Hermanns large weight loss first week of Brumation

[Flipajgno]

Hi, this is the first winter we're trying to Brumate our Hermanns tortoise. He's about 3 years old. He was 13cm and exactly 500g when I weighed and measured him last week which seemed suficcient to brumate this year, and he had been eating less and less and sleeping more and more which led us to believe he was ready. He seemed extremely healthy and he had a 2 week wind down period. He's now in the fridge at 4 degrees and has been for just over a week.

He looks fine and his leg moves if gently pulled back. There are signs he's moved slighting in his box. But after 8 days, he's now weighing only 490g. This is obviously a lot more weight loss than I had expected. So my question is, is it normal for there to be a initial larger weight loss, then it slows down? Or is something wrong? I weighed him yesterday then again today, and he hasn't lost any more since yesterday. There is no sign he's urinated as far as I can tell.

 

[TammyJ]

@Tom

 

[Tom]

Hi, this is the first winter we're trying to Brumate our Hermanns tortoise. He's about 3 years old. He was 13cm and exactly 500g when I weighed and measured him last week which seemed suficcient to brumate this year, and he had been eating less and less and sleeping more and more which led us to believe he was ready. He seemed extremely healthy and he had a 2 week wind down period. He's now in the fridge at 4 degrees and has been for just over a week.

He looks fine and his leg moves if gently pulled back. There are signs he's moved slighting in his box. But after 8 days, he's now weighing only 490g. This is obviously a lot more weight loss than I had expected. So my question is, is it normal for there to be a initial larger weight loss, then it slows down? Or is something wrong? I weighed him yesterday then again today, and he hasn't lost any more since yesterday. There is no sign he's urinated as far as I can tell.

I've never weighed any of my animals once they start brumation. I don't like to disturb them.

At 4C there is no way the tortoises metabolized 10 out of a total 500 grams. 10 grams of water would be quickly absorbed and dissipated into dry incubation media. What media are you using? Is it damp?

I do two weeks of fasting with normal temps and frequent soaks so that they can void their bowels, then I start dropping the temperatures and reducing the light cycle. Compressing all of that into two weeks is too steep a curve for my comfort level.

More here:

Tom's Brumation Thread

Every fall we get bombarded here on the forum with all sorts of questions and problems regarding hibernation and tortoises "slowing down" for winter. The purpose of this thread is to talk about all aspects of this subject, to dispel some of the myths and mysteries, and give a "how to" list of...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Flipajgno]

Honestly @Tom I'm not really sure what you're telling me to do? He's already in brumation. What do you suggest? All I've done was followed the guidelines on the tortoise trust website in relation to preparing him based on his age etc

 

[Tom]

Honestly @Tom I'm not really sure what you're telling me to do? He's already in brumation. What do you suggest? All I've done was followed the guidelines on the tortoise trust website in relation to preparing him based on his age etc

I would do nothing. Leave him be, and wake him 10 or 12 weeks when the weather begins to warm. Add a small amount of water to the media periodically if needed to keep it lightly damp.

I have not found the tortoise trust website to be a good source of tortoise care info. They seem to be mired in the past and perpetuating a lot of old wrong info.

 

[Flipajgno]

Ah ok. So he's in a base of Komodo straw terrain. We had him in tortoise sand when he was winding down, but he kept spilling his water and it get so wet and he got so messy, so we moved him to something dryer. I can definitely wet this down somewhat.

 

[Tom]

Ah ok. So he's in a base of Komodo straw terrain. We had him in tortoise sand when he was winding down, but he kept spilling his water and it get so wet and he got so messy, so we moved him to something dryer. I can definitely wet this down somewhat.

Straw and sand are both totally unsuitable for tortoises. Read that link I left in post number 3. More here too:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

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