Waking up a russian from brumination/hibernation?

[ziggaboogi]

Hey guys I need some advice on my Russian,

I didn't really read up on the whole brumination/hibernation until fairly recently. I'm worried because it seems like there's a lot of debate about it especially if you aren't sure about what you are doing.

Anyways he's probably been sleeping for about 3 weeks now. I was wondering if I should try to keep him up and not asleep so that I don't have to worry about him. Keep in mind that I didn't really do any of the preparations listed on most hibernation guides as I didn't realize how hard it is to have tortoises hibernate.

I will also be leaving him with a friend when I have to travel for about two weeks during mid december.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome. I didn't brumate my Russian. If you would feel better having him up, then that's what I would do. Specially seeing you didn't do any prep.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

Since you're going to be leaving him with a friend for a couple of weeks, I'd just let him sleep. Then when you get back, you can gently/slowly warm him up.

 

[Tom]

Where is he and how cold is he being kept? How long was he off food before he went down? Is he indoors or out?

 

[ziggaboogi]

He's in my room, and he is being kept around room temp so around 50 to 60 degrees fahrenheit. I didn't realize you had to ween them off food but he slowly stopped eating as much and when I realized it he had been sleeping for almost a week. So my guess is around a week.

Where is he and how cold is he being kept? How long was he off food before he went down? Is he indoors or out?

 

[Tom]

Your bedroom gets down to 50 degrees? Holy cow.

This is a judgement call. If this were my tortoise, I would gradually warm him back up, offer a basking spot and give daily soaks for a couple of weeks. If there is that much food still in his gut, it could cause a problem. If your room temps are between 50 and 60, he will burn through his fat reserves much too quickly. That is not really cold enough to hibernate, but not really warm enough to function and digest food properly. Its these in between temps that can kill tortoises.

 

[Jacqui]

Okay, I am still a bit mixed up... at one point you said he had been asleep for three weeks and then later one week? Did he stop eating three weeks ago? Is that what you meant by that? The temps your keeping him at are not low enough for a real brumation, which means he is burning calories at too high of a rate. You need to decide, if your really going to do it or not. If you bring him out of it, do you have the ability to keep him hot enough and lights on long enough each day? Or do you have some place where you could really keep him at a little lower temp?

 

[Tom]

Jacqui, Yvonne, or anyone else,

What are your thoughts on leaving this little guy down when he's likely got a lot of food in his gut? I have never tried this. Its something I always understood to be really bad. I have always insured that the gut was empty in any reptile that I hibernated. You guys have some first hand experience with this?

 

[Yvonne G]

See my post #3.

I don't think the tortoise has food inside him. And I've noticed that my desert tortoises will come out and eat a bit of grass on warmer days, then go back inside the house and not be seen again until spring. So my guess is that they stay awake long enough to empty out what they have in their systems. I do find the occasional poop in the hibernaculatorium (say what???) in the spring.

 

[ziggaboogi]

Some clarifications,

he stopped eating around four weeks ago and has been asleep for three.

My room is probably at the lowest around 60 degrees probably. Fahrenheit is something I'm not quite used to yet.

I have to leave him with a friend in about two weeks for a duration of about 2 weeks.

Also I'm still a little confused as I've gotten advice that I should and shouldn't wake him up.

 

[Tom]

Once they are down, you generally should not wake them up too early, BUT they should not go down with food in the gut, AND 60 degrees F is not really "down". 15.5 C is just a cool day. For hibernation it needs to be more around 4 C. This being the case, it would not be too difficult or terribly bad for your tortoise if you did bring him up. Leaving him at 60 (15.5), possibly with food in the gut, is not a good idea in my opinion.

 

[ascott]

The adults here go down with empty gut (I stop offering food and they have already mowed down anything considered food around the same time I stop offering) I would not put a tort into their rest if they have consumed offerings within a week...I stop at about no less than 2 weeks but more like 3 to 4 weeks....they get hydrated all season and then one really long soak before their rest.

The hibernacle here ranges from 48 ish to 50 ish....and have not had any issues show up....(now this does not mean no probs will ever occur but as of now works well) Please keep in mind that I am hosting adult CDTs, this would likely need some adjustments if I were supporting brumation for younger/smaller torts)...

 

[ziggaboogi]

Thanks everybody. I think to be on the safe side I'll wake him up.

Is there any advised way to wake a tortoise up other than to make sure their basking spot is warm enough?