Brumation in a converted freezer??

[AEO]

My desert tortoise is three years old and this is my first time allowing her to undergo brumation. She is currently in a plastic shoebox inside a plastic box in my garage. The temperature is a fairly consistent 54, which I’m afraid is too warm from everything I’ve read on this site. My husband recently converted an old freezer to an ice bath. He is keeping it at 48 to 50° consistently and it is only half filled. Could I put a waterproof plastic tub in this freezer and brumate my Tortoise there? Would this be too humid? Too dangerous? Curious to hear thoughts.

 

[Yvonne G]

There's a deserted house at the back of my property and I've put two chest type freezers inside. There is no heat or electricity in the house. For years I brumated my desert tortoises and Texas tortoises in those freezers . I tore up newspaper and added it to the floor of the freezers, then I set the boxed up tortoises on the newspaper (the tortoises were in shredded newspaper in the boxes). I positioned a pencil across one corner of the freezer and closed the lids. This worked fine.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

My desert tortoise is three years old and this is my first time allowing her to undergo brumation. She is currently in a plastic shoebox inside a plastic box in my garage. The temperature is a fairly consistent 54, which I’m afraid is too warm from everything I’ve read on this site. My husband recently converted an old freezer to an ice bath. He is keeping it at 48 to 50° consistently and it is only half filled. Could I put a waterproof plastic tub in this freezer and brumate my Tortoise there? Would this be too humid? Too dangerous? Curious to hear thoughts.

So the tortoise would float in the water, or?

 

[Agave]

My desert tortoise is three years old and this is my first time allowing her to undergo brumation. She is currently in a plastic shoebox inside a plastic box in my garage. The temperature is a fairly consistent 54, which I’m afraid is too warm from everything I’ve read on this site. My husband recently converted an old freezer to an ice bath. He is keeping it at 48 to 50° consistently and it is only half filled. Could I put a waterproof plastic tub in this freezer and brumate my Tortoise there? Would this be too humid? Too dangerous? Curious to hear thoughts.

My thought is if there is no power the air circulation won’t be good enough. I have asked about brumation for a three-year-old desert tortoise as well and the reply from Tom was that a full sized refrigerator works best. But I read when the power is out there is a risk of suffocation so I bought a tempstick that notifies you on an app when the power goes down
If it is very arid where you are then maybe it wouldn’t be too humid.
I am new to brumation as well, and I definitely like your idea of getting the temperature a little bit more consistent

 

[lsmisko]

My desert tortoise is three years old and this is my first time allowing her to undergo brumation. She is currently in a plastic shoebox inside a plastic box in my garage. The temperature is a fairly consistent 54, which I’m afraid is too warm from everything I’ve read on this site. My husband recently converted an old freezer to an ice bath. He is keeping it at 48 to 50° consistently and it is only half filled. Could I put a waterproof plastic tub in this freezer and brumate my Tortoise there? Would this be too humid? Too dangerous? Curious to hear thoughts.

Why the ice bath? Seems extreme unless I didn't read this correctly. A desert tortoise doesn't need all that moisture. I've had 3 desert tortoises for 38 years. Over the years they've slept in different spots, usually in the garage on the cement floor or wooden platform( so they don't get wet if it rains and my garage floods a bit). I'm in So Cal. They need a little room to move around .

 

[Rcleo]

We just put our two in one of those dog igloos, with layers of timothy hay and some old towels or blankets. We put it on our upstairs outside deck, sheltered from wind and rain. We drape a big tarp over it to make sure it stays dry. We've had them for over 30 years and this has worked well for us.

 

[Tom]

But I read when the power is out there is a risk of suffocation...

This is not correct. The holes that allow air circulation in your fridge do not close when the power goes out. Whoever said that has no idea what they are talking about.

 

[Tom]

We just put our two in one of those dog igloos, with layers of timothy hay and some old towels or blankets. We put it on our upstairs outside deck, sheltered from wind and rain. We drape a big tarp over it to make sure it stays dry. We've had them for over 30 years and this has worked well for us.

They have managed to survive. It hasn't worked well. It is too warm and the temp is too inconsistent in Redondo beach for this. It needs to be a constant 45-50 for a DT.

 

[Agave]

This is not correct. The holes that allow air circulation in your fridge do not close when the power goes out. Whoever said that has no idea what they are talking about.

Great to know thank you!

 

[AZDutchess]

There's a deserted house at the back of my property and I've put two chest type freezers inside. There is no heat or electricity in the house. For years I brumated my desert tortoises and Texas tortoises in those freezers . I tore up newspaper and added it to the floor of the freezers, then I set the boxed up tortoises on the newspaper (the tortoises were in shredded newspaper in the boxes). I positioned a pencil across one corner of the freezer and closed the lids. This worked fine.

Hello Yvonne... I am curious about your set up with the chest freezer, what temp does it stay at or how do you regulate it without electricity? I also have a Texas Tort and I am following Tom's brumation suggestions and using a small frig for my 4 yr old currently that i have to monitor constantly for temps, but have a old chest freezer in the garage also. She's at 49.5 right now.. Was just curious

 

[Yvonne G]

Hello Yvonne... I am curious about your set up with the chest freezer, what temp does it stay at or how do you regulate it without electricity? I also have a Texas Tort and I am following Tom's brumation suggestions and using a small frig for my 4 yr old currently that i have to monitor constantly for temps, but have a old chest freezer in the garage also. She's at 49.5 right now.. Was just curious

The temperature eventually stabilizes and stays constant. The freezers are so well insulated that warm days don't affect the interior temp. It gets down to the low 40s,and stays there.

 

[Agave]

Hello Yvonne... I am curious about your set up with the chest freezer, what temp does it stay at or how do you regulate it without electricity? I also have a Texas Tort and I am following Tom's brumation suggestions and using a small frig for my 4 yr old currently that i have to monitor constantly for temps, but have a old chest freezer in the garage also. She's at 49.5 right now.. Was just curious

I have a desert tort too and kept her awake this year until I can get the fridge setup (s/he’s 3). I have a “temp stick“ that has an app you can use to monitor temperature. I’m curious, what type of mini fridge do you have?

 

[AZDutchess]

I have a desert tort too and kept her awake this year until I can get the fridge setup (s/he’s 3). I have a “temp stick“ that has an app you can use to monitor temperature. I’m curious, what type of mini fridge do you have?

It's a typical 2 shelf one with a drawer that we removed and she is where the drawer was ( we removed it), my temperature probe goes in the fridge thru the drain spout in the back and out the bottom of the fridge .. it's an Inkbird so I can sink it with my phone and keep tabs on her always. We had to play around with adjustments on the temps before putting her in so we knew what temps it would be at.

 

[Tom]

It's a typical 2 shelf one with a drawer that we removed and she is where the drawer was ( we removed it), my temperature probe goes in the fridge thru the drain spout in the back and out the bottom of the fridge .. it's an Inkbird so I can sink it with my phone and keep tabs on her always. We had to play around with adjustments on the temps before putting her in so we knew what temps it would be at.

For you and everyone reading, be aware that mini-fridges are not as reliable and don't tend to hold temperatures as well as full size fridges. They can still work, but do be attentive and watch temps daily. An automatic phone notification from a Sensor Push or Temp Stick type device if the temp strays outside your set parameters is a very good idea with one of these.

Another thing that will help is to pack the fridge with as much other "stuff" as you can fit. Water bottles and drinks work well. This creates "heat inertia" and helps to make the fridge work less and hold a steadier temperature.

 

[SinLA]

FYI I have been very happy with this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AEQ9X9I/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

I have it set up in my fridge and the alerts work very well. Just know you have to have good internet access near it...

 

[AZDutchess]

For you and everyone reading, be aware that mini-fridges are not as reliable and don't tend to hold temperatures as well as full size fridges. They can still work, but do be attentive and watch temps daily. An automatic phone notification from a Sensor Push or Temp Stick type device if the temp strays outside your set parameters is a very good idea with one of these.

Another thing that will help is to pack the fridge with as much other "stuff" as you can fit. Water bottles and drinks work well. This creates "heat inertia" and helps to make the fridge work less and hold a steadier temperature.

We put a big gallon container of water in there and leave other items in it as well to keep it steady.. I have an Inkbird digital wifi thermometer that connects to my phone to keep tabs on her and I check
k phy

For you and everyone reading, be aware that mini-fridges are not as reliable and don't tend to hold temperatures as well as full size fridges. They can still work, but do be attentive and watch temps daily. An automatic phone notification from a Sensor Push or Temp Stick type device if the temp strays outside your set parameters is a very good idea with one of these.

Another thing that will help is to pack the fridge with as much other "stuff" as you can fit. Water bottles and drinks work well. This creates "heat inertia" and helps to make the fridge work less and hold a steadier temperature.

Yes, I know you prefer full size refrigerators and agree they would be more reliable overall. I do have all precautions in place, a gallon of water and other items stocked in the refrigerator to maintain temps as well as a Inkbird digital thermostat that is wifi capable and connected to my phone so I can monitor her constantly as well as checking her physically regularly.
Thanks again Tom for getting me thru her brumation.