- Joined
- Jun 11, 2013
- Messages
- 13
This is the second year that I have hibernated Terence. The first year as I had only had him around 7 months I didn't want to do it for too long, 6 weeks the vet recommended as the minimum. I was rather against hibernating him as I felt I wasn't overly knowledgable about it but he seemed intent on doing so so I did my research, weighed him weekly and checked on him and he did great, this year we are now on week twelve, for the entire time the temperature in the fridge he is in has been between 3 and 7 degrees (I have a minimum/maximum thermometer) though mostly it is around 5 degrees. His weight decrease has been under 5 percent of his body weight each month and he has not wee'd at all, I was planning to take him out around the tenth of February which would take him up to 14 weeks but a friend of mine has a tortoise that she hibernates in a garage and says theirs is in there for 7 months!!! I'm slightly alarmed at leaving him in there for that long, and I am not even sure of the breed of their tortoise. Once he comes out he will stay in his tortoise table until the weather has improved enough here in the uk for him to go outside (it has rained now for about four weeks solid!) ANYWAY! Sorry.... The short of it is should I be aiming for longer if there are no concerns??? Thanks and sorry it is such a long one!!!!
Ben
Made a mistake there... I just checked my notes!! He was 467g when he went into hibernation, I have calculated his 'critical weight' for wake up would be 421g as this would be a total weight loss of 10% body weight, he is currently 442g (as of just now)
Ben
Made a mistake there... I just checked my notes!! He was 467g when he went into hibernation, I have calculated his 'critical weight' for wake up would be 421g as this would be a total weight loss of 10% body weight, he is currently 442g (as of just now)