urinated and eyes open - hibernation

[dale_d_h]

I have just put my Greek Spur Thigh (Testudo graeca ibera) into hibernation last night.

Into a fridge with the temp set to 5 degress.
Monitored the fridge over the last 2 weeks, temp range 4 to 6.

Withheld food for 35 days

Tortoise size, 204mm
Weight, 1519 grams
About 9 years old

Went into hibernation at 7pm.
I checked him at 5:30am this morning.
He had urinated a large amount, like egg yolk.
And his eyes were open.

The fridge was at just below 6 degrees.

I put him back into the fridge.


Should I take him out and over winter him?

Please help?

[Ozric Jonathan]

Hi Dale
Did you measure the weight when you put him in the fridge and what is it now? I say that because it can seem like there is a lot of pee when in fact it might not be.

[dale_d_h]

1493

eyes still open, temp 4.8 degrees

[dale_d_h]

1.519: just before going into hibernation
1.493: after urinating

eyes slightly open.

[sandy]

Originally Posted by dale_d_h

I have just put my Greek Spur Thigh (Testudo graeca ibera) into hibernation last night.

Into a fridge with the temp set to 5 degress.
Monitored the fridge over the last 2 weeks, temp range 4 to 6.

Withheld food for 35 days

Tortoise size, 204mm
Weight, 1519 grams
About 9 years old

Went into hibernation at 7pm.
I checked him at 5:30am this morning.
He had urinated a large amount, like egg yolk.
And his eyes were open.

The fridge was at just below 6 degrees.

I put him back into the fridge.


Should I take him out and over winter him?

Please help?

Sounds like urates to me:0)
If your tortoise is awake in the fridge, he/she could not have been cold enough before they went in.
If it were my tortoise, then I would give the tortoise a bath and leave (without food) for a couple of days, bathe again, and then put him/her in the fridge. But they must be cold and still before going into the fridge. As other wise they will just wake again. I would also make sure the temps for the first week are no higher than 5c, as it takes the a week at least to settle.
Have you got a thermometer in the fridge all the time?
As it sounds as though the temps fluctuate too much.
If your tortoise has only been down less than a day, continuing the windown a little longer will not hurt. As it does not sound as though he/she was properly in hibernation mode.
Urine is hard to see as its clear.
Urates is white and creamy.

[dale_d_h]

ok,
thanks for the reply.
i'll take him out.

try and get him colder before putting him in the fridge again on friday.
will this effect his reserves, used for waking up after a proper hibernation?

i have a thermometer that i can read from the outside of the fridge.
(its proper one, i bought for the job)
it has been reading 4.4 to 5.5 over the last 2 weeks whilst ive been monitoring the fridge.


his eyes were open at around 2pm
closed at around 5pm.

[Pussygalore]

part of the problem is trying to hibernate to early in the year especially while its still so mild, the tort should be in a cold room with no light for the last few days, I used to wait untill november to put my adults away and hopefully during a cold spell and ideally the room needs to be 10c or below so the tort is asleep when put in the fridge.

[Suze65]

Originally Posted by Pussygalore

part of the problem is trying to hibernate to early in the year especially while its still so mild, the tort should be in a cold room with no light for the last few days, I used to wait untill november to put my adults away and hopefully during a cold spell and ideally the room needs to be 10c or below so the tort is asleep when put in the fridge.

I agree with this, it's still a bit too early, it sound s like he hasn't wound down fully and as Anne has said, needs to be in a cool room , no lights and not coming out at all for the last week, before putting him in the fridge.

[dale_d_h]

Thanks for the feedback.
its about the 5th time i have hibernated him. normally i do it in november, but this year he stopped feeding and started settling down, he forced my hand to start the process.
he is back in his pen, radiator off, window open, no light.

given i get this right and he goes in to hibernation correctly.
so long as his weight lose is less than 1% every 4 weeks.
will it still be ok for 6 - 8 weeks?

[Pussygalore]

the only problem is that the tort has already gone 35 days without food which is over the suggested 4 weeks for adults, 3 weeks for youngsters, to be honest if you're going to put off hibernation say untill the end of next month I'd be inclined to fully wake and feed etc untill the end of this month then start the wind down again. If you do go ahead with hibernating now then you're going to have your tort awake during the coldest months as most seem to suggest 12 weeks for hibernation. The best way to decide when to start the wind down is to back date 4 weeks from when you want to hibernate and its certainly easier from the end of november onwards, I'm sure that the torts also sense the drop in air pressure and seem to want to slow by themselves during november which makes things easier. I don't know where you are but its going to get warmer again by the weekend which your tort will sense and you'll find it even harder to make it sleepy and cold, do you have a cold darkish outbuilding/garage etc as that might be the only suitable place for the last few days. Also keep a close eye on the weight which should have been noted just before boxing and before the start of wind down, if you're really concerned then call it quits for this year and try again next, it will mean keeping the tort up but thats safer than carrying on neither awake or hibernating, as you have said all this time the tort will be using up its water and fat stores.