overwintering Turkish Ibera

[Spee]

Hi all,

Around September time we acquired a lovely ibera who will be approaching his 4th birthday this spring.
As he had travelled a long way and we were in the process of moving the decision was made to overwinter him which he is now fighting against I believe

Some info
He is an indoor tort, male spurthigh from what I know
16cm long as was weighing at about 800g at christmas
Has a Guinea pig cage currently (i think its too small and so good big wooden table is being built in the summer) with a 60w Spot and a UVB tube running the length of the cage.
There's a good 5-6cm of substrate in there a big slate rock under the spot and a large wooden hideaway box that I built.
The house is kept around 24'c with it dipping to 18'c at the lowest at night, temp under the spot is around 29-32 depending on the house

Anyways since mid January he has been going through a sleepy phase, not getting up, spending days away in the hide box and not eating
At first I assumed it was his natural hibernation instinct kicking in, and he was getting ready to bed down for the winter the weather outside was cold, the nights at their shortest. Etc...
I started to bath him more regularly, get him up when I came home from work and place him under the spot before encouraging him to eat as his weight dropped about 100g, its now becoming increasingly hard to get him to eat after bathing, he now
ually passes the food off to go back into the hut to dig down and hasn't eaten in about 4 days now apart from one or 2 almost force fed dandelion leaves

Can anyone offer any advice? Is what I'm doing right by trying to bathe him more often and create an 'artificial' summer time In his cage, how long should the overwintering period last before he becomes more active?
I've tried pellets, lettuce, kale, homegrown weeds, fruits but he doesn't seem to be having any of it? Are there any other good winter foods I can try?

Thanks all!

[sandy]

Originally Posted by Spee

Hi all,

Around September time we acquired a lovely ibera who will be approaching his 4th birthday this spring.
As he had travelled a long way and we were in the process of moving the decision was made to overwinter him which he is now fighting against I believe

Some info
He is an indoor tort, male spurthigh from what I know
16cm long as was weighing at about 800g at christmas
Has a Guinea pig cage currently (i think its too small and so good big wooden table is being built in the summer) with a 60w Spot and a UVB tube running the length of the cage.
There's a good 5-6cm of substrate in there a big slate rock under the spot and a large wooden hideaway box that I built.
The house is kept around 24'c with it dipping to 18'c at the lowest at night, temp under the spot is around 29-32 depending on the house

Anyways since mid January he has been going through a sleepy phase, not getting up, spending days away in the hide box and not eating
At first I assumed it was his natural hibernation instinct kicking in, and he was getting ready to bed down for the winter the weather outside was cold, the nights at their shortest. Etc...
I started to bath him more regularly, get him up when I came home from work and place him under the spot before encouraging him to eat as his weight dropped about 100g, its now becoming increasingly hard to get him to eat after bathing, he now
ually passes the food off to go back into the hut to dig down and hasn't eaten in about 4 days now apart from one or 2 almost force fed dandelion leaves

Can anyone offer any advice? Is what I'm doing right by trying to bathe him more often and create an 'artificial' summer time In his cage, how long should the overwintering period last before he becomes more active?
I've tried pellets, lettuce, kale, homegrown weeds, fruits but he doesn't seem to be having any of it? Are there any other good winter foods I can try?

Thanks all!

Sorry but there is no such thing as an indoor tortoise. They all need to have access to the outside as much as they can. You have now found out what happens if the dont:0(
Some have a body clock that just tells them its time to hibernate.
I would get him/her checked out by a good tortoise vet, just to be on the safe side, that there is nothing going on health wise.

[Suze65]

I agree with no such thing as an indoor tortoise, during the summer they should be outside as much as possible. If you have to over winter a tortoise that is used to hibernation, you may find it to be a struggle. No matter what you do, they will notice that it's winter and want to hibernate. Some of mine that haven't yet done hibernation, slow down a bit and for a short period sleep more. I would check your temps. Maybe up the night time temps. Lights need to be on 12-14 hours a day.

[veggie86]

Higher temps. I've had to put in an extra lamp for my over wintered torts. In the 30's at the warm end, around 40 directly under the basking lamp. It worked wonders

[Gordon]

Originally Posted by sandy

Sorry but there is no such thing as an indoor tortoise. They all need to have access to the outside as much as they can. You have now found out what happens if the dont:0(
Some have a body clock that just tells them its time to hibernate.
I would get him/her checked out by a good tortoise vet, just to be on the safe side, that there is nothing going on health wise.

What about indoor budgies parrots cats mice rabbits and all the other exotic pets people keep

Thats possibly the last we will see of the OP, there are a lot of INDOOR tortoises and other animals that for one reason or another cant go outside i myself have a few torts that cant tolerate our climate and i don't think its in there best interest to keep filling them with drugs for RNS just so they can go out for five minuets

[Merlin M]

Originally Posted by Gordon

What about indoor budgies parrots cats mice rabbits and all the other exotic pets people keep

Thats possibly the last we will see of the OP, there are a lot of INDOOR tortoises and other animals that for one reason or another cant go outside i myself have a few torts that cant tolerate our climate and i don't think its in there best interest to keep filling them with drugs for RNS just so they can go out for five minuets

I agree G!

[becciwales]

Originally Posted by Gordon

What about indoor budgies parrots cats mice rabbits and all the other exotic pets people keep

Thats possibly the last we will see of the OP, there are a lot of INDOOR tortoises and other animals that for one reason or another cant go outside i myself have a few torts that cant tolerate our climate and i don't think its in there best interest to keep filling them with drugs for RNS just so they can go out for five minuets

Agreed.
I hope the OP comes back.
We have lights for a reason, that or maybe none of us living where tortoise are not native shouldn't keep them.

[fifi and the flowertorts]

Originally Posted by Gordon

What about indoor budgies parrots cats mice rabbits and all the other exotic pets people keep

Thats possibly the last we will see of the OP, there are a lot of INDOOR tortoises and other animals that for one reason or another cant go outside i myself have a few torts that cant tolerate our climate and i don't think its in there best interest to keep filling them with drugs for RNS just so they can go out for five minuets

Agreed. Really hope the original OP comes back

[Suze65]

I think torts need to be out in the real sun when ever possible in summer time, mine are clearly much happier when they are outside. Of course some species cannot tolerate our climate too well, but the European Meds, do, quite well infact. Just my opinion.

[Gordon]

Very true but what about the people who have no access to outside space there is no reason why they can't keep tortoises and other pets that would benefit from going out. with all the lighting and supplements that are around now I don't see it as a problem