desert tortie hibernation

[nancykj]

hi, i am a new member and hope i am posting correctly in the introductions!
i live in the san fernando valley in los angeles and have 2 desert tortoises that i want to properly prepare for hibernation. i have had them for 17 years, and just moved here from venice beach in dec 2012. so, this summer was their first in the warmer clime of the valley. i have hibernated them every year in special boxes in the garage, but i have never purposefully withheld food from them, just offered less as they slowed down.
i am not sure what to do here in the valley, as the days are still very warm, and the torties are very active, yet it is already oct. i do not know when or if to start withholding food.
i just had them both checked out by a vet who said they. were healthy, good fat stores and ok to hibernate. she did not think it was necessary to withhold food at all. thanks for any help!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Nancy, and welcome to the Forum!

If the tortoises are outside, they should slow down and eventually stop eating on their own. I continue to offer food until they refuse it.

 

[nancykj]

thank you Yvonne!

i keep reading these dire warnings on tortoise care sites about how you must withhold food from 2 weeks to a full month before hibernation, depending how how big the tortie is, else undigested food will rot in their stomach. and then all kinds of horribleness will happen.
altho it hasn't happened to me yet, i thought maybe i (and my torts) were just lucky.

 

[nancykj]

thanks Yvonne!
there are care sheets advising to stop feeding the torts 2 weeks to a full month before they go into hibernation (i guess brumation is proper term). otherwise, claim these experts, food does not have time to digest, rots in tortie belly, gas builds up, bad things happen and tort dies.

i just figured how to reply, so if this post shows up twice, i apologize and it won't happen again!!

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello Nancy welcome to the TFO have
Fun with the CDT's

 

[ascott]

You will want to stop offering supplemental foods....at the least 7 to 10 days, but 2 weeks + is better.....

I have two here that snub their nose at the food offernings beginning yesterday...while the other two still are chowing down.....each tort is their own,,,

 

[Candy]

I too am going to be hibernating for the first time and I live in Alhambra. I have not been offering any food, he just eats what's out there and seems to be fine with it. I am wondering about the water though. Should we be soaking them or just let them drink when they want to?

 

[ascott]

Candy, I would d both at this time....and I am doing both here...almost had one drop down into his burrow and knock out yesterday sometime....but after knocking on his burrow entrance for half an hour today he reluctantly came up...thank goodness....he is the one that dropped into his burrow last year after I covered it....this year I have added a multitude of covers and bricks to hold those covers down....have a feeling we may get rain this winter so would like them indoors....I did hour soaks for each today partially in the sun and shade....they all seemed resolved to it going on....

 

[nancykj]

thank you all for the good info!
everything my boys eat is supplemental at this point. got kicked out of my longterm venice rental (landlord moved in), and had to buy a house in a hurry, get a koi pond put in (my 18 year old koi was not going to get left behind!), and set up a very simple tort area for this summer.
i will have it much more tort friendly this spring! But, since they are eating essentially grocery all spring/summer, i wonder if i should scale way back, maybe offer only hibiscus or let them browse on my lawn. not much else browsable in my yard, and nothing except rosebushes in their enclosures now. this am, i left them with kale, dandelion greens, and a little mix of chayote squash/yellow squash/green beans/broccoli/carrots, chopped fine. they ate most of it. tomorrow, i plan to leave the same, but with cactus pear instead of the squash mix.
should i cut back or..? again, still very warm here, 75 when i got home tonite at 6pm
i will post some pics of my guys and their outdoor setup in the next couple of days.

 

[thatrebecca]

Hi Nancy and welcome to the forum and to the neighborhood! I, too, have two DTs and live in the Valley (Toluca Lake). This is my first winter as a tort keeper and I'm getting ready to brumate my two in a non-working chest freezer in our back yard shed, the idea being that the freezer will help insulate the torts on those random, 90-degree days we sometimes get in the Valley in the middle of January. (For a better explanation, check out this thread: http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-80663.html)

When did your torts used to slow down when you lived in Venice? I'm impressed that you were able to raise such healthy DTs at the beach with all the moisture in the air. You must be doing something right.

Mine, who are juveniles, have gotten much pokier and less interested in food in the last few days. With nighttime lows in the low 50s and rain in the forecast for Wednesday, I expect them to continue to slow down this week.

I've still been putting out food but it seems like only the crickets are eating it, so I guess I should stop. I've been doing 2X/week warm soaks, too. I plan to keep those up until they go down.

As this is my first winter with DTs and we share a climate, I'll be very interested to hear when yours go down, so please do keep us posted!

 

[nancykj]

hi that rebecca. thanks for the welcome!
i grew up in the valley, but moved to the westside in 1979, so now i am back home!
in venice, my torts often stayed "awake" well into november
i just started the warm water soaks 2 weeks ago, but only once a week, only because i do not know any better!
they are still both eating all their food, but i think i need to offer only a few greens maybe at this point, and not the juicier, more tempting stuff.
chest freezer huh? good thought. i have wooden boxes that i made years ago that i have always hibernated them in...with alot of alfalfa or timothy hay to burrow in, and of course up off the garage floor. this winter i will put in a thermometer also to keep better track. thank you for the link to the thread. i will look at it now!

 

[Candy]

Thank you Angela. I will start soaking Houdini. I'm not hibernating Fernando, he will just live in my kitchen like he always does in the winter on his pig blanket.

I tried pulling up that thread but it's not working.

 

[sibi]

Hi Nancy and welcome to the forum. Glad you are gleaming all you can from the experts on brumation. I'm sooooo glad I have sulcatas; they don't do brumation

 

[thatrebecca]

Sorry just noticed the thread I posted brought an unecessary parenthesis along with it. This should work:

http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-80663.html

 

[TigsMom]

Hi Nancy; Welcome to the forum. My DT's are slowing down and cutting back on eating. Our weather is bouncing around here in Arizona. Today's high was 95 degs, but Thursday is supposed to be a high of 73 Degs, night time lows are mid 60's to high 50's. One of mine did come out his burrow to enjoy some pumpkin today, the other sniffed the pumpkin and turned away. I give them each a 20-30 minute soak twice a week. They normally hibernate in their burrows outside, but this year I'll be boxing them up in hibernation bins in my garage as I'm building a new enclosure and extensively remodeling the old enclosures.

 

[nate.mann]

welcome to the forum


0.1.0 Sonoran Desert tortoise
0.0.1 Leopard tortoise
1.0.0 Bluenose Pit/American Bulldog

 

[HelenP]

Hi Nancy and Welcome

 

[kathyth]

Welcome to the forum Nanc!