Help with Hibernation!

[dinosaur]

Hello everyone,

I have a lovely Russian Tortoise named Dinosaur that I've had for about 12 years. I bought her young and she is probably around 13 - 15 years old. However I need some help with what I *hope* is her hibernating:

Every year she seems to dig into her substrate for about 2 - 4 weeks. I always start to get nervous, and she pops out of her substrate and demands food and we all feel better. However this year, she has been down there for almost 2 months and hasn't come out yet. I'm very nervous at this point and am about to go in after her. My question is...will she come out on her own, if she is just hibernating, is there an issue with me waking her prematurely/before she is ready to wake up?

I live in San Francisco and we recently had a 4.0 earthquake that shook things off the walls...but didn't wake up Dinosaur. I'm very scared that I'm going to dig up a dead tortoise, but I don't believe she is dead as she hasn't started to smell.

Any help is so greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
P

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi "P":

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

May we know your name?

In the wild Russian tortoises hibernate for a good part of the year...6 or 7 months or more. So the short length of time for yours, really isn't anything to worry about. How cool are you keeping the tortoise? It should be below 45, but above 40.

 

[GBtortoises]

Is the tortoise being kept outdoors or indoors when this takes place? At what temperatures and light duration & intensity is your Russian tortoise being kept? How dry or humid is your tortoises enclosure? Tortoises are triggered to go into hibernation by a change in temperatures and light along with a few other minor factors.