Self Hibernation
 

Hi,

A friend of my mother in law has two hermans. She leaves them in her garden all year round. They feed of the garden and she gives them no supplements or anything. They self hibernate and she just leaves them to it. Is this normal? I didn't think this was possible!

Hello Kim, yes torts did used to live this way, and some still do, and can live to a good age. Some will say these torts suffer a slow lingering death, but those that are being rehomed now, seem fit and healthy.
I have three torts, estimated age 70+, who were kept the way you are describing. Now they have luxury accommodation. They are very healthy.
Stella x x

I have a friend who has a old tort that is 70+ and as far as she is aware it has stayed out all its life it does have a nice wooden box it can go in but never does it digs into the compost pile when it is gold and overwinters there too it has the smoothest shell :smile::smile:

A small fraction of the tortoises that were brought into the UK in the 1970's and 1980's survived and in some cases achieved a sort of adaptation. But the vast majority are dead; thousands and thousands of them.

Some tortoises previously brought to the UK were already adults or sub adults and so they had years of healthy living before being captured. This is a very different tortoise to the typical 2 year old hermann from a reptile shop.

Hermanns are mediterranean animals and they are equipped to survive that environment. I live in a particularly wet and cool part of the UK and if climate change ever makes this area suitable for tortoises then we are all toast.

I agree with Jonathan. My husbands grandmother had a large med tortoise that lived for years in the way you describe, but that was in Cornwall where the climate is quite mild. Generally speaking I don't think this is a good idea, especially as most people now are buying hatchlings or juveniles, and need specific conditions to grow healthily. So no not a good idea, walking on thin ice springs to mind!!!

self-hibernation
 

I would not say categorically that this is a wrong approach. I believe in keeping Torties as natural as possible.
Last winter I have kept two of mine indoors in my fridge, and a tortoise table before and after hibernation.
Another one dug herself down in her coldframe in the garden, and I got her up last week, after she has spent nearly 6 months there.
A third one, only about 5 years old, disappeared in the garden last autumn. I thought she got caught by a fox. Last weekend , when planting something, I found her dug down in a hole. Got her up and she is fine. She spent a good 6 months out there in the frost and snow.
All four are well. I find the ones who stayed outdoors came round quicker and have started eating sooner than the fridge- hibernated ones.