We have a 12 year old Herman. We have had her for 6 of these years, of which we have hibernated her for 5. The first two years she naturally wound down and when it was cold enough we put her in a box in the garage.
We then read of the method of hiberating in the fridge and have done that sucessfully for the last 3 years. We took her from her hutch when it was 5 degrees first thing in the morning and put her in the fridge so there was no 'cooling' required.
This year she stopped eating about 4-6 weeks ago when the weather got very wet and cold. More recently its been hot and sunny and she has been basking in the sun, but hasn't eaten. I checked on her this morning and she has buried herself in the lawn in her pen. Normally she beds down in the bedding in her hutch. It must have taken a while as the ground is quite compacted and you can just glimpse the top of her shell under the disturbed soil she she has gone down quite far. The problem is it has been 19/20 degrees everyday and I'm worried itis too warm for her to hibernate and she will be using up her food reseves.
We did also have a male tortoise to stay this summer.
Is she definately trying to hibernate or is she laying eggs?
Should I dig her up and put her in the fridge, even if the process will involve a rapid temperature reduction? Or leave her for the winter but if it is very cold, frost, snow etc she might freeze.
Any advice would be really welcome. She\s never taken charge before!!
We then read of the method of hiberating in the fridge and have done that sucessfully for the last 3 years. We took her from her hutch when it was 5 degrees first thing in the morning and put her in the fridge so there was no 'cooling' required.
This year she stopped eating about 4-6 weeks ago when the weather got very wet and cold. More recently its been hot and sunny and she has been basking in the sun, but hasn't eaten. I checked on her this morning and she has buried herself in the lawn in her pen. Normally she beds down in the bedding in her hutch. It must have taken a while as the ground is quite compacted and you can just glimpse the top of her shell under the disturbed soil she she has gone down quite far. The problem is it has been 19/20 degrees everyday and I'm worried itis too warm for her to hibernate and she will be using up her food reseves.
We did also have a male tortoise to stay this summer.
Is she definately trying to hibernate or is she laying eggs?
Should I dig her up and put her in the fridge, even if the process will involve a rapid temperature reduction? Or leave her for the winter but if it is very cold, frost, snow etc she might freeze.
Any advice would be really welcome. She\s never taken charge before!!