wake him up everyday?

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taurusgi

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hello! I'm wondering if anyone is experiencing the same thing like me? I have to wake up my tort baby "manually" almost everyday during winter!

I have two Hermanns: Shiao-Heh is a bit over 2 year old, and Panda George is about one and half year old. They both got their annual exam in August and the vet said I got an A+ taking care of them so far! :D

However, ever since it started getting cooler early November (it's about 66 - 70 F in my apt, and about 95 F under the lights, 85 F under the heat lamp), lots of the time Shiao-Heh doesn't wake up on his own anymore.. :( I know he is not sick because every once a while when the weather is warmer, he would wake up on his own and start running around in his enclosure. But most of the days, I have to dig him out from his hiding spot, and then he would start walking around, eat a bit (less than half of what he eats in summer), and lay under the light for 2-3 hours, and then go back to sleep at around 1 pm. When I soak him in warm water, he still poops normaly. I just don't know if it's ok for me to wake him up like that everyday? I'm afraid if I don't wake him up, he would start hibernating and I don't want to risk him not waking up ever! :(

Panda George has been acting relatively normal though. She wakes up on her own in the morning, and go to sleep at around 4 pm.

Thanks and any comment is appreciated! :p
 

Terry Allan Hall

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Your basking area should be in the mid to high 90s and the "cool" end should be about 70 or so, with the lights on for 14-15 hours each day...less than this and they'll sleep all day, much like you describe.
 

taurusgi

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Thanks Terry! Sorry if I wasn't being clear enough with my concern.. Is it bad that I "force" him to wake up every morning? Normally in summer he will be awake on his own at around 6:30 am and don't go to sleep till 5-6 PM (well, he takes naps in between of course :p )

But now if I don't wake him up in the morning, he will be sleeping and buried in his hiding spot the whole day! Even if I wake him up at 9 in the morning, he would be back to sleep at 12-1 PM for the rest of the day... I wonder if it's just how it is in winter and he feels like to hibernate? He has 2 basking areas (around 95 F) and one heat lamp already!

Thanks! :)
 

Terry Allan Hall

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taurusgi said:
Thanks Terry! Sorry if I wasn't being clear enough with my concern.. Is it bad that I "force" him to wake up every morning? Normally in summer he will be awake on his own at around 6:30 am and don't go to sleep till 5-6 PM (well, he takes naps in between of course :p )

But now if I don't wake him up in the morning, he will be sleeping and buried in his hiding spot the whole day! Even if I wake him up at 9 in the morning, he would be back to sleep at 12-1 PM for the rest of the day... I wonder if it's just how it is in winter and he feels like to hibernate? He has 2 basking areas (around 95 F) and one heat lamp already!

Thanks! :)

You've not mentioned how many hours of light your torts get daily, but a lot of it has to do with how many hours of light per day a tort sees, even if it's still warm...shortened light hours tell your torts that it's Fall. Maybe put your lights on a timer?

Not sure how bad it'd be to waken one up, daily, but I've no doubt GB'll be along directly and he'll likely have a knowledgable opinion.
 

mattgrizzlybear

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Remember babies natural instinct is to hide not go out where there could be predators.
 

taurusgi

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I hope he doesn't see me as predators! :p although Panda George is more baby than Shiao-Heh but she wakes up on her own. :)

I have the lights and heat lamp on timers. In summer, the lights are on from 6:30 am to 6:30 PM. In winter, because of the daytime saving, also I was too lazy to change the timers, the the lights are on from 5:30 am to 5:30 PM. Feel like a waste because they go to bed way earlier than 5:30!

Yea Mr. GB also helps me a lot, so hopefully he would see this post...

In my mind, I didn't think waking him up is that bad till I saw the other threads talking about not hibernating might shorten their lives! So I'm wondering if there are any other people are experiencing the same thing that having to force their torts to get up in the morning..

Thanks again!
 

Terry Allan Hall

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taurusgi said:
I hope he doesn't see me as predators! :p although Panda George is more baby than Shiao-Heh but she wakes up on her own. :)

I have the lights and heat lamp on timers. In summer, the lights are on from 6:30 am to 6:30 PM. In winter, because of the daytime saving, also I was too lazy to change the timers, the the lights are on from 5:30 am to 5:30 PM. Feel like a waste because they go to bed way earlier than 5:30!

Rather than 12 hour cycles ("Winter" to a tortoise), set your cycles to 15 hours. Think you'll see a difference!

Yea Mr. GB also helps me a lot, so hopefully he would see this post...

Yeah, GB is a pretty smart guy, and always willing to be of help. This forum is truly blessed with a lot of helpful folks. :cool:

In my mind, I didn't think waking him up is that bad till I saw the other threads talking about not hibernating might shorten their lives! So I'm wondering if there are any other people are experiencing the same thing that having to force their torts to get up in the morning..

Not hibernating (really, "brumating" is the more accurate term) your tortoises will do them no harm...I've kept tortoises for about 40 years and have never hibernated any of them.

Thanks again!
 

Tracy Gould

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I had mine for about 4 and half years now and till this winter i have always over wintered him as he was not old enough although his light were always the same he still seem to know autumn was here and started to get less active I think its instinct and they sense the change in season. Have you checked the cool spots in the table if they are lower than 70 it could be making her less active. I would not worry about her sleeping more though as long as your area is warm enough she will wake when she is hungry, torts are goats in a shell if they are healthy they will never starve themselves. they all have there own little personality this one properly senses the change in season more than the other one if it was too cold they would both be sleeping
 

ashers

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Cosgrove, my 1-year old Hermanns is doing exactly the same thing. He has been health and happy all summer/fall until a few weeks ago. It's as if he senses winter, although it hasn't actually gotten all that cold here in Kansas. I actually haven't been waking him up since I go to work right when his light timer clicks on. I hope he is waking up on his own when/if he gets hungry! The temps in his cage are as prescribed...I try to keep humidity appropriate...etc.

I do wonder on how many hours of daylight he should get. Does anyone concur with bumping it up from 12 hrs to like 14-15 hrs??
 

Terry Allan Hall

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ashers said:
Cosgrove, my 1-year old Hermanns is doing exactly the same thing. He has been health and happy all summer/fall until a few weeks ago. It's as if he senses winter, although it hasn't actually gotten all that cold here in Kansas. I actually haven't been waking him up since I go to work right when his light timer clicks on. I hope he is waking up on his own when/if he gets hungry! The temps in his cage are as prescribed...I try to keep humidity appropriate...etc.

I do wonder on how many hours of daylight he should get. Does anyone concur with bumping it up from 12 hrs to like 14-15 hrs??

The general knowledge is that 14-15 hours daily is optimal...mine ast like it summer on 14-1`5 hours, along with warmth.
 

taurusgi

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Thank you guys for sharing your experience with me! For some reason I didn't get any email notice so I didn't know I got so many responses. :)

ashers, I'm glad I'm not the only one who is experiencing this! It's interesting how they could sense that the winter is here, even though the temp under the lights and heat lamps in their enclosures are still the same, and it's not even that cold here in SoCal!

It's also funny that last weekend, it was about 70 degree in my apt (so not too cold and not too warm), I caught Shiao-Heh stuck his head out and seemed like he was about to wake up on his own, so I left him there without pulling him out of the hiding spot. An hour later I went back to check on him, I found him fell back to sleep at the same spot - his head was outside of the hiding spot, but his body was still under it...! LOL

Thank you guys for your opinion! I think the temp "in the apt" and the light time really make a difference. Last week there were a couple days that were sunny and it was 74 degree in the apt (their enclosures are by a huge window so that they can get some natural sunlight sometimes in the morning, and the window is closed 24/7), and Shiao-heh was up on his own during those couple days. I'll try to increase the light time to see if it helps!

And yes Mr. GB is awesome! He even helped me through personal emails sometimes before. :) There are also so many others here who are always really helpful. I wish I could become one of these experienced people someday!! (although I only have my babies for 2 and half years now... long way to go!)
 

KassyO

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This was so helpful! My little guy was doing the same thing. I live in southern Alabama and it never gets too cold here but we had tornadoes hit our neighborhood on Christmas Day and the power was out from around 6pm till the next morning and of course it got cold that night (around 45F outside) he started to hide/sleep more after that. He eats when I wake him but I think he assumes its winter now because it was dark and cold that night. ={
 

eric2013

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Eric does the same every morning I put the light on a leave it a couple of hours if he haven't emerged I bring him out and pop him under his basking lamp, I do think it has something to do with the weather xxx
 

reptire

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Mine usually eats and then sleeps... Sleeps about 20 hours a day. Well, it's winter and he was quite weak and sick when I got him, I'm trying to make things better. Anyway. The best way I found to be the most enjoyable one for them to wake up is to put them in shallow warm water.
 

ascott

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If you are over wintering then real care has to be paid to temps..light/uv durations and waking him up each day (since you are overwintering) wont harm him...remember, you are trying.g to trick a deep seeded drive in him to be brumating now....lol
 
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