hibernation step by step

[NATURALIS]

week 1, no food but keep as summer temp's and light , soak daily.

week 2, turn lights and heat on later in the morning and turn off earlier at night gradually over the week so by the end of this week its only on for a few hours , no food , soak daily.

week 3, only background heat , no food , soak daily.

week 4 , turn down background heat until at the end of week 4 it's no higher than 10c, no food , soak daily.

your tortoise should now be sleeping most of the time and passing nothing in it's soak's , it should now be ready for hibernation .
during hibernation you will need to monitor it to make sure it's not losing to much weight and that it hasn't pee'd.

points to think about before hand.
before you consider hibernation your tortoise needs to be in good health and a good weight for it's size , to check it's weight measure the length and compare it to the jacksons chart,
if it's to light to hibernate it would be best to over winter it.
where to hibernate.
there are many ways to hibernate , some use fridges others use cold rooms , loft's , garage's and shed's - the main thing here is which ever you choose it must hold stable temps between 3c to 8c the ideal is around 5c. Point's to note here is wooden buildings arn't suitable because of the fluctuations in temp's , stone or brick are better ,remember to hibernate somewhere there is no rodent's .
this is just a quick thread to cover the outlines of hibernation , and cover's the wind down period for adult tortoise's , for juv's reduce the wind down period to 2 1/2 to 3 week's depending on size instead of the 4 weeks for adult's.
Hope this help's , if your still unsure ask!!

[kkenny]

Thanks, this is a great easy to follow guide!

[Bindi]

Thanks Chris

[suttysue]

BRILLIANT Chris just what us newbys need an idiots guide to hibernation. Well done matey
Sue

[TortBabe]

Great guide, very easy to understand

[SeeShell]

Thanks Chris; nice straight forward guide to follow

[Rowan]

Great thread.

Thank you Row xx

[Dandavenport]

hi there I'm Dan, I'm new on here.

I bought my first tortoise in january this year, his name is Ozzie, he is either one or two not too sure. He is lovely and healthy.

Just doing abit more research on him as you can never know too much about these little guys and I was just wondering what age I should start hibernating him?

[Bindi]

Hi Dan, you will probably get better responses if you start a new thread with your questions

• Click on the heading of the section you in which you wish to make a thread
• Towards the top left of the page is a button which says 'new thread'
• Click on that, name your thread and away you go

[Dandavenport]

Thanks Bindi