Hibernating for Golden Greeks

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greekgolden

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I'm having problems trying to find info on Golden Greeks do they hibernate? This will be our second season and I bring her in during the winter we are in So. Calif. inland. We are about 30 miles from the coast but it can get really cold in the morning frost is normal. I have a great outside yard for her which can protect her for wind, she is spolied like the dog & cat. LOL Yes she doesn't know it she gets all the comforts.
 

spikethebest

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The weight and fat reserves of this species would seem to indicate that it hibernates in cool weather or aestivates in very hot dry times. At the present time there is not enough information readily available to determine which it does or if it does both. The author would not recommend attempting to hibernate this species at the present time. There are known Testudo graeca ibera variants from Northern Greece and Turkey2 that do hibernate and resemble Golden Greeks at first glance, but recent information puts the probable point of origin in the Jordan, Lebanon or Syria area. In this area winter is in the rainy season, with major precipitation falling after December. Rainfall is generous but is concentrated during only a few days of the rainy season, falling in heavy cloudbursts. The amount of rainfall varies greatly from one year to another. Occasionally, there are frosts during the winter, and about once every fifteen years a light powdering of snow falls as far south as Beirut. If this is indeed the point of origin then I would NOT hibernate these animals. Until the precise location of the wild population of these imports is pinpointed it is not suggested that a hibernation period be attempted.

go here...

http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/tiberagoldengreekcare.htm
 
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greekgolden

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Thanks so much for the info, I'll just keep her in during the winter. Just the past few days it got really hot here so I have brought her inside which she hates, but its better than cooked tortoise.
 
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