Hibernation options

[soundwave]

Hi,

I'm not comfortable with hibernating my three adult hermann yet. What are my alternative to hibernating my tortoise? I keep hearing the term cooling your tortoise but not sure what that means?

Thanks

 

[GBtortoises]

The best alternative to true hibernation in captivity is keeping them fully awake and alert. The procedure of cooling a tortoise off usually does not benefit the tortoise and can actually cause problems. The cooling off method more or less places a tortoise in limbo, not quite in hibernation so there is little activity but the animal is not asleep, but not warm and alert enough to function properly in order to eat, bask, etc...
There's going to be no harm done to you tortoises by keeping them awake and active.
Do they go outdoors in the summer?

 

[Isa]

Hermy does not hibernate during the winter. His lights are open 12 hours instead of 13 but the temps are the same ( I do that because I want him to know there is a difference between the summer and winter ). So he think it is summer all year around