Question for Arizona Hermann's tortoise keepers

[Future4Animals]

Wondering what everyone does with their Eastern Hermann's during the late fall and winter months in the Phoenix area. Do you let them stay out and brumate or do you bring them in? If you do leave them out, what kind of setup do you give them? Do they go down completely or do they come out at all? My existing herd of Russians disappear in November and don't reappear till mid-March.

I've acquired two new groups (2.5 & 1.6) this past summer and they all seem to be happy and healthy. Weightwise they are perfect. The previous owners of these Eastern Hermann's did not brumate them except for three females. I'm tempted to let nature take its course and see if they start digging in and going down. Otherwise, I can simply take them inside. Temps during the day or fine it's drastic drop at night that is concerning. It can get down to the low 40s just overnight and pop back up to the '70s and the low '80s the next day.

Looking for any input from local tortoise keepers in the Phoenix area.

 

[Tom]

I'm not in Phoenix, but my climate here in the southern CA desert is similar. It's too warm and far too inconsistent to brumate reptiles outdoors here in the southwest. I start the process outside using a temperature controlled night box, and then they need to be brought inside to a fridge for cold and consistent brumation temperatures.

I've lost animals trying to do it outside because we have those 80 degree winter warms spells in January, and then it gets cold again. This is not good for them. Same with your Russians.

I know you don't need a care sheet, but in this care sheet I show pics and describe the night box set up that allows me to correctly prepare them for brumation, and bring them out of brumation in the spring, even when Mother Nature isn't cooperating.

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

More brumation info here that should help:

Tom's Brumation Thread

Every fall we get bombarded here on the forum with all sorts of questions and problems regarding hibernation and tortoises "slowing down" for winter. The purpose of this thread is to talk about all aspects of this subject, to dispel some of the myths and mysteries, and give a "how to" list of...

tortoiseforum.org

P.S. Please go into your profile and change your location.

 

[darrington10]

Wondering what everyone does with their Eastern Hermann's during the late fall and winter months in the Phoenix area. Do you let them stay out and brumate or do you bring them in? If you do leave them out, what kind of setup do you give them? Do they go down completely or do they come out at all? My existing herd of Russians disappear in November and don't reappear till mid-March.

I've acquired two new groups (2.5 & 1.6) this past summer and they all seem to be happy and healthy. Weightwise they are perfect. The previous owners of these Eastern Hermann's did not brumate them except for three females. I'm tempted to let nature take its course and see if they start digging in and going down. Otherwise, I can simply take them inside. Temps during the day or fine it's drastic drop at night that is concerning. It can get down to the low 40s just overnight and pop back up to the '70s and the low '80s the next day.

Looking for any input from local tortoise keepers in the Phoenix area.

I'm not in Phoenix, but my climate here in the southern CA desert is similar. It's too warm and far too inconsistent to brumate reptiles outdoors here in the southwest. I start the process outside using a temperature controlled night box, and then they need to be brought inside to a fridge for cold and consistent brumation temperatures.

I've lost animals trying to do it outside because we have those 80 degree winter warms spells in January, and then it gets cold again. This is not good for them. Same with your Russians.

I know you don't need a care sheet, but in this care sheet I show pics and describe the night box set up that allows me to correctly prepare them for brumation, and bring them out of brumation in the spring, even when Mother Nature isn't cooperating.

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

More brumation info here that should help:

Tom's Brumation Thread

Every fall we get bombarded here on the forum with all sorts of questions and problems regarding hibernation and tortoises "slowing down" for winter. The purpose of this thread is to talk about all aspects of this subject, to dispel some of the myths and mysteries, and give a "how to" list of...

tortoiseforum.org

P.S. Please go into your profile and change your location.

Thank you Tom I was going to ask pretty much the same thing.