Free roam

jeff kushner

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Jul 24, 2020
Messages
2,688
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Same discussions we had 50 years ago.....and same positions pro/con right? & most of us have insisted on "reinventing the wheel" at some point in our lives because we knew better.

We all know best......till we gain some humility and realize we benefit ourselves and others much more from not knowing it all!

I'm super-happy to read a discussion here instead of an argument...as others have said, that's what makes this place special!

I don't begrudge people who choose to do things differently than I....and I appreciate those who realize we all have free will.

We ALL value education though and I have read many posts since I joined a year ago that indicate they had not known what many others already knew......and they lost their little guy. That is always hard to read for most of us, I suspect.

That's why the constant peppering of safety reminders for folks as they find their way here to the special place, isn't a bad thing at all....and no telling how many little guys it saves from purely preventable deaths.

The rest of us for whom they don't apply, read right through them so it's not even a bother.
 

TammyJ

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Jun 21, 2016
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Jamaica
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.
Tom, a question - when they are "in the wild", do they naturally stop eating for a while before going into hibernation?
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
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Tom, a question - when they are "in the wild", do they naturally stop eating for a while before going into hibernation?
Yes. They have a sense about what is coming. We see it in captive tortoises too. Many posts lately about this very subject. Many tortoises all over the world stop eating this time of year, even when they are housed indoors in warm conditions.
 

Dandelion_@_

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Nov 8, 2019
Messages
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Location (City and/or State)
New Hampshire
Yes. They have a sense about what is coming. We see it in captive tortoises too. Many posts lately about this very subject. Many tortoises all over the world stop eating this time of year, even when they are housed indoors in warm conditions.
Is your summary relevant to Hermann's?
 
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