Hibernating tortoise still moving!
 

I've reduced food, bathed him regularly, reduced temperature over the last two weeks and have finally placed him in a large tupperware box with bedding in the fridge. The temperature is 4 degrees continuously so I'm very worried. I put him in the fridge on the 8th of October.:(

Please help?

Is this Robbie Coltrane ? They will move around following settling in, its 4 days so hard to tell if it's natural settling down or he is being disturbed. What's the species, age weight etc? I would check the Tupperware box is the breathable kind because that could kill him if it isn't. plastic isn't ideal because depending on bedding it can create moisture, therefore bacteria, if he releases his bladder it will cause harm to sit in it in the cold. Ideally 5 degrees for a fridge temperature, don't freeze the little thing ! Hope this helps.

If it were me I would take him out change the set up slightly and then see if he settles outside the fridge. As long as he isn't massively active or warmed up for a while, it won't harm, CB

Horsfield, male, fifteen years old, 13cm long and weighs 600g. The tuppware box is full of holes on the lid. Do you think the light fom the fridge is disturbing him? I'll transfer him to a shoe box and increase the temperature to 5 degrees and see how I get on. Thank you for your help.

I think the light will go out when door closed. Horsfields love to burrow down so it may be a larger box with space for him to burrow., scrape etc. My girls will do this for hours even when reached bottom of their substrate. There are fridge experts on here far better than me who will advise, but Horsfields do like their burrowing so it may account for his activity so don't worry too much. 'Tupperware' as in plastic tubs?? are ok as long as big enough , air holes and dependent on substrate so maybe worth seeing what the fridge experts say...CB

Yeah light goes out when you close the door, its when we open it throughout the day the light goes on.

But does it:):)

I have taken the bulb out of my fridge.
I have used the fridge method before and I did notice that torts do tend to move about quite a lot.

I have always used the plastic tub/fridge method for hibernation. 4 to 5 degrees is fine.
I normally use a topsoil/play sand mix as substrate as I find that the density keeps the temps more stable. Bedding should be fine though and the tortoise should settle down after a week or two. I open the fridge door daily to allow oxygen transfer and find that the light has no effect at all on the tortoise ( I trust he's not in your food fridge?).