Tortoise woke from hibernation then died

mylittlecholla

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Hi,
Our tortoise, Turbo was brought ot of hibernation today. He was 4 years old and this is the second year that we hibernated him. We used the fridge method and followed everything we could find on how to hiberate and wake him. We took him out of the fridge this morning and he had half an hour at room temperature before being placed in a lake warm bath. He was responding and seemed happy to see us. After his bath we placed him in his indoor enclosure (where he lives) and he was looking around. We placed food in helps bowl which he showed no interest in, though weren't concerned as we know it can take a couple of days for them to start eating again. He was looking up when we called him and we were relieved all seemed to have gone well. At around 4.30pm (around 6 hours after he'd woken) my husband noticed something was wrong. Turbo looked asleep though his legs were out of his shell and when we touched them he didn't respond. It appears Turbo is dead and we have no idea what we have done wrong. Does anyone have any answers? We've left him in his tank for his last night in some ridiculous hope that we might wake up tomorrow to see he's ok, though we're fairly sure he's left us. :'(
 

mylittlecholla

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Fillmore, California
Yes, a loving tortoise owner understands. Your little Turbo's response to you when he was first awakened shows that he was personable and affectionate, the same words I'd use to describe my 3 year old Desert Tortoise, who like Turbo, seems to like walking around on the keyboard of my laptop. She hasn't looked me out of it yet, but she's sure "typed" odd things into my documents.

An unexplained loss like your loss of Turbo is especially hard. You have my deep sympathy.
 

Jay's Turbo

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Sorry to hear of your loss.

I have a hard time accepting that only the temperature change did this. I am wondering if something else happened. Could he have aspirated water during the bath? Maybe got too cold during hibernation, or entered hibernation with food in his digestive system?
Thank you for your post. I don't think it would be the water, he only put his head in the water once for a brief drink and didn't appear to have any issues. The fridge was set to 5C, it has a digital display which we never saw fluctuate. I'm as sure as I can be about his tummy being empty as he hadn't eaten for over 2 weeks. Maybe there was an underlying issue we weren't aware of. I guess we will never know.
 

Jay's Turbo

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Yes, a loving tortoise owner understands. Your little Turbo's response to you when he was first awakened shows that he was personable and affectionate, the same words I'd use to describe my 3 year old Desert Tortoise, who like Turbo, seems to like walking around on the keyboard of my laptop. She hasn't looked me out of it yet, but she's sure "typed" odd things into my documents.

An unexplained loss like your loss of Turbo is especially hard. You have my deep sympathy.
Thank you. Wishing you and your cheeky little pal many years of happiness.
 

mylittlecholla

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Joined
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Messages
230
Location (City and/or State)
Fillmore, California
Yes, a loving tortoise owner understands. Your little Turbo's response to you when he was first awakened shows that he was personable and affectionate, the same words I'd use to describe my 3 year old Desert Tortoise, who like Turbo, seems to like walking around on the keyboard of my laptop. She hasn't looked me out of it yet, but she's sure "typed" odd things into my documents.

An unexplained loss like your loss of Turbo is especially hard. You have my deep sympathy.
 

Jay's Turbo

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I'm sorry for your loss. Hibetnation is the most nerve-wracking time every year.

My russian hibernates every year in the fridge at about 4 to 6 Celsius. Normally I would hibernate him for 2 or 3 months with bi-weekly weight check. It happened twice that when he was active for 7-8 months in a year, he slowed down in summer and we had to hibernate him early. His schedule is sometimes off because he always lives in an indoor enclosure.

When he got out of the fridge, we would leave him for half an hour in the room temperature. Then we put him in the water that is about 5 degree more than his body temperature. We raise the water temperature very gradually until eventually the water temperature is at 27, 28. The whole process takes about 4 hours and we check his body temp and water temp all the time. So far he has taken his hibernations like a trooper.
Thank you. This is really helpful.
 

lukeallen225

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Hello
I know it's been a couple of years but I've just come across this post and hoped that my input may help if you ever get another tort.

Firstly, very sorry for you loss. It must of been a horrible time.

I would say cause of death was almost certainly shock. There is a lot of misinformation online unfortunately, it's ot your fault at all.

When taking a tortoise out of hibernation, their wake up needs to be done very slowly and gradually. The best way to do this is to take your tortoise out of hibernation in the night time. Then either keep it in the box it's in or a larger box and place it in a normal room temperature room, somewhere it won't have much disturbance. Leave the tortoise overnight. It must not have any heat in the form of heat bulbs. The next day you should be focusing on getting the tort to drink, a luke warm bath, maybe offer cucumber or tomato just to get some hydration. Then after this you can place into it's normal home with heat lamps and uvb lights.
It may take a while for your tort to become fully awake and eating again. Try to encourage drinking as much as possible during this time.

I hope this help not only you but others reading the thread.

Thanks
Luke
 

wellington

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Hello
I know it's been a couple of years but I've just come across this post and hoped that my input may help if you ever get another tort.

Firstly, very sorry for you loss. It must of been a horrible time.

I would say cause of death was almost certainly shock. There is a lot of misinformation online unfortunately, it's ot your fault at all.

When taking a tortoise out of hibernation, their wake up needs to be done very slowly and gradually. The best way to do this is to take your tortoise out of hibernation in the night time. Then either keep it in the box it's in or a larger box and place it in a normal room temperature room, somewhere it won't have much disturbance. Leave the tortoise overnight. It must not have any heat in the form of heat bulbs. The next day you should be focusing on getting the tort to drink, a luke warm bath, maybe offer cucumber or tomato just to get some hydration. Then after this you can place into it's normal home with heat lamps and uvb lights.
It may take a while for your tort to become fully awake and eating again. Try to encourage drinking as much as possible during this time.

I hope this help not only you but others reading the thread.

Thanks
Luke
Introduce yourself in the into section. Many won't take advice from a newbie that no one knows anything about or know if you have any idea of the correct info.
 

lukeallen225

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Introduce yourself in the into section. Many won't take advice from a newbie that no one knows anything about or know if you have any idea of the correct info.
Not sure how to do that but to be honest I'm just a passerby. I've owned tortoises for over 10 years and successfully hibernated every year using the fridge method.
I literally just came across this thread after searching for info online and only signed up to answer this. I'll unlikely use this for anything else.
 

Yvonne G

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Not sure how to do that but to be honest I'm just a passerby. I've owned tortoises for over 10 years and successfully hibernated every year using the fridge method.
I literally just came across this thread after searching for info online and only signed up to answer this. I'll unlikely use this for anything else.
Oh really? That's too bad. we can always use experienced folks in our repertoire. And besides, a lot has changed with tortoise keeping in the last 10 years. Much still to learn.
 

mark1

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When taking a tortoise out of hibernation, their wake up needs to be done very slowly and gradually.
i just dug a 2" box turtle up from hibernation outside , they been hibernating since mid october , the soil temperatures here have been 32-43 since 11-24 , was 42 the day i dug him up......... i took him inside washed the caked mud off his shell with easily 80-85 degree water , then placed him in an aquarium that was 90 on the hot end and 75 on the cold end, i put him in his water dish which was 80 degrees , he eventually got out on his own and parked in a spot that was 88 degrees, i left him alone for a day and fed him the next day , he ate like normal....... that's been my experience with every turtle i've ever taken out of hibernation...... what negative effects have you seen or know of from putting them directly in a warm environment ?
 

wellington

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Not sure how to do that but to be honest I'm just a passerby. I've owned tortoises for over 10 years and successfully hibernated every year using the fridge method.
I literally just came across this thread after searching for info online and only signed up to answer this. I'll unlikely use this for anything else.
I agree with Yvonne.
Many more years experience with correct info on this forum. You might learn something new. You might be able to teach some of us something new.
Surely you might be able to help people from your area. Most of the active ones are from the US, as this is an America based forum. But we have members from all over.
 

lukeallen225

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Oh really? That's too bad. we can always use experienced folks in our repertoire. And besides, a lot has changed with tortoise keeping in the last 10 years. Much still to learn.
Ok, I may just stick around then and answer any questions that I think I may be able to help with. Yes tortoise keeping has certainly changed a lot in the years gone by. Unbelievable when you think many people had tortoises as pets but just didn't know back then how to properly care for them. As you must already know, tortoises can go years and years living in bad conditions but seem to the untrained eye, seem perfectly ok.
My Tortoise I have now is a Hermann, his name is Dave. I rescued him from someone who couldn't care for him. 8-9 years he spent in a large fish tank, sawdust as a substrate, one heat lamp and shop bought salad.
He know lives in an outdoor enclosure and fed on freshly picked and grown weeds. 🙂
 
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