Hermanne Tort behaviour change

[mase01]

so my tort is coming up 7 this year, had him since a month old, apart from the first year having him i have hibernated him every year for 6 weeks doing the fridge method, it was not till this Christmas just gone i heard mixed comments about the don't hibernate they brumate but inside they don't even need to do that, so i decided against hibernating him this year due to that and also i felt he was a lot more lazy on the run up than usual.

fast forward to January 2025, he's still very lazy, doesn't seem to wanna come out anymore, but, when i do get him out and bath him 3x a week he goes mental after, running around, trying to mount things, and that's one thing that we have noticed a lot, he seems to have changed into this sexual maniac and trying to mount things and bite things.

he is still eating, has his appetite, but haven't really noticed much poop in his enclosure so i was just wondering if anyone has any steps i can take, as i say, he seems fine when he's out of his enclosure, his temps are of required temp and his substrate is very adequate for him,

i use 50/50 top soil and eco earth for his substrate.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

How did you used to brumate him? Like what was your schedule and fasting like and what were your brumation temperatures.

It is possible that the behavior change is caused by skipping brumation this year. The laziness sounds like he wants to brumate, but there are steps to take to perk him up.

From @Tom s brumation thread:
"Here are steps to take if you don't want to brumate your temperate species:
1. Add bright LED lighting in the 5000-6500K color range. Lots of it. Make it look like daytime outside looks.
2. Set light timers to be on for 13-14 hours.
3. Bump all ambient temperatures up a bit.
4. Keep night temps warmer. Shoot for no lower than the 70s over night.
5. Pull the tortoise out of hiding and soak it often. Don't let it stay hidden in a cool hide box all day.
6. I usually run HO UV tubes for 2-3 hours mid day. To keep a tortoise up, I might bump them up to 6-8 hours a day."

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

 

[mase01]

so normally i would no feed him for 15 days prior and bath him everyday making sure the time it comes to brumation his bowls are empty,
i will follow the steps, my heat lamp is on 14 hours a day now, the inside of the house is at a reasonable temp, im in England north east. im hoping soon he just comes out of it, but i also have not really found a lot of poop around, yet, he's eating and moving very well.
he's just been very confusing at the moment, like he's become a young teenager.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

so normally i would no feed him for 15 days prior and bath him everyday making sure the time it comes to brumation his bowls are empty,
i will follow the steps, my heat lamp is on 14 hours a day now, the inside of the house is at a reasonable temp, im in England north east. im hoping soon he just comes out of it, but i also have not really found a lot of poop around, yet, he's eating and moving very well.
he's just been very confusing at the moment, like he's become a young teenager.

The hormonal bit doesn't sound worrying to me yet. Good to hear he is eating and moving.

For constipation, the following things might help:

• Dilurantic foods like cucumber, pumpkin, zuchini or aloe vera
• Long soaks 49 to 60 minutes (keeping the water warm of course) in a container he has space to move in
• Mineral oil can be fed rolled up in lettuce and/or swiped on the cloaca with a q tip

Hope these help getting him to poop!