Goodness, I came in to note my Russian is getting ready to brumate which always makes me a little sad; I'll miss her. Turns out you're all already here! I don't think I've ever seen so many brumation questions. The nights are getting longer, telling your tortoises to slow down whether they're inside or not.
For those of you that are new to this, it gets easier! Ours is an outdoor tortoise but fridge brumated as we are in a warm climate. I spent her first full winter constantly checking on her, weighing her all the time. I got a lot of stink eye and doubt I did much good. It wasn't easy to choose between a new enclosure and a fridge but she is wild caught and will brumate in some manner no matter what I try; she actually dug down and brumated in the yard her when she initially showed up. She was an escapee and while we were trying to find an owner she just poof'd herself one night. We hoped for the best and were relieved when she showed back up in February. I decided it would be easiest to let her do what she was used to rather than fuss with getting a winter enclosure. Indoor enclosures can be great if done right, it just didn't line up with her behavior.
Now that we've had her several years I know she works on her own schedule. It can stay warm here in Southern California but she decides based on the nights getting shorter more so than the temperature. She stops feeding on her own, even though she'll creep around the yard a bit for weeks after. I'll offer a few soaks but she's rarely interested so I don't push it. I like to keep her up through October 31, as Tom mentioned, but I'm not in charge. She's stopped in a cloudy September, she's hung out through a sunny November. When her weight drops a little she's getting close and starts wandering out of her night box, testing out various dig sites. At this point we have her process down to the precise day and spot. One year I was traveling and on my way out texted my husband to go haul her out when he got home before she dug too far down. Good thing, because she tunneled sideways that year! I still get a bit nervous but remind myself she's been doing this far longer than I have; my only real job is to ensure she stays in a cold, dry, and dark environment once she's decided it's time.
I check her weight while she's down, but not too often. I watch the weather guide to find a few sunny days in hopefully early March and we start bumping the temps a few days before she comes out. We find she gets energetic as soon as her temp gets to forty-four degrees so we don't do as slow a warm up these days; I don't want her burning off more calories than she has to. We pop her into the night box and then give her a big soak in the morning. Russians are fierce little things and so long as the sun shows up ours is up and about in a day or two. She's usually back to her late summer weight after a second soak.
So far as I can see she stopped eating on Thursday so we'll see how close we get to the 31st. A few days more would be great.
It will be a nervous winter but so long as you follow the advice here your tortoise will be just fine.
For those of you that are new to this, it gets easier! Ours is an outdoor tortoise but fridge brumated as we are in a warm climate. I spent her first full winter constantly checking on her, weighing her all the time. I got a lot of stink eye and doubt I did much good. It wasn't easy to choose between a new enclosure and a fridge but she is wild caught and will brumate in some manner no matter what I try; she actually dug down and brumated in the yard her when she initially showed up. She was an escapee and while we were trying to find an owner she just poof'd herself one night. We hoped for the best and were relieved when she showed back up in February. I decided it would be easiest to let her do what she was used to rather than fuss with getting a winter enclosure. Indoor enclosures can be great if done right, it just didn't line up with her behavior.
Now that we've had her several years I know she works on her own schedule. It can stay warm here in Southern California but she decides based on the nights getting shorter more so than the temperature. She stops feeding on her own, even though she'll creep around the yard a bit for weeks after. I'll offer a few soaks but she's rarely interested so I don't push it. I like to keep her up through October 31, as Tom mentioned, but I'm not in charge. She's stopped in a cloudy September, she's hung out through a sunny November. When her weight drops a little she's getting close and starts wandering out of her night box, testing out various dig sites. At this point we have her process down to the precise day and spot. One year I was traveling and on my way out texted my husband to go haul her out when he got home before she dug too far down. Good thing, because she tunneled sideways that year! I still get a bit nervous but remind myself she's been doing this far longer than I have; my only real job is to ensure she stays in a cold, dry, and dark environment once she's decided it's time.
I check her weight while she's down, but not too often. I watch the weather guide to find a few sunny days in hopefully early March and we start bumping the temps a few days before she comes out. We find she gets energetic as soon as her temp gets to forty-four degrees so we don't do as slow a warm up these days; I don't want her burning off more calories than she has to. We pop her into the night box and then give her a big soak in the morning. Russians are fierce little things and so long as the sun shows up ours is up and about in a day or two. She's usually back to her late summer weight after a second soak.
So far as I can see she stopped eating on Thursday so we'll see how close we get to the 31st. A few days more would be great.
It will be a nervous winter but so long as you follow the advice here your tortoise will be just fine.
