Are my tortoises hibernating?

[Mande Moran]

Do tortoises hibernate on their own? I'm new to having them. I have them in my classroom and since the cold (I live in Iowa) they have been sleeping a lot more and cut down on their eating. I just want to make sure this is normal. They stay under their log and sleep. I have a florescent lamp and a heat lamp on opposite sides of the tank. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Mande:

If it's warm then cold, then warm in your classroom, it's not a good environment for a tortoise to hibernate. They need a steady cold between 40 and 45F degrees to successfully sleep. Read the response Tom made in this hibernation thread:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/tortoise-hibernation.133005/

You don't necessarily have to use a fridge, but they need to stay cold.

 

[Mande Moran]

Thank you for your response! Let me clarify. They are inside all day long in a controlled environment of 70 degrees in my classroom. Everything was normal with them until the season changed from fall to winter. Now they sit inside their log all day long and don't move around like they used to and are not eating much. They have a heated lamp and a florescent lamp in their enclosure. As I said before I'm new to this. Any help would be appreciated! I'm just wondering if they are hibernating on their own or is something wrong with them.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Mande:

If a tortoise can't warm up his inner core to at least 80F (85f is better), then he can't digest his food, and so he won't eat. What temperature is the floor of the habitat, all over the whole floor, not just under the light?

Wild caught Russian tortoises still have an ingrained sense of the seasons, and will want to hibernate when they sense it is getting towards autumn, but my "guess" is that yours aren't warm enough. What happens at night when the school's light timers turn all the lights and heat off. Do your tortoises still have a way to stay warm?

 

[Mande Moran]

I really appreciate your responses! That makes sense. I was told to only have my heat lamps on for 12 hours a day so I have them on automatic timers. The heat turns off at school and the timers turn off at night. I'm sure they are cold. How long should I have the heat light on?

 

[mike taylor]

My suggestion is to take these guys home . Then bring them back next year . They need heat day and night .

 

[Maggie Cummings]

They need a UVB light for the pretend sun, on 12 hrs a day. They need to be 85 degrees most of the time. Russians like to cool down a little at night. They will move away from the heat source and then move back under it. Get a black light bulb or a ceramic heat emitter for heat. But I must say, despite your good intentions, a classroom is no place to keep any tort or turtle. Sorry, just my opinion....but welcome, and I am glad you are asking how to keep them correctly...

 

[SteveTheTort]

My Sonoran Desert Tort is doing the same thing. Just sleeping all day. There is heat lamp 24/7 and (new) UV bulb on 12 hours. He has lived here since last year Nov. This is a pic when we got him (I assume he hatched 2019)