"partial" hibernation

[mvtucker]

Dear Tortoise friends,
I bought a Russian tortoise- who is now about 6 months old for my child's classroom. We have been feeding him field greens and mustard greens etc., soaking him 3 times a week in warm water for 30 minutes, have a tortoise house- made of cedar I believe, substrate is half coir and half sand. The school started turning the heat down at night to save money and we didn't realize it. We live in northern Michigan so he was pretty darn cold at night. I think I remedied the situation with a infrared 100watt light for night time. He hasn't eaten in about a week and a half and is trying to dig into the corner and is very sluggish. I fear he is in partial hibernation for lack of a better term. Anyone know what to do?? Please help.

 

[Jacqui]

With the redlight (I myself would go for a CHE, which is a ceramic heat emitter that makes hear, but no light), how warm is it keeping it at night? Day time you have what for temps? You also have a light on him during the day correct? How many hours? (asking because it takes both light and heat to keeep them awake). Are you doing warm soaks? Those normally are very helpful in getting them going again. You need to either have him go into a full brumation or take him out of it. In a semi brumation they can burn calories at a higher rate then during brumation, but not be taking in the food they need or even digesting what they may already have eaten.

 

[mvtucker]

With the redlight (I myself would go for a CHE, which is a ceramic heat emitter that makes hear, but no light), how warm is it keeping it at night? Day time you have what for temps? You also have a light on him during the day correct? How many hours? (asking because it takes both light and heat to keeep them awake). Are you doing warm soaks? Those normally are very helpful in getting them going again. You need to either have him go into a full brumation or take him out of it. In a semi brumation they can burn calories at a higher rate then during brumation, but not be taking in the food they need or even digesting what they may already have eaten.

Yes, he has a a uva/uvb light on him during the day for 12 hours- 90 degrees, and the light at night provides about the same temp. How do I bring him out of brumation besides warm baths- we have been giving him warm baths 3 times a week for 30 min each. I will get a CHE and stop using the infrared if that is better.
thanks so much for helping me- I need it!

 

[lynnedit]

The only other thing to add is that the quality of the UVB in the UVB bulbs fade over time, perhaps even 6 months. This might be a good time to replace it (unless it is new). Also, try bumping the daytime lighting to 14 hours.
And, if part of your enclosure are dark, you might add a regular house bulb/fixture, say, 75w, to brighten it up partway down.
Basking area could be increased to 95F, but they do need a cool side of 65 to 70F. And they really need to cool off at night to below 70f or they get too hot and will burrow as well.
How cold does the room get at night? Russians can tolerate quite a drop at night as long as they can bask when they wake up.

 

[Zabbi0]

RE: "partial" hibernation

I might be wrong but I believe there was a continuing topic in the Enclosure thread about how cedar is really really bad for torts... If it isn't old and hasn't been sealed off- if I have that correctly. Maybe someone can shed some light on that.
& I will try and pull the thread.

---

& I can't find it sorry. Been looking a while. Maybe someone will chime in.

 

[mvtucker]

The only other thing to add is that the quality of the UVB in the UVB bulbs fade over time, perhaps even 6 months. This might be a good time to replace it (unless it is new). Also, try bumping the daytime lighting to 14 hours.
And, if part of your enclosure are dark, you might add a regular house bulb/fixture, say, 75w, to brighten it up partway down.
Basking area could be increased to 95F, but they do need a cool side of 65 to 70F. And they really need to cool off at night to below 70f or they get too hot and will burrow as well.
How cold does the room get at night? Russians can tolerate quite a drop at night as long as they can bask when they wake up.

Thank you so much! I bumped up the daytime to 14 and am not using the night light. I brought him to our house and the night temp is in the high 60's.