tortoisecanyon
New Member
This will be our hermann's third winter and his first real attempt at brumation. He turned his nose up at most food over the past few weeks, except a few bites of dandelion greens here and there, including in the 2-3 days before he burrowed. He has now buried himself in his substrate (mostly peat moss) much deeper than a normal nap, around 6-8 inches down. He is healthy and was persistent about brumating even though I tried to keep him awake. Our nighttime temps are in the mid 40's but the daytime temps still get into the mid-high 60's. His enclosure gets only 2-3 hours of partial sun right now because of the winter angle, so not terribly warm in most of it, and he has a log hide as well as an extra plywood lean-to type covering over where he is buried. My main concerns are 1) I'm pretty sure he ate a few bites of food and I keep reading about gut rot, and 2) just that it's his first time (and my first time) with brumation and while there is a wire mesh liner at the bottom of his substrate, I don't know if he might get stuck or anything. Can I relocate him without waking him up? Or should I try and wake him up and keep him inside until he is free and clear of any digestion?