Help with hibernation

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nicolam38

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Have been reading up on hibernating my 3 year old horse field tortoise and I am on my second day of no food,I have turned his uv light off and just got the red light on,how do I kool him and get him ready for hibernating,he seems to be trying to dig in the corner of his vivarium or trying to climb up the side,any help would b appreciated thankyou
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Niki:

If you have your steppe tortoise set up in the house in a viv, then there really is no reason you need to force a brumation. Just continue feeding and treating the tortoise as you have been. Its not going to kill him to not brumate. Lots of people keep their tortoises up during the winter.


But, if you are determined to allow brumation, then the tortoise has to sense the shorter days and the cooler temps.

Raise the light up higher during the day so its not so hot in the viv. Don't use the red light at all. Don't have any heat at night. Turn the light on around 8a and off around 5p. Continue to offer food until the tortoise stops eating on his own.
 

nicolam38

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Oh thankyou,I thought I had to hibernate her but it sounded so confusing,can you tell me why she is scratching the bottom of the viv and trying to climb up the walls please,it's very noisey when she starts and she does it for a few hours and it's keepin my kids awake
 

Yvonne G

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Do you have all lights off? In the wild, steppe tortoises bury themselves for safety during the night. So your tortoise is just trying to dig down further and get comfy for the night.
 

ascott

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How long have you had your tort? What type of enclosure are you housing him in? What is the size of the enclosure? Where in your home (in relation to the heaviest flow of traffic and such) do you have his housed at?
 

nicolam38

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I have had him 1.5 years,she is in a glass vavarium 32 inc long 14 inc heigh,I have a infa red heat lamp and a uv light,it's normaly 40of,it's in my hall way with a radiator behind her viv


And I'm not sure if it is a he or she lol
 
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