Tortoise hibernation

[big one 10]

hi there i posted last year for help with hibenation for my tortoise, does it hurt the tortoise if i dont hibenate, im scared im not going to do it correcctly and that he will die

hes around 3 years old and never been hibenated.

 

help help advice please xx

[day-break 10]

hi, how have you stopped him hibernating? Is he in a vavarium?

As long as he has the correct heat , infra red and uv lighting he should be fine not hibernating.

[foxyflugel 10]

It won't harm your tortoise not to hibernate - as long as you keep him warm he won't want to hibernate anyway. Some breeds don't hibernate at all - I have a Hermanns who is 7 years old and I have never hibernated him - for the same reasons as you - I didn't want to do it wrong and lose him. Apparently years ago (when we lost the tortoise that we had as kids) the problem was ignorance of knowledge and people didn't starve them for a few weeks beforehand so the food rotted in their stomach hence when they hibernated it killed them.

[Powerage 10]

I had a tortoise for 15 years when I was a kid and she never hibernated never did her any harm, sadly we had to put her down in the end as she developed a lump in her throat and could not swallow and vets said there was nothing they could do.

 

She spent her winters in front of our old gas fire, never even thought of vivariums in those days.

Edited October 11, 2012 by Powerage

[big one 10]

yer hes in a vivarium so he is nice and warm, thankyou for all the advice im not going to hibernate him xx sorry to hear your sad stories of loosing your tortoises xx

thanks again x

[foxyflugel 10]

It's not recommended to keep tortoises in vivs as they can't regulate their temp very well. The best housing is a tortoise table as this allows them to have a cool end and a warm end and they choose which end they want to go to and it helps them regulate their temp. I made Tinys from some old wardrobe and fit some B&Q kitchen unit legs onto it. Just thought I'd mention it

[bogwoppit 10]

My tortoise hibernates really well. She starts trying to go to sleep about now but I keep her awake with the sun lamp for another month or so, so she isn't hibernating too long. I don't starve her but she naturally slows down her eating and I bath her regularly leading up to it. She stops eating completely a week or so before she sleeps (I cut down the amount of "sun" to aid this) and I bath her daily at this point to make sure she is completely cleared.

I am fortunate that Daisy is around 40years old and I know the people who had her for the ten years previous to me. She has always been very easy to hibernate so I see no reason not to do so, beign as it is natural for them. I did panic tons the first couple of years though!

[Powerage 10]

The reason we stopped hibernating ours was that she woke up one year when she was mid hibernation and my mum was worried after that in case she did it again and we didnt realise in time.

 

I was really attached to her she was a real character and fast as the wind when we let her have a roam around the garden, if you got distracted for a minute she was off and we had to spend ages hunting for her in next doors garden!

[Optimalius 10]

Hibernating period will depend on the type of tortoise you have. Also, if it is residing in the condition which differ from their natural habitat, you can expect some modification in behavior, as several of the replies show evidence of that as a possibility.

 

Make sure to create a recommended environment for the keeping of the tortoise, but observe the actions of your pet with calm understanding that as long as it continues to behave actively during the warm months, you keep it clean and provide an option of staying in a close-to-natural (actually even better controlled) environment, your pet should be alright.

[dash43 10]

its ok saying some tortoises dont need hibernating but others do overwise your shortening there life span.