Tortoise ate before brumation

[arcanova]

So this is my first year taking care of my own tortoise and I learned a lot about brumation. I learned that if they eat and go into brumation the food might rot in their stomach. My desert tortoise ate a head of romaine lettuce before going inside and sleeping for a couple weeks now. I am afraid that it is rotting or his poop might poison him in some way. I wish to know more about this situation and what I can do about it. Thanks

 

[LeoTheWaywardTortoise]

I have a Sulcata so I’m not at all knowledgeable about the best way to deal with this, but I would be very concerned, too. Maybe @Tom or @Yvonne G can provide guidance… where is your tortoise? I know you said he went “inside,” but is he accessible if you need to wake him? My gut tells me you’d need to wake him and make sure his stomach is completely empty before letting him go back into brumation, but I don’t know how to safely go about that, or if that’s even correct. Sorry I can’t help, but I’m sure Tom and/or Yvonne will be able to give you the proper guidance. Good luck, and please keep us posted on how he’s doing.

 

[Tom]

So this is my first year taking care of my own tortoise and I learned a lot about brumation. I learned that if they eat and go into brumation the food might rot in their stomach. My desert tortoise ate a head of romaine lettuce before going inside and sleeping for a couple weeks now. I am afraid that it is rotting or his poop might poison him in some way. I wish to know more about this situation and what I can do about it. Thanks

That is not good. It could be fatal. You need to have some control over temps and conditions. Read these two threads for a better understanding, and feel free to ask lots of questions:

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

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

 

[wellington]

If it were me I would get him up and either keep him up or do the prep for brumation the right way.

 

[tortoisecanyon]

So this is my first year taking care of my own tortoise and I learned a lot about brumation. I learned that if they eat and go into brumation the food might rot in their stomach. My desert tortoise ate a head of romaine lettuce before going inside and sleeping for a couple weeks now. I am afraid that it is rotting or his poop might poison him in some way. I wish to know more about this situation and what I can do about it. Thanks

What did you end up doing? I'm in a similar situation.