Free roam

[DoubleD1996!]

Letting the tortoises get out their enclosure to graze before brumation. I stopped feeding them last week and let them do their own thing. I'll give them a final soak before the temps drop to help clean them out.

 

[Thomasstortoise]

great idea!!!, nothing wrong with this

 

[DoubleD1996!]

great idea!!!, nothing wrong with this

Thank you.

 

[Tom]

Letting the tortoises get out their enclosure to graze before brumation. I stopped feeding them last week and let them do their own thing. I'll give them a final soak before the temps drop to help clean them out.

They need to be kept warm and not eating for a month before hibernation, and THEN start the cooling process. They need the warmth and activity to clear the GI tract. They should be soaked daily or every other during this process to keep them well hydrated and to help get everything out of the gut.

I keep feeding through October, and add night heat and day basking lamps if needed. I stop feeding them in November, and after about two weeks, I gradually start letting the night temp drop a couple few degrees per night, while shortening the amount of time the basking bulb is on. By December the night box is dropping to 50 at night, and the lights are only on for 8 hours. They begin hibernation in December. Cold nights, no lights or warm ups. They slumber until spring. I watch the weather and wait for a 10 day warm stretch, usually in March or April, and I start warming the box gradually, and turning the lights on. Daily soaks for a week or two as they wake, and then back to normal until fall again.

They should never be out free roaming. This is a recipe for disaster in many possible ways.

 

[DoubleD1996!]

They need to be kept warm and not eating for a month before hibernation, and THEN start the cooling process. They need the warmth and activity to clear the GI tract. They should be soaked daily or every other during this process to keep them well hydrated and to help get everything out of the gut.

I keep feeding through October, and add night heat and day basking lamps if needed. I stop feeding them in November, and after about two weeks, I gradually start letting the night temp drop a couple few degrees per night, while shortening the amount of time the basking bulb is on. By December the night box is dropping to 50 at night, and the lights are only on for 8 hours. They begin hibernation in December. Cold nights, no lights or warm ups. They slumber until spring. I watch the weather and wait for a 10 day warm stretch, usually in March or April, and I start warming the box gradually, and turning the lights on. Daily soaks for a week or two as they wake, and then back to normal until fall again.

They should never be out free roaming. This is a recipe for disaster in many possible ways.

I monitor them

 

[Tom]

I monitor them

I didn't think that you just turned them loose out in the world and then went back inside to take a nap. Everyone monitors them. Everyone is sure is it safe or they wouldn't be doing it. Everyone is absolutely positive they are watching closely and nothing will happen. Then, everyone loses a tortoise. At this point, after it is too late, they realize they were wrong.

You have the opportunity to save your tortoises, and not have to learn this lesson the hard way. Will you take this opportunity?

 

[TaylorTortoise]

Brumation sounds dangerous. Can it cause complications of tortoises health? What is the purpose of brumation?

 

[DoubleD1996!]

Brumation sounds dangerous. Can it cause complications of tortoises health? What is the purpose of brumation?

Certain tortoise species do it naturally depending on their geographical range. Cold tolerant species. Not species like redfoots or sulcata. You don't have to do it. It's completely up to the keeper once they've done their research.

 

[TaylorTortoise]

Certain tortoise species do it naturally depending on their geographical range. Cold tolerant species. Not species like redfoots or sulcata. You don't have to do it. It's completely up to the keeper once they've done their research.

Id be afraid my guy would not wake up! Also fridge temps are controlled.. nature is not. Sun mAkes day a bit warmer and clearly weather drops as it gets darker out. Dont see how fridging them would be the most natural thing

 

[DoubleD1996!]

Id be afraid my guy would not wake up! Also fridge temps are controlled.. nature is not. Sun mAkes day a bit warmer and clearly weather drops as it gets darker out. Dont see how fridging them would be the most natural thing

I prefer to do things naturally. Honestly, as keepers we worry too much. And I'm referring to cold tolerant species in general. No matter how domesticated , or how many generations they've been here, these animals KNOW how to survive and what to do. It's just our responsibility to prep them and I've been doing it for years with my box turtles and aquatic turtles. They keep eating in the wild if food isn't scarce and they drink. Not to say there aren't any casualties in the wild, but unlikely. No heated boxes etc. These animals know what to do when they since barometric pressures in the atmosphere. They naturally reduce eating. They find areas to burrow etc. So, I'm not too concerned. Not saying people don't have a right to, it's freaky, but it's what they do.

 

[TaylorTortoise]

I prefer to do things naturally. Honestly, as keepers we worry too much. And I'm referring to cold tolerant species in general. No matter how domesticated , or how many generations they've been here, these animals KNOW how to survive and what to do. It's just our responsibility to prep them and I've been doing it for years with my box turtles and aquatic turtles. They keep eating in the wild if food isn't scarce and they drink. Not to say there aren't any casualties in the wild, but unlikely. No heated boxes etc. These animals know what to do when they since barometric pressures in the atmosphere. They naturally reduce eating. They find areas to burrow etc. So, I'm not too concerned. Not saying people don't have a right to, it's freaky, but it's what they do.

Agreed.

 

[TaylorTortoise]

I prefer to do things naturally. Honestly, as keepers we worry too much. And I'm referring to cold tolerant species in general. No matter how domesticated , or how many generations they've been here, these animals KNOW how to survive and what to do. It's just our responsibility to prep them and I've been doing it for years with my box turtles and aquatic turtles. They keep eating in the wild if food isn't scarce and they drink. Not to say there aren't any casualties in the wild, but unlikely. No heated boxes etc. These animals know what to do when they since barometric pressures in the atmosphere. They naturally reduce eating. They find areas to burrow etc. So, I'm not too concerned. Not saying people don't have a right to, it's freaky, but it's what they do.

The whole putting tort in a fridge freaks me out

 

[DoubleD1996!]

The whole putting tort in a fridge freaks me out

Same.

 

[TaylorTortoise]

Now do you hibernate yours outside? When you say brumation I assume you mean hibernation

 

[DoubleD1996!]

Now do you hibernate yours outside? When you say brumation I assume you mean hibernation

Now do you hibernate yours outside? When you say brumation I assume you mean hibernation

Yes. And it's essentially the same thing except brumation refers to cold blooded reptiles. They aren't actually sleeping, but they're heart rate and movement slows down. I just make sure they have plenty of substrate and a nice dry place to burrow. As well as make sure their guts are void of food so it doesn't rot in them.

 

[Tom]

Brumation sounds dangerous. Can it cause complications of tortoises health? What is the purpose of brumation?

There is nothing dangerous about it. Its a totally natural process. The only thing dangerous about it is people doing it wrong. Its like when a clutch of sulcatas hatches and the person moves them straight from the incubator to an outdoor enclosure where they live 24 hours a day in dry conditions with infrequent soaks. A large percentage of those babies die, and those breeders will say "some of them aren't meant to survive... Babies started this way will die because of the breeder's ignorance and mistakes. Hatching is not dangerous to the babies. Being started all wrong is what is dangerous to them.

In the same way, hibernation is not dangerous to them, but letting them eat too late into the season, not soaking them enough before and after hibernation is a mistake, and letting them experience wild temperature fluctuations that are too high or too low is a mistake. It can be done outside in some parts of the world and some parts of the country, but freak warm spells or freak cold spells can wreak havoc on torts hibernating in the ground outdoors. Using a fridge allows the keeper to maintain consistent correct temperatures throughout all of hibernation, as well as the ability to make gradual temperature adjustments down to the correct temperatures in fall, and up to the correct temperatures in spring when its time to wake up. In my area the outside temperature is consistently too warm, and we have wild fluctuations in temperature. We will see a week with highs in the 50s and raining, and then the next week temps in the 80s and sunny, and as high as low 90s, even in January. This really messes with them. They can be fooled into thinking its springtime in these warm spells, and they will wake up, get active, eat and drink, and then the normal colder January weather returns, and they die from food rotting in their gut. People read about these tortoises dying without understanding why they died and then conclude that "hibernation is risky", or scary, or not worth it, etc... Hibernation is easy and trouble free if a few simple facts are observed and taken into account. Its the people who leave them outside to fend for themselves in a small outdoor enclosure, and erroneously conclude that they survived without out help for millions of years, that experience these deaths. Sure they've survived in the wild with out human help, BUT, #1. There are often deaths in the wild for a wide variety of reasons, and #2. Our little tiny backyard enclosures are NOT the wild and do not always allow the torts to do what they would do in the wild to survive the winter.

You don't ever HAVE to hibernate your tortoise, but in my opinion, you SHOULD hibernate your tortoise after learning about how to do it correctly. This is not difficult. We all had to learn some basic care info to keep our tortoises alive and thriving. In the same way, we can learn some basic hibernation info to allow our tortoises to safely carry out this natural, easy, safe, annual process. In the same way that 100% of my sulcata hatchlings thrive and grow up healthy, 100% of the reptiles of all species and ages that I hibernate survive and thrive. This includes first year babies, in addition to larger more mature animals.

 

[Thomasstortoise]

I didn't think that you just turned them loose out in the world and then went back inside to take a nap. Everyone monitors them. Everyone is sure is it safe or they wouldn't be doing it. Everyone is absolutely positive they are watching closely and nothing will happen. Then, everyone loses a tortoise. At this point, after it is too late, they realize they were wrong.

You have the opportunity to save your tortoises, and not have to learn this lesson the hard way. Will you take this opportunity?

A bit too paranoid tom relax

 

[Tom]

A bit too paranoid tom relax

Have you lost a pet turtle or tortoise? Its an awful feeling. Gut wrenching.

This is not paranoia. This is inevitability, and I try to help people avoid this easily preventable catastrophe whenever possible. This forum is littered with threads of people who've lost their tortoises. We see several a month, and those are just the ones who come here and ask what to do.

Relaxing is not what is needed when it comes to people letting their tortoise free roam.

 

[DoubleD1996!]

Have you lost a pet turtle or tortoise? Its an awful feeling. Gut wrenching.

This is not paranoia. This is inevitability, and I try to help people avoid this easily preventable catastrophe whenever possible. This forum is littered with threads of people who've lost their tortoises. We see several a month, and those are just the ones who come here and ask what to do.

Relaxing is not what is needed when it comes to people letting their tortoise free roam.

Look Tom. I understand your concern, and I really appreciate. It is a big issue; I've seen it myself, and it's happened to me before as a kid where I spent hours to find my turtle.I'm not a novice keeper. I know turtles and tortoises are faster than they're portrayed in our cheesy cartoons and what not, but I already know this. I was watching the tortoises closely, my 2 acres is fenced, and they were in the center of my yard where I had no chance of losing them. I know you have good intentions, but you have to remember, this is a form of social media. Your tone can be misinterpreted. Which I've noticed with a lot of the long time members; excited to share years of information from trial and error, and it can come off and be percieved the wrong way to new members. I know you guys want the best for animals and their keepers, which is why I joined the forum. I'm not offended by you at all, in fact, I appreciate you, but you have to keep in mind that people can't hear you and some people are easily offended.

 

[zovick]

Brumation sounds dangerous. Can it cause complications of tortoises health? What is the purpose of brumation?

In certain species, cooler temperatures during brumation and the following warm-up in the spring are believed to stimulate the females to ovulate and the males to produce sperm for the breeding season which will occur in the late spring/early summer.