A current thread in the sulcata section got me remembering about a forum member here that "hibernates" many of their healthy tortoises regardless of whether or not the species brumates naturally. I just looked up one of the threads and the species "hibernated" included sulcata, leopards, redfoots, and aldabras. It shouldn't be hard to imagine that this information was not well received; however...
There's always a lot of discussion on here about trying to change husbandry practices to improve the quality of life for our tortoises. In some of the recent conversation it has been hinted at that maybe some tortoises are biologically wired to need some feast/famine cycles for proper and healthy growth. When we were listing the tortoises that are easy/hard to pyramid, the list of easy to pyramid were mostly tortoises that did not brumate, and the list of tortoises that were more difficult to pyramid did brumate. Is a brumation-like break the missing link? Do tortoises need a break from growing to stay smooth? In the wild, that break would probably come in the form of estivation during drier "famine" periods; however, estivating in controlled conditions is very likely to result in a dessicated tortoise, whereas brumating tortoises is a relatively "safe" process.
Not that I'm advocating the idea that non-brumating species be brumated, but I am very interested in exploring the idea of whether or not a break in growth could be beneficial, and how that might be safely achieved in a controlled environment through either estivation or brumation.
There's always a lot of discussion on here about trying to change husbandry practices to improve the quality of life for our tortoises. In some of the recent conversation it has been hinted at that maybe some tortoises are biologically wired to need some feast/famine cycles for proper and healthy growth. When we were listing the tortoises that are easy/hard to pyramid, the list of easy to pyramid were mostly tortoises that did not brumate, and the list of tortoises that were more difficult to pyramid did brumate. Is a brumation-like break the missing link? Do tortoises need a break from growing to stay smooth? In the wild, that break would probably come in the form of estivation during drier "famine" periods; however, estivating in controlled conditions is very likely to result in a dessicated tortoise, whereas brumating tortoises is a relatively "safe" process.
Not that I'm advocating the idea that non-brumating species be brumated, but I am very interested in exploring the idea of whether or not a break in growth could be beneficial, and how that might be safely achieved in a controlled environment through either estivation or brumation.