Hi all!
I'm now going torwards my first brumation ever with an about 8-year-old russian tortoise male. He's been very active during the autumn, pooped and urinated regularly and seems all around healthy. His previous owner said that he's been self-starving for two winters, just walked into a corner in the house and stayed there for about a month (he was living on the floor in his previous home). So, this year I wanted to give him a proper chance to brumate in a more conscious and thought out manner.
However, I have a stupid question, if those exist: As I should monitor my tortoise's weight about weekly on brumation, what is the "starting weight"? Is it the weight before the fast and cooling of temperatures? Or the weight just before going to the brumation box? To my understanding, this weight is measured to make sure the tortoise doesn't dehydrate too much.
For reference, Tatling weighted 818g before fast, and now after almost two weeks of no feeding and soaks every other day he weights 789g
I'm now going torwards my first brumation ever with an about 8-year-old russian tortoise male. He's been very active during the autumn, pooped and urinated regularly and seems all around healthy. His previous owner said that he's been self-starving for two winters, just walked into a corner in the house and stayed there for about a month (he was living on the floor in his previous home). So, this year I wanted to give him a proper chance to brumate in a more conscious and thought out manner.
However, I have a stupid question, if those exist: As I should monitor my tortoise's weight about weekly on brumation, what is the "starting weight"? Is it the weight before the fast and cooling of temperatures? Or the weight just before going to the brumation box? To my understanding, this weight is measured to make sure the tortoise doesn't dehydrate too much.
For reference, Tatling weighted 818g before fast, and now after almost two weeks of no feeding and soaks every other day he weights 789g