Hybernation

Sarah2020

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I am thinking of hybernating my russian tortoise yearling this year. I have read about it and think I have a plan but I am interested if any experts can provide hybernation advice and guidelines from start to finish inc any things to watch out for.
 

Blackdog1714

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Russians do not have to be bruminated especially since it is so young. But please reseacrh brumination on the TFO. BTW my Russian is 3 years old and I do not bruminate him. He jsuts sleeps a little more per day than usual and I keep the lights on a timer with the heat steady to fool him for the season.
 

Happytort27

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Please take a look at this thread:

 

RosemaryDW

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We have refrigerated four years using the refrigerator method described in these two articles on the Tortoise Trust website. We used one of the small fridges pictured until our tortoise outgrew it, insulating it with the water bottles and such. You don’t need the tubing described. We use regular dirt for hibernation.

Our tortoise is quite the scratcher and after some “incidents” getting started last year we broke down and bought a packing crate like this: https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-18246/Wood-Crates/Wood-Crate-12-x-12-x-12. Expensive but she slept like a rock. Only fits in a larger fridge and is so insulating we found we had to keep the overall fridge temp a couple of degrees higher than usual to get the temperature in the box where we wanted it.



Ignore the piece on the Jackson ratio sizing in the first article.
 

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