I cry hard
New Member
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!
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!