Boredom

[Deanne]

I have a 5 year old Hermanns, Freda, she is actually my teenage sons. Both of us are concerned about the winter, she hibernated last year but was very slow to pull round after emerging and we had to hand feed and rehydrate quite intensively. As a result we have decided not to hibernate this winter. She has been very active towards the middle and end of summer but became torpid outside. We have moved her into my sons bedroom in a fairly large table, but she either rampages around it wildly managing to turn herself over, or refuses to move at all. Very reluctant the eat, despite my offering opuntias, weeds, and salad leaves. She seems depressed. Any advice? We cannot allow free range of the house as we fear the dog might try to eat her!

[Shelled Lady]

She is just slowing down for hibernation. Some days they are active and eat, others they sleep. Eventually she will not want food at all. All perfectly normal. If you really want to keep her awake all winter, you have to up the temperature and that means keeping some background heat over night as well with a ceramic lamp or room heater. I would suspect your hibernation proceedure was not perfect for her last year. Rethink what you did carefully. Did you use the fridge method?

[Deanne]

I think our method was ok as far as hibernation preparation went, but we left her too long, she was boxed in a frost free outbuilding, I kept checking but of course the winter was a very long one and the spring heat was not enough to pull her out naturally. We waited for her to emerge before pulling her out in panic. However, she has recovered well and put good weight on. We don't want to make the same mistake again though, so thought it would be better to keep her awake?

[Suze65]

You don't need to wait for spring heat to bring them out, when 12 weeks is up, bring him into a warm room and let him come round, then pop him under his warm light, then a warm bath. Keeping him warm enough is key to getting them eating, and encouraging drinking with warm baths.