Winter worries!

[pippin]

Hi all. Some months ago when we adopted "shelly" our 21 year old female hermanns tortoise you good people set me on the right path and educated me on how to care for her correctly. We initially had her in an indoor set up whilst we made her an open enclosure with a night box (following Tom's example) outside, we are north uk based. Her night box has a 75w arcadia basking flood bulb (switched on when weather is cool/dull and a ceramic thermostatically controlled heater set at 15c It is left open in the day for her to come in and out at will. I close her up at night and switch the light off.
All was going well until this month! The light has been on nearly all day as the weather has been cool and wet. But she keeps leaving her box and I kept finding her digging down in her run in the cold and wet! She also stopped eating despite my best efforts to encourage her.
She has also lost a little weight (because not eating same?)
I have now brought her in and placed her in an inside run as was worried about her getting too cold/wet!(she's not happy as smaller and "differrent ")


I'm soaking her everyday and trying to encourage her to eat, her light is on for her to bask . I was going to bruminate her but don't want to do it if she's not prepared properly! Help!

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

I think it is a bit too early to start preparing for brumation. Do you have a chance of bringing her to a indoor set-up?

 

[TheTortoiseking]

I think it is a bit too early to start preparing for brumation. Do you have a chance of bringing her to a indoor set-up?

I agree with The_Four_Toed_Edward

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Hello!
Sometimes tortoises want to brumate, no matter what you are trying to do to prevent it. Probably, they react to sun angles and shorter photoperiod.

Definitely, you should not let tortoise to brumate with food in her guts and in the wet soil.

First, since you brought her inside, keep her warm (22-25C at night) and well hydrated (sounds like you are doing exactly that). Next, you will need bright ambient light to "trick" her that days are long and sunny. Then stop feedings for 2 weeks while continue soaks and only after that start lowering enclosure temperatures.

As you are willing to brumate her - you need to provide perfect conditions for brumation (a dedicated small fridge is the best and safest method). If it's not possible at the moment - you can try a short brumation (2-4 weeks) in a dry and cold place with relatively stable temperature and free of rodents. Probably, basement or non-heated garage are good for this.

This post has step-by-step guides for overwintering tortoises and brumating them:

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