george hibernation?

[charlotte1508]

hi,

i really hope im not repeating a previous thread

george my hermanns lives permanently outside (enclosure pics are elsewhere on this site)

hes been happy as of late, but the british weather (as any of you that live in the uk know) has suddenly changed... and its freeeezing!!!

george has never hibernated before, (he is four years old) and so recently we stopped feeding him, and he hasnt had anything to drink for days. his heat lamp still comes on a few hours a day, but he has stopped getting up. so i assume he is trying to hibernate.
should i now bring him in, put him in a box, hibernate him, etc.

just that i have read recently that hermanns maybe don't need to be hibernated... and maybe i should just keep him in an indoor enclosure for the winter months?

im confused... at the moment, hes outside in the day, and in a box in our spare room at night...

please help!!!

 

[Jacqui]

It is pretty much a personal option, so the first thing I will do is ask you... would you rather this tortoise hibernate or have you set him up inside to stay awake and active all winter long?

 

[charlotte1508]

more than happy to have him indoors... no inconvenience for us. we just really want him to have to best life possible.

we love him living outside because its more natural and i wouldnt want to bring him in if its bad for him in anyway?

 

[Jacqui]

Well hibernation is more natural and there may be reasons to do it, but so far we really are not seeing what they are. It does help keep the tortoise from growing too fast and does seem to help trigger a breeding season for them, but this can be done "artificially" also. There is really just no way to judge if there is for example, a mental benefit from hibernation. I will say, a lot of tortoises die during hibernation most often it is because we fail to prepare them correctly, they have unknown/unseen health issues, or if being hibernated outside freak weather conditions can factor in.

I have done outside hibernation, inside hibernation, short slow down periods, and kept mine fully awake. I guess I am a wall sitter on this issue myself.

 

[charlotte1508]

ok... so i think il set up an enclosure inside for him by this weekend... and im asuming that we treat it normal as in, normal temps? make george think its still summer?

 

[ascott]

Yup....you can set him up in an indoor enclosure set up with lights for heat and uv rays.

You also can hibernate him indoors if you have a cool dry place....you say that he has not eaten/drank for some time? I would try to offer him water (soak prior to hibernating). You say that he lives outside full time and he is 4 years old??? what has he done during the winter for the last 4 years? has he remained out doors for the winter months previously?

 

[charlotte1508]

Sorry he is 3 (my partner wrote the previous post, George is my baby really ) he has only been outside since may this year, he has been kept indoors and never hibernated. I have been bathing him each day for the last few days. The house is very warm and the garage is very cold so I guess I would have to use the fridge option as I have one I don't use. I have seen him nibbling about a week ago on weeds as it was freakishly warm but I have not given him anything and he has been drinking. Now it is freakishly cold all of a sudden so I am bringing him in at night

If it has no real benefit to him I think I would rather not risk his health as I am not experienced in hibernation?

 

[GBtortoises]

No tortoise "needs" to hibernate in captivity. Temperate climate tortoises such as the Testudo species have evolved to hibernate in the wild out of necessity in order to escape extended periods of cold weather and very sparse food resources. In captivity those same species can be kept awake and very active throughout the cold seasons by keeping their temperatures and light duration & intensity at what they would be during the summertime.
There has always been a ongoing, very old debate about whether or not hibernation is psychologically necessary and if not doing so may shorten the life of a tortoise.
Psychologically it may confusing to a wild caught tortoises bio-rhythm that first year in captivity only because it has instinctively been conditioned to do certain things things based on seasonal changes. If once that next full summer season takes place and is simply extended indoors throughtout the cold months most tortoises will not notice the difference. That is ifthey are brought indoors soon enough. The mistake that many people make is leaving their tortoises out until it begins to cool down and the days get shorter. Way before the change is recognized by humans the tortoises are already preparing for the oncoming cold months.
As far as the debate about whether not hibernating may take years off a tortoises life, there is no real way to know that for certain. But many people feel that even if that is true, it's better to keep a tortoise alive for 30, 40, 50 years by not hibernating than to have something go wrong during hibernation and have the tortoise die in 10 years.