Hibernation?

[ForPhilbert]

I have my Russian tort, Philbert, in an indoor pen. There is a pile of Timothy Grass in the darker corner of the pen that he has been hanging out burrowed underneath for sometime. The only time he eats is when I dig him out and put him in front of his food. Also, he hasn't been basking at all the past few days. I leave his basking light on and his UVB light on for at least twelve hours out of the day. Could this be him possibly trying to hibernate? If so should I just let him do his own thing and stop waking him for food? Please help!

 

[GBtortoises]

Russian tortoises and other Northern species are triggered to hibernate by changes in temperatures and light duration. Unless either of those factors have changed dramatically your tortoise is not attempting to hibernate. Depending upon how warm it is within your tortoise's enclosure he may in fact be doing just the opposite of hibernating-aestivating. Russians will often do this to escape extremely warm temperatures and extreme dryness during the summer months. It is difficult to say not knowing what temperatures that you're keeping him at. Ground moisture is somewhat important too. If a Russian tortoise's substrate at the surface is too dry it will often bury itself under something, especially something that retains some moisture, in order to keep hydrated. A daily spraying of the enclosure should resolve this problem if is an issue. You may also be able to encourage activity more by increasing the duration of light to 14-16 hours.

Generally speaking, tortoises will emerge and eat when they feel they need to as long as their temperatures and light are at levels that encourage normal activity.