Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozric Jonathan
From what I can remember of some of the arguments on here years ago, food can't do any harm once it is far enough along the digestive tract.
Ed took a more extreme view of course. He said that food won't rot in a vacuum at 6 degrees centigrade. I'm not suggesting anyone hibernate a tort with a full stomach but I don't remember explaining how food can rot in vacuum at 6C.
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Makes sense to me, Jonathan.
I also wouldn't suggest full stomach hibernation, but the wind down period does seem overly artificial to me.
I just can't visualise a wild tortoise suddenly stopping eating at the thought of impending cold weather. There will always be some food around, and I just think an active tortoise would want to eat...even if the weather has cooled enough for the tortoise to be active for a very short time in the day.
In fact, AH has studied hibernating tortoises emerging, feeding and then digging down again...Throws a few theories out the window.
I suppose the wind down is just another captive compromise that errs on the side of safety, for good reason.