Fridge hybernation

[philgst]

Hi guys,

I've hybernated my hermann Alfie in our garage for a good few years, but this year we moved house and don't have a outdoor place to hybernate her. So this year I'm doing it in a fridge. I've read up on how to do it but my question is how often and for how long should I open the door for air?

Should probably mention it's a beer fridge so pretty small

Thanks in advance
Phil

[Daryn]

Ive never done this but I did study it when I first got my tortoise, I read that you need to open the fridge once a day, just open it and shut it that all it needs.

Again Ive no experience doing this its just what I read, better to see what others say.

[philgst]

Yeah cheers mate. I read a bit more on it tonight and that seems to be the general guide lines

[Gordon]

I do it and it's very easy all I do is as Daryn says is open the door each day but it won't do any half if you forget once in a while.

[Pussygalore]

if its a glass fronted fridge then you need to cover the glass, it has to be dark and make sure you use at least one digital thermometer and keep a close eye on the temps as the smaller fridges aren't that reliable. I always checked on mine at least once a day in a normal fridge so once a day min for a small one, is there room for a box/container for the tort, with a lid with holes and taped down or a weight on top in case torty wakes and gets out. Open the door quickly though especially in a small fridge as the temp will be affected far more than a big one

[Ozric Jonathan]

Hi Phil. Yes opening the door to allow movement of air is said to be enough.

I used a beer fridge for hibernation in the past but have changed over to a normal larder fridge. I found it was difficult to get a stable temp in the beer fridge I had. When the central heating was on in the house I found the beer fridge struggled to get the temp down.

That was just my experience with the beer fridge though.

[philgst]

Thanks a lot guys

Phil

[Pussygalore]

being able to open the door and keep a close eye on temps is a main reason for not going away when the tort is in there hibernating so remember xmas and what you're doing. An electric failure and a warm room will soon bring the temps up to where a tort might wake equally it can drop as fast causing damage or even death, to be honest we always preferred to use the cold outbuilding with a low wattage heater on a thermostat but have used a fridge before. The one time we did use a fridge I found one tort sitting on top of the box looking at me hence the need for taping the lid or using a weight, luckily he didn't move or fall off the box to the bottom of the fridge or sit against the side where he might have got to cold, its so important to keep a close eye on a fridge, I think you can get an alarm to tell you if the temp has changed.

[sandy]

Originally Posted by Pussygalore

being able to open the door and keep a close eye on temps is a main reason for not going away when the tort is in there hibernating so remember xmas and what you're doing. An electric failure and a warm room will soon bring the temps up to where a tort might wake equally it can drop as fast causing damage or even death, to be honest we always preferred to use the cold outbuilding with a low wattage heater on a thermostat but have used a fridge before. The one time we did use a fridge I found one tort sitting on top of the box looking at me hence the need for taping the lid or using a weight, luckily he didn't move or fall off the box to the bottom of the fridge or sit against the side where he might have got to cold, its so important to keep a close eye on a fridge, I think you can get an alarm to tell you if the temp has changed.

Exactly why I wouldnt ever fridge hibernate my tortoises:0(

[CherryBrandy]

one of my adoptee owners kept their tortoise in the salad tray of their normal every day fridge. just saying.