hibernation dilemma

[katya mercieca]

Hi all, we just got a testudo graeca this month and she's only 38g and 5cm in length. we live in malta and the weather here is typical Mediterranean. highs of 30s in summer , avreage of 15- 20s in winter. it rarely goes below 10 degrees Celsius in winter. basically we only have 2cold months, January and February. the trend in malta seems to build artificial tortoise tables with lamps and all to stop hinernation. but i feel it goes a hit against the nature of this animal. many even claim that a tortoise this young will not reawaken. what do you experts say? i have an outdoor enclosure for her during the day, so she gets plenty of natural sunlight and then we bring her in at night because we were told she might get runny nose of she's too cold.
what do you all think?

thanks
katya

 

[Gillian M]

A warm welcome to the forum @katya mercieca .

Please post pics of your tort and his/her enclosure.

Have you read the so-called "Beginners Mistakes" Thread? There's a lot of helpful info, there. Apologies; I cannot answer your question - am no tort expert. I'll tag the experienced here, for help.

@Yvonne G
@wellington
@Tom

would you please be kind enough to help here.

Thank you all. Appreciate it.

 

[katya mercieca]

A warm welcome to the forum @katya mercieca .

Please post pics of your tort and his/her enclosure.

Have you read the so-called "Beginners Mistakes" Thread? There's a lot of helpful info, there. Apologies; I cannot answer your question - am no tort expert. I'll tag the experienced here, for help.

@Yvonne G
@wellington
@Tom

would you please be kind enough to help here.

Thank you all. Appreciate it.

beginner's mistakes...will go through that thanks

 

[Gillian M]

beginner's mistakes...will go through that thanks

And ask ANY question when you need help/are in doubt.

 

[katya mercieca]

hi. went through rhe beginner's mistakes. a good read really. but im still hesitant abt the hibernation bit. if i keep her inside without a heat and uv bulb during winter will she be ok? i would like nature to take it's course. i checked her health, she weighs 38g and is abt 55mm long. so her weight according to the Jackson ratio chart is ok and she should be ok with hibernation.

keep in mind i dnt live in a.cold country. so freezing is not an issue. we dnt central heat either. it's usually around 15degrees Celsius in winter. rarely less.

 

[Tom]

You can hibernate your tortoise if you want, but you don't have to. There is no need for it. You can use the warm indoor table for cold days and nights, and put the tortoise outside during the warm sunny part of winter days for some UV, grazing, and exercise.

If your tortoise gets UV most of the year, then you shouldn't need indoor UV bulbs to get through winter. I would add a UV bulb though, because it brightens everything up and helps keep the tortoise from thinking that they should be hibernating. Use a long strip type bulb. Which type to buy depends on how high you intend to mount it. Some types need to be 10-12" away and other type can be 24" away.

I typed this up for russian tortoises, but care for all the temperate species is the same:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/

 

[wellington]

I'm no expert, but you should not let them hibernate the first year you have them. Take that first year to get to know them, get them eating proper foods, etc, and mainly to be sure he is healthy enough to hibernate. A sick tort won't live thru hibernation.
Also, hibernation is not needed if you don't want to do it. It's really up to you. Many of us don't.

 

[katya mercieca]

ok guys. thanks for your replies. so I'll probably set up an indoor enclosure with a uv bulb for stormy days. otherwise I'll let her roam outside, unless it's a particularly cold winter, but we don't really experience them here

 

[GBtortoises]

"You can hibernate your tortoise if you want, but you don't have to. There is no need for it."-Tom?

If your tortoise is a species that does brumate (hibernate) then it doesn't matter if it is a few months old or several years old as far as when it should start. In nature they would be brumating the first winter of their life. Their age plays no part in it. However, knowing the subspecies of your tortoise is important as not all Testudo graeca subspecies do truly brumate. While the majority do, some from the southern most regions do not. In captivity it is sometimes difficult to determine an exact subspecies.
Your tortoise will survive just fine for it's entire life if not brumated as long as it is maintained in active level termperatures and light duration & intensity throughout the cooler months.

 

[Bee62]

Hi all, we just got a testudo graeca this month and she's only 38g and 5cm in length. we live in malta and the weather here is typical Mediterranean. highs of 30s in summer , avreage of 15- 20s in winter. it rarely goes below 10 degrees Celsius in winter. basically we only have 2cold months, January and February. the trend in malta seems to build artificial tortoise tables with lamps and all to stop hinernation. but i feel it goes a hit against the nature of this animal. many even claim that a tortoise this young will not reawaken. what do you experts say? i have an outdoor enclosure for her during the day, so she gets plenty of natural sunlight and then we bring her in at night because we were told she might get runny nose of she's too cold.
what do you all think?

thanks
katya

I see another problem when you try to hibernate your baby tort: 10 C degree is not cold enough that a tort safely hibernates. If it is too "warm" the tort will get lethargic but not really in hibernating "modus". She will starve or dehydrate because she cannot really hibernate but is too cold for eating.
It is said that European tortoises need temps steady and consistent below 7 C degrees to hibernate safely.
Because of these facts I would the tort not hibernate. They must not hibernate, that is my opinion too.

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hi Katya
Some people will tell you that baby’s bermate in the wild . But they forget about the importance of body wait . And the problems of how many baby’s don’t make it to be grown up torts . But they keep giving the same questionable information. But as always you do what you think is best !