Hiberna

[Hetsuko]

Hello all, I inherited this 40-year-old desert tortoise. I’m in Arizona and she’s still in her brumate cycle or very close to coming out of it. Does anyone have any information on food routines for kiddos in brumation and coming out of brumation? I’m not really sure how much she should be eating. I’m currently just leaving her food and she’s got a bunch of grasses and hay to graze, but she doesn’t seem to be eating much. Just want to get some more information since she’s new to me. Thank you

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Welcome to the forum! @Tom or @Yvonne G should be able to help you.

 

[Ink]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Hetsuko]

Welcome to the forum! @Tom or @Yvonne G should be able to help you.

Thank you I’ll reach out to them!

 

[Tom]

Hello all, I inherited this 40-year-old desert tortoise. I’m in Arizona and she’s still in her brumate cycle or very close to coming out of it. Does anyone have any information on food routines for kiddos in brumation and coming out of brumation? I’m not really sure how much she should be eating. I’m currently just leaving her food and she’s got a bunch of grasses and hay to graze, but she doesn’t seem to be eating much. Just want to get some more information since she’s new to me. Thank you

When they are brumating, they are underground or somewhere suitably cold, and they do not eat. If the tortoise is up and walking around and eating, it is not brumating.

Here is the care info for your species, and another thread explaining brumation. Understand as you start reading the most people do it all wrong and give terrible wrong care info. Some of the info in the first thread is about raising babies, but adult care is also explained:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

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

Additional tortoise info here for people new to the forum:

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...

tortoiseforum.org

And an additional night box thread:

Single Tortoise Night Box

I like my larger tortoises to live outside full time. My climate permits this year round with a little help. For people who live where it snows all winter, this type of box is still good for warmer weather, getting them out earlier in Spring, and keeping them out a bit later into fall. You'll...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome.

 

[mark1]

Winter activity of the Sonoran desert tortoise (Gopherus morafkai) in central Arizona

 

[Hetsuko]

When they are brumating, they are underground or somewhere suitably cold, and they do not eat. If the tortoise is up and walking around and eating, it is not brumating.

Here is the care info for your species, and another thread explaining brumation. Understand as you start reading the most people do it all wrong and give terrible wrong care info. Some of the info in the first thread is about raising babies, but adult care is also explained:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

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

Additional tortoise info here for people new to the forum:

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...

tortoiseforum.org

And an additional night box thread:

Single Tortoise Night Box

I like my larger tortoises to live outside full time. My climate permits this year round with a little help. For people who live where it snows all winter, this type of box is still good for warmer weather, getting them out earlier in Spring, and keeping them out a bit later into fall. You'll...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome.

Thank you for the additional resources! I read a couple of those when I first joined the forum and they were super helpful, but I didn’t see the brumation one. She has come out of her burrow twice over the past two week to walk around one lap of the yard but immediately was back to sleep shortly after. She also hasn’t been interested in food or water so that made me think she was not quite done brumating but maybe soon. I just want to make sure I’m doing the right thing by her and getting her the appropriate care that she needs since she’s new to me. Thank you so much, any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Tom]

Thank you for the additional resources! I read a couple of those when I first joined the forum and they were super helpful, but I didn’t see the brumation one. She has come out of her burrow twice over the past two week to walk around one lap of the yard but immediately was back to sleep shortly after. She also hasn’t been interested in food or water so that made me think she was not quite done brumating but maybe soon. I just want to make sure I’m doing the right thing by her and getting her the appropriate care that she needs since she’s new to me. Thank you so much, any advice is greatly appreciated!

During this time of year, and also in the fall, you need to have control of the temperatures. It's not good for them to hover in limbo while the weather just isn't cooperating. In winter, they can brumate. You just need to keep them consistently cold during that time. In summer, they can hang out in their burrow underground to escape the scorching summer heat. In spring we need to give them cool nights, but not too cold, and they need to be able to warm up and digest their food, even when it's cold and overcast outside. Likewise in fall, we need to be able to control the temperatures to let them empty their gut for a suitable amount of time and then ease them into brumation temperatures. The way to do this is with the insulated temperature controlled night box for fall and spring. It's possible to brumate them in their night box if you can keep it cold enough during our winter warm spells in the 80s and 90s. I've done this many times, and I use ice bottles on hot day to keep it cool enough inside the insulted box. Sometimes I also let cold air in over night. It just varies with the temperature, but it CAN be done. DTs need it around 45-50 consistently for brumation, which is a little warmer than most other temperate species.

In the wild, they are perfectly capable of managing all this themselves. In our captive environments, we need to help them. Our back yards are not the wild. Sometimes people get away with letting them fend for themselves at or near the surface, but often that practice results in death.

 

[Hetsuko]

During this time of year, and also in the fall, you need to have control of the temperatures. It's not good for them to hover in limbo while the weather just isn't cooperating. In winter, they can brumate. You just need to keep them consistently cold during that time. In summer, they can hang out in their burrow underground to escape the scorching summer heat. In spring we need to give them cool nights, but not too cold, and they need to be able to warm up and digest their food, even when it's cold and overcast outside. Likewise in fall, we need to be able to control the temperatures to let them empty their gut for a suitable amount of time and then ease them into brumation temperatures. The way to do this is with the insulated temperature controlled night box for fall and spring. It's possible to brumate them in their night box if you can keep it cold enough during our winter warm spells in the 80s and 90s. I've done this many times, and I use ice bottles on hot day to keep it cool enough inside the insulted box. Sometimes I also let cold air in over night. It just varies with the temperature, but it CAN be done. DTs need it around 45-50 consistently for brumation, which is a little warmer than most other temperate species.

In the wild, they are perfectly capable of managing all this themselves. In our captive environments, we need to help them. Our back yards are not the wild. Sometimes people get away with letting them fend for themselves at or near the surface, but often that practice results in death.

Okay good to know. Her previous owners just had her in the backyard left her own devices for the past 40 years.

 

[Tom]

Okay good to know. Her previous owners just had her in the backyard left her own devices for the past 40 years.

Many people do that and some how some percentage of them survive that way. But some don't. I don't want any tortoise to just barely survive. I want to give them optimal conditions and help them thrive.

 

[Hetsuko]

Many people do that and some how some percentage of them survive that way. But some don't. I don't want any tortoise to just barely survive. I want to give them optimal conditions and help them thrive.

I completely agree with you. There were a couple of things that the previous owners were telling me they did that were concerning that I want to change for her. So I appreciate all of the information you’re giving me so I do right by her. Thank you

 

[RosemaryDW]

My understanding of desert tortoises is that they are pretty slow to come out of brumation. I'd try not to worry too much—if that's possible, it wouldn't have been for me my first year!