Hibernating help pls!

kirby23

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Nov 19, 2016
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Hi
I have an 8 year old horsefield male.
I have had him for 18 months so hibernated him last year. I used the fridge method and followed rigorous steps and all went well.
This year it's not going as well.
I stopped food on 5th Oct then week by week reduced time of heat lamp. So it's now been 6.5 weeks and he's very active and not slowing down.
What should i do? Any advice please. Do I continue to wind down to the point of no heat, or keep heat on for a further period until he calms down?
Thanks
Bex
 

JoesMum

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With the wind down it's important that the temperature decreases. Shortening the hours the lights are on doesn't do that. It's still just as hot while the basking lamp is on.

It should take roughly a fortnight. In week two no lights at all and no food - just daily soaks.
 

JoesMum

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Hibernation isn't mandatory by the way. If your tort isn't ready to hibernate then you can let it stay awake.
 

Yvonne G

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I would have turned down the heat too, so that by now there is only room temperature. Maybe he's too warm.
 

Gillian M

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A warm welcome to the forum.;)

Whereabouts do you live and what's the weather like now, back there.It may be too warm for your tort to hibernate. :rolleyes:
 

kirby23

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Thank you all for all your help and advice, last year we worked on a four week wind down and lowered the times of heat not the heat temp itself and he in himself was very quiet and basically lead us to his hibernation. This year he appears very active even with the heat off. however we have now lowered the heat on his lamp to see if this helps calm him down. Again many thanks for your comments.
 

JoesMum

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There does seem to be variation from year to year. I think it's provoked by local weather conditions.

This time last year, according to my facebook "On this Day" notification, I was tearing my hair out because Joe, my Greek, was happily wandering round our garden eating on the day I planned to hibernate him.

This year, he shut down normally and he's been in the fridge since November 1st!
 
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