If so should I or should I just leave it. I didn't plan on doing it but if I should let me know
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FLINTUS said:I presume you've been looking at my comments in the leopard thread and some comments on another forum.
There is strong evidence, to suggest that reds do hibernate in small ranges, mainly the mountainous, southern habitats which also stay drier and generally colder. Your common, Northern red foot would be highly unlikely to hibernate for the most part, as temps stay too warm, but there are believed to be some extremely small ranges where there are exceptions. The Amazon Basin is for the most part not where reds actually are as they favour more savannah areas, but you are right, the temps would never get low enough there. There are a few keepers in the states I believe that do hibernate them over winter, and there is now quite a lot in southern Europe countries such as Italy and eastern European countries like Poland experimenting with it with success, but this is an extremely careful and controlled hibernation. It is a similar thing to what happens with the non S.African hingebacks-the S.Africans and Namibians do truly hibernate I believe- in parts of their ranges they may do the same thing. Unless you are 100% sure of where you red foot came from, and an experienced keeper I would not attempt it. It -from what we know at least- does not provide any health benefits, unlike hibernation of graeca or hermanni.
No health benefit for European tortoises, either, and some brumated tortoises are lost every year.AnnV said:One of the reasons I got redfoots. I did not want to have to worry about a hibernating species. Everything I read prior to choosing a species for myself said that NOT hibernating a hibernating species could be detrimental to their health.
Ann from CT
Terry Allan Hall said:FLINTUS said:I presume you've been looking at my comments in the leopard thread and some comments on another forum.
There is strong evidence, to suggest that reds do hibernate in small ranges, mainly the mountainous, southern habitats which also stay drier and generally colder. Your common, Northern red foot would be highly unlikely to hibernate for the most part, as temps stay too warm, but there are believed to be some extremely small ranges where there are exceptions. The Amazon Basin is for the most part not where reds actually are as they favour more savannah areas, but you are right, the temps would never get low enough there. There are a few keepers in the states I believe that do hibernate them over winter, and there is now quite a lot in southern Europe countries such as Italy and eastern European countries like Poland experimenting with it with success, but this is an extremely careful and controlled hibernation. It is a similar thing to what happens with the non S.African hingebacks-the S.Africans and Namibians do truly hibernate I believe- in parts of their ranges they may do the same thing. Unless you are 100% sure of where you red foot came from, and an experienced keeper I would not attempt it. It -from what we know at least- does not provide any health benefits, unlike hibernation of graeca or hermanni.No health benefit for European tortoises, either, and some brumated tortoises are lost every year.AnnV said:One of the reasons I got redfoots. I did not want to have to worry about a hibernating species. Everything I read prior to choosing a species for myself said that NOT hibernating a hibernating species could be detrimental to their health.
Ann from CT
Artificial brumation is more for the convenience of the keeper, quite a bit of the time (don't have house or feed them).
Many of us European tortoise fans never brumate and our pets are perfectly healthy kept awake and fed over winter.
AnnV said:Terry Allan Hall said:No health benefit for European tortoises, either, and some brumated tortoises are lost every year.AnnV said:One of the reasons I got redfoots. I did not want to have to worry about a hibernating species. Everything I read prior to choosing a species for myself said that NOT hibernating a hibernating species could be detrimental to their health.
Ann from CT
Artificial brumation is more for the convenience of the keeper, quite a bit of the time (don't have house or feed them).
Many of us European tortoise fans never brumate and our pets are perfectly healthy kept awake and fed over winter.
Oh, that is good to know.
I read these things when I was researching and it affected my decision. I did also read that it was dangerous if not done just right. Which scared me off.
Ann from CT
FLINTUS said:While it is possible to keep European tortoises up, most keepers I know seem to agree that it is beneficial for health as it creates a more natural cycle. One of the main problems with not hibernating appears to be that the tortoises become overfed. Take horsfields for example, the reason we see so many deformed ones in captivity is because in the wild they only eat for 3-4 months throughout the whole year, not the whole year round. Their bodies have not adapted to this. Anyway, European tortoises wasn't the subject anyway, and the hibernation idea on them always seems to turn into a big debate on here.
Jabuticaba said:I'm from the Amazon Basin. It never gets cool enough for torts to hibernate. We rarely get temps below 25°C, without humidity. And humidity is rarely ever below 50. As a matter of fact, I don't believe we have any animals that do hibernate.
May[CHERRY BLOSSOM], Hermann's [TURTLE][TURTLE] & Aussie [DOG FACE][DOG FACE][DOG FACE] (@YWG)