length of hibernation
 

Hi all,

I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year!

My Hermanns is 4 years old and this is her second year hibernating. I do this in a fridge, as it gives me the controlled environment to monitor the conditions.

She hibernated on 2nd November and appears to be doing fine, weight was 245g and is currently 242g. How long would you say is suitable to hibernate her for?

Last year she hibernated for 8 weeks and we are up to that point now already!

As long as she is maintaining her weight, and all is well, then up to 12 weeks is fine. Better she is down while the weather is still cold:0)
One of my tortoises went down in my greenhouse at the end of October, and will come up when she decides the weather is good enough:0)

Thank you. I was planning on hibernating for 12 weeks, so will continue as planned.

What set up do you have in your greenhouse for your torts to hibernate? I will be looking at getting a more natural habitat sorted for next year.

I already have an outdoor encolusure, with access to a greenhouse.

My GH is set on bricks, and a footing with two bricks missing at the front (to allow my tortoises to come and go as they please in the warmer months. This is set straight onto the garden soil.
I have four lamps for heat, and the GH is bubble wrapped to help the insulation.
When its time for hibernation, I block off the bit where the bricks a missing, and wind my tortoises down, exactly the same as if they were inside. They just bury down into the soil when they are ready. I have a GH heater set to the frost setting, so it come on when needed. And my tortoises pop up in the Spring. I have done this for over 20yrs now, and not lost a tortoise yet:0)

I must admit I am nervous about fridge hibernation, but a lot of people seem to do it very successfully and it is controlled. I am similar to Sandy that I hibernate most of mine naturally under cover in a GH. I don't have heat at all though in the GH, and have never seemed to have any ill effect without. Interestingly enough they all come out on the same day from their dig down and I have noted the first day for last 25 years odd also and it really varies. For me this is then a benchmark for the spurs who are packaged up. So although I check them weekly, make sure no wees, poops and they move I don't wake the spurs until the last Horsfield is up out of their dig down. The horsfields then stay in the GH and I open it up around March (if no snow as I can remember snow in April without a doubt!). Even the coldest of nights they stay in the GH but I do bring the others into the kitchen for a warm up overnight. I don't think its the hibernation or cold which can be impactual , its the health of the tortoise ultimately whether its cold or not - with the right husbandry. CB

If either of you have any pictures to share of your greenhouse set ups I would love to see them.

Fridge hibernation worked fine last year and decided to do the same again. Hibernation is certainly led by my tort, as she starts to slow down naturally, I initiated the wind down process.

It certainly gives me the control I wanted, as I was so nervous about doing it last year.

Here is an old picture of mine:0)
Its now just a bit older:0)


http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps287a45c5.jpg

Love your greenhouse Sandy. What are the lights hanging from please?

Along the roof at the sides, my husband put some plastic flat tubing (sorry I dont know what its called, he is an electrical engineer so safe) to feed the wires to the lights from. The electric plugs are above the door at the front.
Each individual light has its own plug, so I can have less heat when needed:0)

looks lovely Sandy. nice set up, and tortoise picky ! CB