What if a tort isn't hibernated?

[kazzabb]

Originally Posted by egyptiandan64

Exactly what Ed said because when I said Hermanns I had 2 seperate but right next to each other. Lights and temperatures were exactly the same (also they were clutch mates) and one was active and eating and the other one wasn't. The one that wasn't want a higher night time temperature to be active. When I gave that to her she was fine, eating and very active.
So you can't even really generalize when your talking the same species and what triggers them to stop being active. It's all very individualized.

Danny

..and it's not just tortoises....I like an electric blanket on in the winter, I think it's pure luxury, and the bloke next door (hubby) doesn't

[Helen M]

Originally Posted by Catwoman63

Just to add to the mix.....my 2 adults didn't want to eat, get up, bask or anything during late autumn, the temperatures, light were as summer, there was good food available right next to them......but even in these conditions they still wanted to hide away, complete change to how they were in the summer, I think they were trying to hibernate, they would have starved if I didn't hibernate them, they didn't eat or get up for 6 weeks until I decided to wind them down to hibernate......so their body clocks at that time of year were possibly telling them to wind down as that was what they were used to doing in all the years, so even tho the conditions were as summer and plentiful food, they didn't want to know! X

Tortoises can respond to a lot of different environmental cues which could trigger a wind down process and not just obvious ones. I think that adults who are regularly hibernated are able to respond strongly to these changes. My own tortoises do slow down during their overwintering but never stop eating. I guess individual animals react in different ways and if they have been hibernated are more likely to want to do so again as they 'expect' adverse conditions.

Helen