When does my Tortoise have to hibernate

Oliver&Stoick

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Hello!
My Tortoise is three years old and I know that he is not old enough to hibernate but at what age should my Tortoise start to hibernate, even if it is just for a couple of days.

Oliver
 

Yvonne G

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He doesn't "HAVE" to hibernate. Hibernation, or rather brumation, is just a vehicle to take cold blooded animals through long cold periods of no sun/heat. As long as you keep him warm, with long artificial days, he doesn't need to brumate.

To answer your question, most cold blooded reptiles start cleaning out their systems (by not eating) about 3 or 4 weeks prior to the first freeze. In the wild, babies brumate right out of the nest. It's up to you. Some people wait until they're 3 or 4 years old, some people allow it right away.
 

Oliver&Stoick

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He doesn't "HAVE" to hibernate. Hibernation, or rather brumation, is just a vehicle to take cold blooded animals through long cold periods of no sun/heat. As long as you keep him warm, with long artificial days, he doesn't need to brumate.

To answer your question, most cold blooded reptiles start cleaning out their systems (by not eating) about 3 or 4 weeks prior to the first freeze. In the wild, babies brumate right out of the nest. It's up to you. Some people wait until they're 3 or 4 years old, some people allow it right away.



Thanks for the info
I was told that as he got older he needs to hibernate in order to live longer
 

Yvonne G

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Not so. Many keepers never allow their tortoises to hibernate, and the animals are just as healthy and long lived as those that do.
 

Yvonne G

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Do you have a Tortoise Yvonne? If not what pet do you have?
and how long have you had them?
I operate a turtle and tortoise rescue, have done for about 30 years or so. But along with all the sick, injured and found animals I take in and adopt out, I have my own collection of ten different species of tortoise and at least one of every sub specie of U.S. box turtle. I also have an in-the-ground pond with several female RES, a phrynops hillari, some Florida softshells and some rescued/injured pond turtles.

I became interested in turtles and tortoises about 40 years ago, and started a turtle club at that time. I've seen a lot of changes in tortoise husbandry in that time. It's important that you keep fresh and change with the times.
 

Oliver&Stoick

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i've had an interest with reptiles for as long as I can remember. mostly because of my love of how to train you dragon.

Oliver
 

Yvonne G

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I found a desert tortoise walking down my street, but basically, my son had box turtles and a desert tortoise, then he got a rottweiler puppy. the pup wouldn't leave the turtles alone so he asked if I would take them. here's an article I wrote many years ago about that subject:

Mom, Will You Take My Turtles?

By Yvonne M. Gomez

(Appx 1990)



Many years ago, my son bought a home of his own and started to accumulate his own pets. First of all he “rescued” (read bought) a female box turtle with puffy eyes that was being kept in the water turtle enclosure in a local pet store. Then another such box turtle, then a Gopherus agassizi that a co-worker’s father had run over with the disc in his vineyard….well, you get the idea.


Things went along smoothly for months. He built separate pens for each kind of turtle he had. He nursed them all back to health and he had a happy, healthy family of turtles and tortoises.


But then came the desire to get a rottweiller puppy. Big mistake! The puppy decided that all these little crawly, wiggly things in “his” backyard were just wonderful to chew on.


I doubt my son gave a second thought to which came first, the turtle or the pup. He had fallen in love with the pup, and the turtles just had to go! “Mom, will you take my turtles?”


I had a couple tortoises when I was first married, forty or fifty years ago, but I never really had an affinity for them. It was just something you had out in the backyard. But I had become a more sensitive person in my old age, and decided if I were to start caring for these animals, I needed to do some research and find out how they should be cared for…do it the right way. This was before computers…you know, the olden days! I bought every book I could find on the subject, some good – some bad – some in between. I was one of the first subscribers to Reptiles magazine. I started a turtle club in my city. And guess what? I discovered you can’t just have one or two turtles.


When people find out you like turtles, they bring you more. Or when you go to the pet store for cat food and see a different kind of turtle, you just have to buy it!


I’ve been in the “turtle business” for about 35 years now. I have reached the point where I realize I have to say “no” occasionally. I have stopped diversifying and have settled into keeping only a few different species. My whole property is covered with turtle and tortoise pens. There is no “front yard,” only tortoise pens. There is no “back yard,” only tortoise pens.


I recognized quite early on that there was a need for a turtle rescue in my city. At first I operated the rescue through the local turtle club, but now I’m totally on my own. I have a long list of people waiting to adopt, and I receive turtles and tortoises weekly. I keep them for a period of two weeks just to make sure there isn’t a previous owner looking for them. During this time I make sure the animal is eating and looks healthy.


When it’s time to find a home for my animals, I make an appointment and go look at the prospective owner’s habitat.


I try to place water turtles in a home where they can be outside in a pond, and I like for tortoises to have their own separate pen, not to be allowed to roam freely in the yard. The majority of the animals I receive have been lost & found. This means the previous home was not secure. Either a gate was left open or he dug out under the fence, or whatever. This is why I caution people to build him a separate pen.


I believe that each different type of turtle or tortoise needs it’s own enclosure, and I don’t adopt to people who plan on mixing species. I think that animals from different continents have different micro-organisms inside them that might prove harmful to other species.


This is a labor of love for me. I’m retired now, and spend all my free time with the turtles and tortoises. And, after all these years, I still have that first rottweiller chewed box turtle, and the disc scarred desert tortoise.


Clovis Turtle & Tortoise Rescue

Clovisturtlerescue.tripod.com

[email protected]
 

Oliver&Stoick

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It is so cool how you saw the Tortoises and Turtles where animals not Just pests.
I did most of my research by reading books because my Mother owns lots and lots of books and some were reptile so I started to dig into reading about Tortoises. The more I read the more I loved them. eventually I saved up all my money and me and my mum went to the reptile shop where I live.
And that is where I got My three year old Herman called Stoick
 

Yvonne G

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Ok, here goes:

2.1.4 SA leopard
1.2.1 generic leopard
2.2 redfooted
1.1 manouria emys emys
0.0.4 manouria emys phayrei
1.4 yellowfooted
1.5 desert tortoise
1.4 russian
1.5 Texas
1.0 115lb sulcata
1.3 radiata
numerous 3 toe box turtles
numerous luteola box turtles
3.0 florida box turtles
1.4 eastern box turtles

key: 1.1.1 = male.female.too young to sex
 

Yvonne G

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It's pretty expensive to feed them. Most graze, but this time of year the type of grass I have is dormant. They still eat it, but I supplement with produce.
 

bouaboua

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Ok, here goes:

2.1.4 SA leopard
1.2.1 generic leopard
2.2 redfooted
1.1 manouria emys emys
0.0.4 manouria emys phayrei
1.4 yellowfooted
1.5 desert tortoise
1.4 russian
1.5 Texas
1.0 115lb sulcata
1.3 radiata
numerous 3 toe box turtles
numerous luteola box turtles
3.0 florida box turtles
1.4 eastern box turtles

key: 1.1.1 = male.female.too young to sex


1.3 radiata ??? Already?
Or.........
 
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