Brumation — Need Help!!!!

PiL71

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2018
Messages
59
Location (City and/or State)
Massachusetts
Hello, my five year old Russian Tortoise has been extremely inactive for the last couple of weeks, and has stayed in his half log for most of these weeks. Any help? I’ve read online and in a book that russians like to be in a small box with good substrate at ~40F. Is that correct? I do not have a refrigerator available to convert, and my garage does not have heating. Thanks for any and all help.
 

RosemaryDW

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2016
Messages
4,144
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Coast, CA
Have you not brumated him before? If not, has something about his housing/enclosure changed recently?

It’s the time of year when brumating tortoises go down and yours sounds like he’s doing the nomral thing.

Yes, keeping a tortoise consistently around 40 degrees is correct for brumation. I keep mine in a sort of plastic shoebox with holes drilled in it and a thick layer of coco coir. But if your tortoise has never brumated before and nothing has changed in his enclosure, we’d want to make sure nothing else is wrong before he goes down.
 

PiL71

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2018
Messages
59
Location (City and/or State)
Massachusetts
Have you not brumated him before? If not, has something about his housing/enclosure changed recently?

It’s the time of year when brumating tortoises go down and yours sounds like he’s doing the nomral thing.

Yes, keeping a tortoise consistently around 40 degrees is correct for brumation. I keep mine in a sort of plastic shoebox with holes drilled in it and a thick layer of coco coir. But if your tortoise has never brumated before and nothing has changed in his enclosure, we’d want to make sure nothing else is wrong before he goes down.

I’ve never brumated him before, he had a previous owner. Like I said, I don’t have a place to keep him in rn so is room temperature ok for him? I do in fact have him in a closed chamber so I don’t know if that helps, I was told to make one. Thanks
 

PiL71

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2018
Messages
59
Location (City and/or State)
Massachusetts
Have you not brumated him before? If not, has something about his housing/enclosure changed recently?

It’s the time of year when brumating tortoises go down and yours sounds like he’s doing the nomral thing.

Yes, keeping a tortoise consistently around 40 degrees is correct for brumation. I keep mine in a sort of plastic shoebox with holes drilled in it and a thick layer of coco coir. But if your tortoise has never brumated before and nothing has changed in his enclosure, we’d want to make sure nothing else is wrong before he goes down.

Room temp for me is a little under 70 degrees.
 

RosemaryDW

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2016
Messages
4,144
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Coast, CA
You can’t brumate him at 70 degrees; he will burn through his energy reserves. You need to change his lighting and heat to keep him awake and active or you can find a cold place to keep him until spring.

Will your garage be consistently cold but above freezing? You can brumate him there if that’s the case.
 

PiL71

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2018
Messages
59
Location (City and/or State)
Massachusetts
You can’t brumate him at 70 degrees; he will burn through his energy reserves. You need to change his lighting and heat to keep him awake and active or you can find a cold place to keep him until spring.

Will your garage be consistently cold but above freezing? You can brumate him there if that’s the case.

It will probably be fairly cold, but nothing is stopping it from dropping below 32F at any time, especially during the night. I currently have a closed chamber enclosure, how do I keep him active? I have the light on (besides today and half of yesterday), but whenever I check on him and wake him up to try to get him more active, he just walks around for like 5 minutes and then goes back inside his hide. Any suggestions as to how to entice him to be more active? Also, I heard that 365 days of summer conditions aren’t optimal for a russian, is that true? I just read it in a book. Thanks.
 

RosemaryDW

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2016
Messages
4,144
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Coast, CA
You don’t have to brumate. Either way is fine, so long as you do it right.

You will have to keep him awake in a normal sized enclosure; for a Russian that is minimally four by eight. Closed chambers are good for babies and sometimes for tortoises that need a moist environment; an adult Russian will be best served in an open, table top type enclosure. With lighting and heat on a timer, for twelve to fourteen hours a day if he’s attempting to brumate.

I don’t keep indoor tortoises so encourage you to read our Russian care sheet. It includes what you need to set up a proper enclosure and there are brief instructions for keeping indoor tortoises awake in the winter: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/.

I know this is a lot to take in, especially when there is so much conflicting information out there. Most books are well out of date and unfortunately so is much of what you will find online. The folks here have been successfully raising healthy Russians for decades and can be trusted. Hopefully there isn’t too much you have to “unlearn.” :)
 

PiL71

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2018
Messages
59
Location (City and/or State)
Massachusetts
You don’t have to brumate. Either way is fine, so long as you do it right.

You will have to keep him awake in a normal sized enclosure; for a Russian that is minimally four by eight. Closed chambers are good for babies and sometimes for tortoises that need a moist environment; an adult Russian will be best served in an open, table top type enclosure. With lighting and heat on a timer, for twelve to fourteen hours a day if he’s attempting to brumate.

I don’t keep indoor tortoises so encourage you to read our Russian care sheet. It includes what you need to set up a proper enclosure and there are brief instructions for keeping indoor tortoises awake in the winter: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/.

I know this is a lot to take in, especially when there is so much conflicting information out there. Most books are well out of date and unfortunately so is much of what you will find online. The folks here have been successfully raising healthy Russians for decades and can be trusted. Hopefully there isn’t too much you have to “unlearn.” :)

Yeah, his enclosure is 2x4x2.. I’m guessing i should just remake a table? Is that way too small for him? He’s about 5 years old (that’s what the store said, although I realize my mistake in not getting a hatchling, I wish I could take that back so I can raise the tortoise myself.. I don’t know anything about his past..) Also, is it possible to edit his current 2x4x2 so I can make a 4x8x2? Thanks!
 

RosemaryDW

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2016
Messages
4,144
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Coast, CA
There is nothing wrong with an adult, he's made it to adulthood and is far less fragile than a hatchling. Particularly as you are a first time owner.

If you got him at a big box pet store he could be anywhere from five to twenty years old; he's got fifty more years to go so you've got plenty of time with him!

Yes, the enclosure is too small. I am not good with indoor enclosure builds (outside tortoise!) and suggest you post photos of your enclosure in a new post in the enclosure specific forum for ideas. Getting the lighting and heating right is the best thing you can do to get him started right.

Everyone here made tons of mistakes in the beginning; you aren't alone.
 

PiL71

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2018
Messages
59
Location (City and/or State)
Massachusetts
There is nothing wrong with an adult, he's made it to adulthood and is far less fragile than a hatchling. Particularly as you are a first time owner.

If you got him at a big box pet store he could be anywhere from five to twenty years old; he's got fifty more years to go so you've got plenty of time with him!

Yes, the enclosure is too small. I am not good with indoor enclosure builds (outside tortoise!) and suggest you post photos of your enclosure in a new post in the enclosure specific forum for ideas. Getting the lighting and heating right is the best thing you can do to get him started right.

Everyone here made tons of mistakes in the beginning; you aren't alone.

I got him from a single store place, Jabberwock Reptiles. I do have the lighting and heating down i’m pretty sure, his warm temps are 85+/-, and his cool temps are 75+/-
 

PiL71

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2018
Messages
59
Location (City and/or State)
Massachusetts
There is nothing wrong with an adult, he's made it to adulthood and is far less fragile than a hatchling. Particularly as you are a first time owner.

If you got him at a big box pet store he could be anywhere from five to twenty years old; he's got fifty more years to go so you've got plenty of time with him!

Yes, the enclosure is too small. I am not good with indoor enclosure builds (outside tortoise!) and suggest you post photos of your enclosure in a new post in the enclosure specific forum for ideas. Getting the lighting and heating right is the best thing you can do to get him started right.

Everyone here made tons of mistakes in the beginning; you aren't alone.

Also, for elaborating on his enclosure, could I do the design below? IMG_7934.jpg
The only exception being I’d need to put the top half completely above the bottom half, I would have one face of the top half made out of sliding plexiglas?
 

RosemaryDW

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2016
Messages
4,144
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Coast, CA
I'm really really not good with enclosures! Ask your question in the enclosure thread and you'll get great advice. :)
 

PiL71

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2018
Messages
59
Location (City and/or State)
Massachusetts
I'm really really not good with enclosures! Ask your question in the enclosure thread and you'll get great advice. :)

Hello again - I’ve found a little hitch in my plan.. I’ve found a thingy on the web that says not to hibernate tortoises under 700g, but my tortoise is 345g, yet he’s adamant on hibernating, although I don’t know why. IMG_7940.jpgIMG_7939.jpg
 

RosemaryDW

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2016
Messages
4,144
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Coast, CA
As I said before, it’s going to be hard to choose the best thing to do if you get information from different sites. You can rely on the site here; if you choose to look elsewhere, we can’t help you, other than to point out what is out of date.

I’m not sure why you are asking about hibernation as you’ve just said you don’t have a suitable place to hibernate him and are going to keep him up. Which is it?

If you are going to keep him up, go to the enclosures thread and ask for advice on improving your setup: https://tortoiseforum.org/forums/tortoise-enclosures.7/.
 

New Posts

Top