louisiana and even Georgia can be more of a hibernating season for them for a few months, but southern Florida csn be just a few days or weeks. Those species are best kept awake in captivity. Our Texas tortoises have hibernated for literally only a couple weeks total this entire winter. A nice burrow insulated with hay or pest soil is a great way to utilize to let them hibernate as they please when a cold snap is incoming.
 

Carol S

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Another one of my Desert Tortoises woke up today. So a total of two are awake and the third one is still sleeping, but I expect to see it any day now.
 

bouaboua

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Both of my are still "sleeping". We still have low 50's to mid 60's weather. When we getting a week or more in high 60's, I probably will see them out.
 

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