Hermann Tortoise Emerging During Hibernation

[bucka]

This is one of my 3 Hermann tortoises, and she is 3 years old. I live in Southern Europe, so I hibernate them outdoors naturally. I’ve never had any problems before.

This year, they started hibernating at the end of October. As usual, they burrowed under the soil, and I couldn’t see them. I check them weekly to make sure the soil under the straw I place on top doesn’t get moldy. Over that i place a roof to isolate them even more and protect them from rain.

This week, I was shocked to find this particular tortoise on the surface, because last week she was still under the soil. (She was on the same spot just not buried anymore). I gently covered her with some soil again since the nights are cold (2-3°C), and when the soil fell on her, she moved her leg slightly. However, her eyes have been closed the whole time, and she hasn’t moved otherwise.

Does anyone know why she would come up to the surface during hibernation? Could something be wrong? Should I wake her up?

The daytime temperatures here have been between 6-12°C. But no light gets to them because of all the insulation. The other two tortoises haven’t moved, and I don’t even know exactly where they are under the soil.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I think this is why @Tom doesn’t recommend doing this outside, there’s too many factors you can’t control and sometimes they’ll emerge too soon, hopefully he can advise you!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

This thread covers how he goes about it, hopefully it might be useful to look through!

Tom's Brumation Thread

Every fall we get bombarded here on the forum with all sorts of questions and problems regarding hibernation and tortoises "slowing down" for winter. The purpose of this thread is to talk about all aspects of this subject, to dispel some of the myths and mysteries, and give a "how to" list of...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[bucka]

This thread covers how he goes about it, hopefully it might be useful to look through!

Tom's Brumation Thread

Every fall we get bombarded here on the forum with all sorts of questions and problems regarding hibernation and tortoises "slowing down" for winter. The purpose of this thread is to talk about all aspects of this subject, to dispel some of the myths and mysteries, and give a "how to" list of...

tortoiseforum.org

Thank you!

 

[Tom]

This is one of my 3 Hermann tortoises, and she is 3 years old. I live in Southern Europe, so I hibernate them outdoors naturally. I’ve never had any problems before.

This year, they started hibernating at the end of October. As usual, they burrowed under the soil, and I couldn’t see them. I check them weekly to make sure the soil under the straw I place on top doesn’t get moldy. Over that i place a roof to isolate them even more and protect them from rain.

This week, I was shocked to find this particular tortoise on the surface, because last week she was still under the soil. (She was on the same spot just not buried anymore). View attachment 383915I gently covered her with some soil again since the nights are cold (2-3°C), and when the soil fell on her, she moved her leg slightly. However, her eyes have been closed the whole time, and she hasn’t moved otherwise.

Does anyone know why she would come up to the surface during hibernation? Could something be wrong? Should I wake her up?

The daytime temperatures here have been between 6-12°C. But no light gets to them because of all the insulation. The other two tortoises haven’t moved, and I don’t even know exactly where they are under the soil.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

It shouldn't be done outside because there are too many variables and too many things that are out of your control. 12C is too warm. Doing this in a small pen in your yard isn't "natural". Its risky. You've gotten away with it previously, but now you are seeing why it is a problem.

 

[bucka]

It shouldn't be done outside because there are too many variables and too many things that are out of your control. 12C is too warm. Doing this in a small pen in your yard isn't "natural". Its risky. You've gotten away with it previously, but now you are seeing why it is a problem.

I now understand what is the problem with this method so I will consider doing the fridge method next year. (I am doing it this way now because a local breeder told me he had the highest success this way. I did a lot of research regarding burmation in the wild and prepared their pen accordingly. And also there are some wild Hermann’s in our area.)


Now I am asking what could I do in this moment to help the tortoise, because going back in time and put them in a fridge is sadly not an option.

 

[Tom]

I now understand what is the problem with this method so I will consider doing the fridge method next year. (I am doing it this way now because a local breeder told me he had the highest success this way. I did a lot of research regarding burmation in the wild and prepared their pen accordingly. And also there are some wild Hermann’s in our area.)


Now I am asking what could I do in this moment to help the tortoise, because going back in time and put them in a fridge is sadly not an option.

If putting the tortoise in your fridge isn't an option, then the only other option is to bring it inside into a large properly lit and heated indoor enclosure for the remainder of winter and keeping it up. The thread linked for you in post #3 explains all the details, and questions are welcome.

The only time I've ever lost an animal during brumation was when this exact same thing happened to me. I listened to a very knowledgable, experienced keeper who told me to leave them outside and how to set all that up. It worked perfectly at the start of winter, and then we had a winter warm spell and they all dug up and out and were basking on the surface. Well, winter wasn't done, and it got cold again, and they didn't dig back in as they were supposed to when the over night temperature dropped to freezing again. I had had dozens of successful, problem-free indoor brumations prior to that point, and have now had 100s of successful brumations since that time. Outdoors simply doesn't work in some climates and our back yard tortoise pens are not the wild.