Just woke - Herman

[Saz pearson]

Dec 11 2021 - Hibernated naturally successfully for past six years - our fifteen year old male Herman just woke up from our garden in southern England - and very very slow Jackson ratio .1777 - thoughts and help please ?
Options :
1 should we - leave him be to wander and rehibernate ? Or
2bring him in and let him adjust feeding him and keeping him safe in a box ?
Or putting him in fridge that can maintain at 5 degrees Celsius over the next few months
Thanks

 

[Ink]

@zovick wait for someone to help. I am not familiar with hibernation. @wellington

 

[wellington]

Sorry, I don't hibernate.
@Tom
@HermanniChris

 

[Lyn W]

Hi and welcome,
My tort doesn't hibernate either so I'm no help but has he eaten since he's been awake?

 

[Tom]

Dec 11 2021 - Hibernated naturally successfully for past six years - our fifteen year old male Herman just woke up from our garden in southern England - and very very slow Jackson ratio .1777 - thoughts and help please ?
Options :
1 should we - leave him be to wander and rehibernate ? Or
2bring him in and let him adjust feeding him and keeping him safe in a box ?
Or putting him in fridge that can maintain at 5 degrees Celsius over the next few months
Thanks

If by "naturally" you mean left to suffer the whims of Mother Nature outside on his own, you are lucky he is still alive.

Bring the tortoise inside and gradually warm it up over the course of a few days. Your tortoise does not need to be in a box. It needs to be in a large enclosure of at least 122x244cm and it needs all the proper heating and lighting to wake up and function daily. Soaks will help too. Lukewarm at first and progressively warmer each day for a few days.

I would NOT let him go back down again, or put him in a fridge. Something is obviously wrong, and brumation time is over for this little guy this year.

Here is all the correct and current care info for your tortoise:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[RJOfford]

I don't consider myself to be an expert, but I have read before that if a tortoise comes out of hibernation, early or not, you cannot put them back into hibernation. When they come out of hibernation, they have a glycogen boost which kind of gives them sufficient energy to get moving again as of course they will not have eaten for weeks or months, and once they've used up this glycogen that's it, they don't get a second boost. I guess this may depend on how long they were actually down, and whether they fully entered the brumation stage. Have a read of the attached for more information.https://www.hermannihaven.com/t-hermanni-care-sheet

 

[Saz pearson]

so he was sleepier than when he normally comes out of hibernation - yesterday was milder than normal - 10C and today 13C here in southern UK and it is our intention to bring him back in slowly - currently in the garden shed at 7C - any further advice welcome. We have sought advice considering various options so thank you very much for the information.

 

[Saz pearson]

If by "naturally" you mean left to suffer the whims of Mother Nature outside on his own, you are lucky he is still alive.

Bring the tortoise inside and gradually warm it up over the course of a few days. Your tortoise does not need to be in a box. It needs to be in a large enclosure of at least 122x244cm and it needs all the proper heating and lighting to wake up and function daily. Soaks will help too. Lukewarm at first and progressively warmer each day for a few days.

I would NOT let him go back down again, or put him in a fridge. Something is obviously wrong, and brumation time is over for this little guy this year.

Here is all the correct and current care info for your tortoise:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

so good of you to provide us with this information - following the advice - very grateful.Thanks

 

[Lady Olga]

Dec 11 2021 - Hibernated naturally successfully for past six years - our fifteen year old male Herman just woke up from our garden in southern England - and very very slow Jackson ratio .1777 - thoughts and help please ?
Options :
1 should we - leave him be to wander and rehibernate ? Or
2bring him in and let him adjust feeding him and keeping him safe in a box ?
Or putting him in fridge that can maintain at 5 degrees Celsius over the next few months
Thanks

Same here Saz. We're in the Midlands and one of my tortoises, a female Herman, has woken today due to the warm weather. She's been moving around in her box trying to get out. She's very old, big and heavy for a Herman and we've been hibernating her the same way for the past 40+ years - in a box in the garage. She has always got ready for hibernation herself on the same week every year ie. stopped eating and started burrowing, but this year was 3 weeks later. For the past 2 years, she has woken up early in February or March, but for the past 40 years, it has always been the first week of April. hClimate change is definitely having an affect!
I was going to ask the same question as you so thanks for doing it for me. I was unsure whether to get her out and warm her up as with the past 2 years, or put her in a fridge to try to get her to sleep again. She's only been asleep for 4 weeks this year! My other 2 are Mediterranean spur-thighed and don't seem to have stirred yet, but they didn't wake early the past 2 years like her.
I'm going to follow Tom's advice and set up an indoor enclosure.
Good luck!

 

[Lady Olga]

If by "naturally" you mean left to suffer the whims of Mother Nature outside on his own, you are lucky he is still alive.

Bring the tortoise inside and gradually warm it up over the course of a few days. Your tortoise does not need to be in a box. It needs to be in a large enclosure of at least 122x244cm and it needs all the proper heating and lighting to wake up and function daily. Soaks will help too. Lukewarm at first and progressively warmer each day for a few days.

I would NOT let him go back down again, or put him in a fridge. Something is obviously wrong, and brumation time is over for this little guy this year.

Here is all the correct and current care info for your tortoise:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Thank you so much for this Tom. Having never had a problem with hibernation for my 3 in the UK for 40+ years, I'm not set up for indoor enclosure for adults so your detailed instructions will be very helpful!

 

[Saz pearson]

Same here Saz. We're in the Midlands and one of my tortoises, a female Herman, has woken today due to the warm weather. She's been moving around in her box trying to get out. She's very old, big and heavy for a Herman and we've been hibernating her the same way for the past 40+ years - in a box in the garage. She has always got ready for hibernation herself on the same week every year ie. stopped eating and started burrowing, but this year was 3 weeks later. For the past 2 years, she has woken up early in February or March, but for the past 40 years, it has always been the first week of April. hClimate change is definitely having an affect!
I was going to ask the same question as you so thanks for doing it for me. I was unsure whether to get her out and warm her up as with the past 2 years, or put her in a fridge to try to get her to sleep again. She's only been asleep for 4 weeks this year! My other 2 are Mediterranean spur-thighed and don't seem to have stirred yet, but they didn't wake early the past 2 years like her.
I'm going to follow Tom's advice and set up an indoor enclosure.
Good luck!

Thanks very much Lady Olga - my boy has woken regularly third week in April around 21 but funnily enough but last year woke a month early. Bringing him in gives me much reassurance as I know that i can keep him stable if he is awake. In fairness, he wont like it as we had him in a enclosure for a good four years and he didnt like it one bit - spent most of the time on back two legs trying to get out hence reason for letting him having our lovely safe garden as an enlarged enclosure. Indoor it is for now and come summer we will have established a outdoor safe shed enclosure with thermal heating and lamps etc - I need to research this well first of course. Good to meet you - i hope all goes well for your big girl Herman

 

[Lady Olga]

Thanks very much Lady Olga - my boy has woken regularly third week in April around 21 but funnily enough but last year woke a month early. Bringing him in gives me much reassurance as I know that i can keep him stable if he is awake. In fairness, he wont like it as we had him in a enclosure for a good four years and he didnt like it one bit - spent most of the time on back two legs trying to get out hence reason for letting him having our lovely safe garden as an enlarged enclosure. Indoor it is for now and come summer we will have established a outdoor safe shed enclosure with thermal heating and lamps etc - I need to research this well first of course. Good to meet you - i hope all goes well for your big girl Herman

Thanks Saz, you too!

 

[mark1]

i can tell you watching turtles hibernate in water , activity during winter hibernation is normal , including basking during warm enough spells ....... turtles in the ground are less observable and the ground is a more temperature stable environment than a river ...... box turtles will emerge and go back into hibernation several times early and late in their hibernation when the hibernacula temps are borderline ... i believe it's not uncommon for gopherus to be seen basking during the winter on warm days...... again probably the difference between hibernation and brumation ...... brumation is i assume more geared toward unstable temperatures .....

Overwintering of Gopher Tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) Translocated to the Northern Limit of Their Geographic Range: Temperatures, Timing, and Survival

BRETT A. DEGREGORIO1,2, KURT A. BUHLMANN1 , AND TRACEY D. TUBERVILLE

"During the winter of 2002–2003, the 1 juvenile we monitored accounted for 1 of the 3 observed basking events (33%), and, during 2004–2005, the 2 juveniles were responsible for 9 of 21 basking events (43%). In contrast, most adults emerged to bask on only 1 or 2 occasions during the overwinter period."