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Old 07-10-2012, 09:55 PM   #1
siobhanc37
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Default Bad hibernation start, is it too late to cool him down?

Hi all,

My tortoise is 4 years old and I think he's started to hibernate, (first time) I've been unsure what to do, and my mum told me to just leave him to his own devices which I've done for a couple of weeks but now I think i've gone wrong and don't know what to do. This is whats happened so far.


I'd been putting him out during the day while i was warmer and he was a little lethargic, but eating. When it cooled down I left him in his table during the day, he wasn't interested in coming out, but i was bringing him out and putting him in his basking spot, he'd hang round for a bit then go inside.

He didn't eat anything for a week or so, I asked my mum (she use to have a tortoise) and she said to leave him in his bed and see what he does. He has been moving around in his house, but mainly in his shell sleeping. It's been around 15-20 degrees C in his house for the past couple of weeks. I now realize he should be kept much cooler, is it to late to put him somewhere cooler? ie, shed outside?


Thanks in advance,
Siobhan
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Old 07-10-2012, 11:32 PM   #2
egyptiandan64
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I see that you were on the forum back in April trying to get your tortoises warm enough to be active. You got lots of great advice and help to get your tortoises warm. From a post in another thread you just did, it sounds like you didn't get any of the bulbs, ceramic heat emitters, heaters, or anything else recommened to warm your tortoises.
Your temperatures are to low for your Horsfields to want to be active and eat, but to warm to bruminate (hibernate) properly. We'd need to know how big your tortoise is (straight line top shell measurement) and weight to know if your tortoise is heavy enough to hibernate.
If you don't want to bruminate (hibernate) than you'll have to follow the advice already give you here. http://www.shelledwarriors.co.uk/for...ad.php?t=49520
What happened to your sick Horsfields?

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Old 08-10-2012, 04:15 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by siobhanc37 View Post
Hi all,

My tortoise is 4 years old and I think he's started to hibernate, (first time) I've been unsure what to do, and my mum told me to just leave him to his own devices which I've done for a couple of weeks but now I think i've gone wrong and don't know what to do. This is whats happened so far.


I'd been putting him out during the day while i was warmer and he was a little lethargic, but eating. When it cooled down I left him in his table during the day, he wasn't interested in coming out, but i was bringing him out and putting him in his basking spot, he'd hang round for a bit then go inside.

He didn't eat anything for a week or so, I asked my mum (she use to have a tortoise) and she said to leave him in his bed and see what he does. He has been moving around in his house, but mainly in his shell sleeping. It's been around 15-20 degrees C in his house for the past couple of weeks. I now realize he should be kept much cooler, is it to late to put him somewhere cooler? ie, shed outside?


Thanks in advance,
Siobhan
Hi Siobhan,

If your tortoise has stopped eating, then he does still need to be kept warm to digest his food. Usually they do put themselves in a corner and sleep for days at this time of year but you still keep the heat lamps on. He may come out and have a feed, especially if the outside temps. change. I assume you now have him in a tortoise table?

If you want to hibernate your tortoise, has it been eating well over the summer? You need to measure and weigh him, to make sure he is up to hibernation; no illness or anything.

If everything is OK, then you can start a months run down to prepare for hibernation but as Danny said, I think we need to know a bit more about your setup before we can say for sure.
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Old 08-10-2012, 06:55 PM   #4
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I've been keeping him under an arcadia D3 100w basking bulb since the issues with my other tortoise, and have had an extra standard halogen bulb on to boost the temp on cooler days. He's been eating fine all over the summer, being kept in his table on cooler days, being out on the lawn on sunny warm days.
He is currently 4 inches long, I don't have any weighing scales in my home at the moment, I'll get some soon as possible.

Sadly, I had to have my other horsfield, Rocky, put to sleep after a long ordeal of taking him to be tube fed every day, the vet eventually gave me a free x ray which revealed he had kidney stones, and we both felt he wouldnt survive an operation to have them removed. After this, I took Sonic for a free health check up and the vet was happy with his health.
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Old 08-10-2012, 08:32 PM   #5
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Personally I would get warmer and not hibernate, give regular baths. It is ealry to hibernate anyway. If you do decide to hibernate must have an empty tum as described here and I would hibernate max 8 weeks.
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Old 09-10-2012, 02:38 AM   #6
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If you can keep him going with some food for a couple more weeks, you can then run him down over November. It doesn't matter if he doesn't eat every day. It's all part of the tortoises cycle to eat little and not often this month. Meanwhile, you need to sort where he is going to hibernate. The fridge method is best as they lose little weight.
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Old 10-10-2012, 07:30 PM   #7
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Thank you all for advice, I've been bringing him out in a morning, and it's been 35C + under his basking spot, but he's just been taking himself back to bed and hasn't been interested in food, I do have a small oil heater i bought for them ages ago that i could plug in next to his table to try and get the warm end up to 40C? I'm just concerned that as he's in a small area it'll warm up the whole room and he wont be able to get away from the heat.

I've put some dandelion and dried flowers down for him with some limestone powder sprinkled on top.

I'm going to try a warm bath as well.

Again, thank you all.
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Old 10-10-2012, 07:43 PM   #8
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I think 40C is too hot! I am for 34C with mine in the basking area, and 20C in the rest of the table... If they get too hot they will just go hide, just like when its too cold!
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Old 10-10-2012, 08:37 PM   #9
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Your tortoise won't be active if too hot as well as if too cold agree with merlin I try to keep mine around 34 they are really sensitive to the slightest temperature changes.
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Old 17-10-2012, 12:08 PM   #10
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Yeah, I've noticed him moving into the other corner away from the light when it's 37ish, Ive been unplugging the standard halogen bulb and just leaving his D3 bulb on but he still end up stomping back to his bed. He has been eating a small amount this week but I've not noticed him pass anything in baths so I'm still havign to wake him up for baths etc.
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