RT hibernation woes

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icenine

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Hey all, me again, with another question (or host of) again!

Every year for 11 or 12 years my tortoise has hibernated. Usually as it cools down around this time of year, rain starts so we bring him indoors in a shoe box and offer food. Usually he knows to not eat, so he won't, and he'll hibernate in a shoebox in a garage until about February. We'll hear him rustling again when it's time to bring the guy out.

But this year I've got him indoors for the first time and the past 2 days he was just plain asleep. Normally i wake him daily if I need to but I decided to see what happens. As far as I knew, I turned his bulbs on and he stayed under his hide for 2 days straight. Today i woke him up to see if he'd eat (if he did, I figured it wasn't hibernation time yet) and noticed his eyes were a little sunken in, so I did a soak with him. Well he peed, then pooped what looked like 4 separate times, and he drank quite a bit while sort of scratching his eyes/head on his front legs. I've only just started soaking with him so this is maybe his 4th, it's the first time he's peed or pooped (let alone as much as he just did!)... Is this normal behavior pre-hibernation regarding soaking?

Also, today he ate just a little bit (normally he's a glutton) then walked away from the food. It's definitely close to hibernation time and year after year for a long time we had no problems, but I don't want him to hibernate with food in his system (i.e. he ate a little today and also pooped 4 times in his soak in about 10 minutes). As I said he usually stops eating on his own for about 2 weeks when it's hibernating time but having him in a new city and indoors for the first time is 1) reasonable cause for concern to make sure he's healthy enough to hibernate as he usually does and 2) having him indoors means its easier to observe his behavior as I pass by his enclosure often.

Thanks!


As an add-on; just peeked over into his enclosure, and he's eating away. I only offered a little bit assuming maybe he would ignore it, but once he eats this he will have pretty much eaten all that i've offered. Mixed signals?


Should I withhold food while offering more regular soaks to make sure he gets water and poops but doesn't eat so the food wont rot in his stomach ?
 

Yvonne G

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He's not ready to hibernate yet. I'd put him outside on dry days so that he can feel the change in the weather. He'll stop eating when he's ready, but if you keep him inside under a light, he won't know its getting cold, etc.
 

CactusVinnie

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I think he was dehydrated- sunken eyes, accumulation of faeces.
1- Had he water or at least juicy food and shelter/burrow?
2- How about the faeces- did you noticed if they were dry, or normally moist?
3- Did you noticed urates being eliminated? If not yet, they will maybe appear as thick as fresh mortar, maybe even stones.

I would say to wait for urate elimination: keep him in summer regime, hydrate well and feed juicy leaves for another 2 weeks, and then start wind-down for a month, bathing every 2 days for the first 2 weeks, then reducing heat-light-temperature, then no soak in the last week, but providing a coco-soil mix to hide and conserve moisture. At the end of that month, you should have reached temps between 10-15*C without light, and the tortoise should be asleep in the box. Find a place with only 6-10*C and let him another week, then put him in final place at 2-7*C.
He should clean his blood; otherwise blood-poisoning and renal problems can occur, and he may die in hibernation or right after.
 
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