Hibernation

[65redroses]

I have two desert tortoises that have not been hibernated ever. If I don't hibernate them this year will it be ok? They are about 3 years old. Is it to late to due so now? And what do I do? Stop feeding them for two weeks right? What about lights and heat? Do I just turn them off? After that I can place them in a box. I live on the central coast and it has been in the high 70s but starting to get cooler now. I put the torts outside during the day and bring them in each night. Thanks for your help.

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't usually allow my babies to hibernate until they're big enough to move out into the 'big boy' pen. Consequently, I now have two four year old Texas tortoises and two 5 year old desert tortoises set up in indoor habitats for the winter. I'm thinking that maybe the 5yr olds will be able to move out into the 'big boy' yard this spring - unless they get adopted out before that.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

In about 40 years, I've never hibernated (Brumated) my tortoises...it's entirely optional.

But if you do, be sure to do everything correctly!

 

[eric2013]

I have never hibernated Eric and he is fine and he is nearly 3, xxx

 

[thatrebecca]

As others have said, brumating is optional. This is my first year brumating my two DTs, ages 4 and 6, but prior to living with me they brumated every year since they were hatchlings.

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Oh sorry, I hit send too soon. What I was going to say is, it's not a casual decision to brumate -- in my case we did a lot of thinking about it and preparing beginning when we adopted our torts in April and going right up until I put them in their boxes on Sunday.


I'd keep your torts up this winter, making sure they have enough hours of light in their indoor setup to do so. If you think brumation might be right for you and your torts in the future, you can start researching for next year.

 

[ascott]

In my opinion, you may want to go ahead and plan towards next year.... This will allow you a year to plan and prep the torts, and you, for their rest.

You can take this winter to seek out and try out a few spots for next year....you can take temps, set up boxes and then designate the appropriate hibernacle so that when next winter approaches you will have a general plan to start with....yes, there is a wind down and there are things you stop doing and things you start doing when you have a tort heading towards winter rest...this will allow you ample time to gather information and customize it to fit the torts in your care...

They will always know what to do...the only time I have seen them take a moment is when they have been forced to remain awake for years...but even then, they do know what to do if allowed to do so...

 

[Billy6789]

In about 40 years, I've never hibernated (Brumated) my tortoises...it's entirely optional.

But if you do, be sure to do everything correctly!

Really? I never knew that! I thought it was something they had to do for survival, guess I should stop worrying about mine then! Thank you!

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

In about 40 years, I've never hibernated (Brumated) my tortoises...it's entirely optional.

But if you do, be sure to do everything correctly!

Really? I never knew that! I thought it was something they had to do for survival, guess I should stop worrying about mine then! Thank you!

Nope, absolutely optional.

It once as believed that tortoises that did not brumate never reproduced successfully, but that's been disproved...and there's still the thought that tortoises that do not brumate have smaller clutches, and that's still being argued (and it's possible, I suppose, as brumating tortoises sometimes die in the winter, so this may be Mother Natures's way of controlling the population size)...that's still being discussed and argued about.

It's also been suggested that tortoises that do not brumate have shorter life spans, but as wild tortoise rarely live longer than 30 years or so, and there are many examples of pet/zoo tortoises living 2 and occasionally 3X that long (my 1st tortoise had been my Grandfather's pet for over 30 years, and upon his passing, became mine for another 19, so that's 50 years, right there, and Grandfather told me that she was fully grown when he found her, towards the end of WWII, thus she was likely at least 10 years old, then, so that's 60 years. When my vet examined her, upon her passing, he estimated that she as probably between 60 and 75.

 

[ascott]

http://www.google.com/imgres?sa=X&b...EIQcMBM&iact=rc&dur=1&page=2&start=13&ndsp=19

Well, if you choose to confine an animal in an environment somewhat like this I am sure there are tons of years you can keep it alive...or you can allow a more natural environment like this

http://www.google.com/imgres?biw=11...BwwDA&iact=rc&dur=1281&page=1&start=0&ndsp=14

Yes, the confined animal may indeed have much more years...but I personally would enjoy less if left to be what designed to be...

Just another point of reference...."in my opinion" and there is no proof of either way actually....I would rather support a natural function of a tort that is designed to brumate and allow this to occur than to decide that the make up is just not "comfortable" to me because the tortoise "might" die...but then again, it "might not"...

My advice would be, educate yourself in all aspects of the species of tortoise you have decided to facilitate....remember, we truly don't own them...we should buffer their life in a captive environment which we have imposed on them....but understand, this is simply my belief and not at all me trying to tell you what to do or decide...

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

http://www.google.com/imgres?sa=X&b...EIQcMBM&iact=rc&dur=1&page=2&start=13&ndsp=19

Well, if you choose to confine an animal in an environment somewhat like this I am sure there are tons of years you can keep it alive...or you can allow a more natural environment like this

http://www.google.com/imgres?biw=11...BwwDA&iact=rc&dur=1281&page=1&start=0&ndsp=14

Yes, the confined animal may indeed have much more years...but I personally would enjoy less if left to be what designed to be...

Just another point of reference...."in my opinion" and there is no proof of either way actually....I would rather support a natural function of a tort that is designed to brumate and allow this to occur than to decide that the make up is just not "comfortable" to me because the tortoise "might" die...but then again, it "might not"...

My advice would be, educate yourself in all aspects of the species of tortoise you have decided to facilitate....remember, we truly don't own them...we should buffer their life in a captive environment which we have imposed on them....but understand, this is simply my belief and not at all me trying to tell you what to do or decide...

Why treat only one aspect of keeping a pet "natuiral" (brumation) but no others, such as diet (do you only feed it the food found in it's natural environment or do you augment it's diet with grocery store items, powdered calcium and/or vitamins?), environmental space (is your backyard fenceless, can it roam, unrestricted?), realities of nature (if you see a predator attempting to make a meal of your pet, do you just stand by and allow the Circle of Life?), etc.?

There is nothing "natural" about keeping a wild animal (and all pets, including dogs, cats, goldfish, etc. were once a wild animal) as a pet, it's merely something humans tend to do.

To think otherwise is simply giving in to a delusion.

How about this line of reasoning, instead?: I'm forcing, if ever so lovingly, the animal to trade it's freedom for my pleasure, so I'm obligated to learn everything I possibly can to give it the longest and healthiest of lives. That justifies the exchange.