First hibernation

I cry hard

New Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2019
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6
Location (City and/or State)
The netherlands
Hello,

I had a couple of questions regarding hibernation.
First off, I would like to put out my plan here, so you people with experience can guide me a bit, since I am paranoid to oblivion and have no idea whether I am doing it right or not.

Let's start off with me giving you an idea of how my enclosure looks like.

It's about 300 gallon, in which 2 little baby tortoises (testudo graeca) of about 3 years of age cruise around. They have rocks to play with and a pretty advanced hot tub to chill in. I bought them a cool raining system that goes off every night for a couple of seconds after the lights have been out for about half an hour. It has plant soil as ground of about 5 - 7 centimeter.
The temperature in the enclosure is +/- 30 degrees celsius and they have a nice UVB lamp.

Now let's move on to the hibernation part which I am concerned about.

I read I shouldn't give them any food 4 to 6 weeks prior to their hibernation and I should only bathe them.

My first question would be: What should I do if my tortoise either forces me to feed him, or he threatens to eat some soil. Also, won't 4 to 6 weeks of absolutely no food, make him weaker and make him lose a lot of weight etc?

Next questions:

I also read you should monitor their weight throughout their hibernation period.

- How can you notice whether the tortoise been leaking fluids? As in, their ****, is that visible?
- How do you guys weigh them in a house of +/- 21 degrees
- How do you ensure the tortoise doesn't wake up while you are handling him?

Last, but not least:

How do you lower the temperature in their enclosure, so they can prepare for hibernation? My house is about 21 degrees celcius, so that's the lowest I can get them.

Right now it's 24/09/2019 (for american people this would be 09/24/2019) and I am testing their fridge to see how consistent the temperature will be. I am planning to put them in hibernation at the end of octobor, begin november...

Cheers!
 

Yvonne G

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I think the main trigger for the tortoises is that the days start getting shorter. You can start turning the lights off sooner and on later. Another trigger is that the nights are cooler. You can start to reduce the heat at night.

When tortoises realize its time to think about brumation, they come out in the a.m. and just sit in the sun, then they go back in the shelter - no eating. In this manner, they stop eating on their own, even if food has been offered.
 

I cry hard

New Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2019
Messages
6
Location (City and/or State)
The netherlands
I think the main trigger for the tortoises is that the days start getting shorter. You can start turning the lights off sooner and on later. Another trigger is that the nights are cooler. You can start to reduce the heat at night.

When tortoises realize its time to think about brumation, they come out in the a.m. and just sit in the sun, then they go back in the shelter - no eating. In this manner, they stop eating on their own, even if food has been offered.

what about the humidity? This will start dropping and from what I have read, this is one of the reasons they end up pyramiding. Or doesn't this apply to them when they don't eat?
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,390
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
You don't have to worry so much about pyramiding in Greeks. That's mainly the stars, sulcatas, leopards, etc.
 

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