Is my tortoise hibernating, or not.

Diane.M.

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Hi. I've just joined this forum tonight. I've had 3 tortoises in my lifetime. My first one was in the 70s/80s and all was ok in the days there was no internet or info! Last year I got my second one, an 8 year old horsefield. I read all the ways to hibernate him in shed, thought I'd done it all well, had thermometer, got polystyrene chips etc then when got him out, he was dead. So we got another one early this year, coincidentally the same, 8 year old male horsefield, we called him fluffy! I've been too frightening to put fluffy into shed to hibernate after our last experience. So he's been sleeping inside his table since September and I look in at him each day as I'm worried. He's been moving about, but still asleep, but last Sunday he was awake, eyes wide open and started moving properly. I put some food in and he ate it. I've read they need to be hydrated once moving so bathed him. Put him on floor and he had potter about. Now he's gone back to sleep. Am I doing the right thing letting him eat and drink, having a mooch about, then going back to sleep for a while, as I'm going on my gut reaction now as opposed to sticking to rules on internet, which led to last times disaster? Any suggestions gratefully received. I haven't any lamps on for him as don't want to unnaturally waken him .
 

Cheryl Hills

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Once he was awake and eating, you should not let him go back to sleep. Now he has food in his system. It will rot and can kill him. Tortoises should have nothing for at least two weeks before they hibernate. You should now turn his lights back on and bring him up to temp. Please go to our Russian tort section and read the care sheets. We have many experienced people here that have written these are sheets. Info you get off the internet, from some breeders and vets often still follow the old outdated materials. If you stick here, you will not go wrong. If you do hibernate, the temps have to be between 40 to 45 otherwise they will use up two much energy trying to hybernate, loss weight and possibly not make it.
 

Diane.M.

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Thanks Cheryl. I'll get him up properly after work tomorrow. However seems a bit early as my first one hibernated from about oct to march. But know you guys know a lot more than me. Not sure if he's hibernating or just sleeping now, can't really tell as he was lazy when I got him!
 

Cheryl Hills

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They usually do hibernate until March, but, he has eaten, which leaves food in his gut. If he hibernates like this, the food will rot and can kill him.
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Diane, and welcome to the Forum!

I doubt Fluffy was brumating since September. It's probably that your house was cooler than normal since September, and being in an open topped tort table, Fluffy wasn't warm enough. When they're not warm enough all they do is sleep. So for some reason, last Sunday, he got warmed up and came out looking for food. Now you must keep the enclosure warm. Buy one of those laser temperature gauges and point and shoot all over the whole enclosure to see how warm it is. If it's not warm enough then maybe you can add another heat source at the other end. Russians are ok with room temperature, but "room temperature" has to be in the '70s F. He needs to be able to sit under the light and warm his inner core up to 85F or 90F degrees, so when you point and shoot directly under the light, it needs to show you that it's 100F degrees.

Think about it: YOUR'RE inner core body temperature is 98.6F degrees. That's almost 100F degrees. If you have your tortoise set up at room temperature, or, let's say, 75F degrees, then THAT'S as warm as his inner core temperature is going to be. They don't make their own heat, they get their heat from external sources. He can't digest his food at 75F degrees, consequently, he won't eat.
 

Tom

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I agree. Since you've fed him, hibernation is no longer an option. He needs warm temps and "sunshine" ASAP.
 

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