Hibernation

[Bmarie23]

Hi! We got our young Russian Tortoise back in august (on the east coast).

The only thing I’m confused about with his care is hibernating.

He’s kept indoors in a room between 65-70 degrees. He has all the proper lighting. Starting in October I noticed he started eating less and less and burrowed longer. Now that it’s winter he’s been burrowed for about 2 weeks. I hear him scratching around occasionally in his spot. Do indoor russian tortoises hibernate? I’m a little worried I can’t find a definite answer. Don’t leave him or take him out to soak?

Thank you!

 

[Tom]

Hi! We got our young Russian Tortoise back in august (on the east coast).

The only thing I’m confused about with his care is hibernating.

He’s kept indoors in a room between 65-70 degrees. He has all the proper lighting. Starting in October I noticed he started eating less and less and burrowed longer. Now that it’s winter he’s been burrowed for about 2 weeks. I hear him scratching around occasionally in his spot. Do indoor russian tortoises hibernate? I’m a little worried I can’t find a definite answer. Don’t leave him or take him out to soak?

Thank you!

Hello and welcome.

Start 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

Then there is a whole bunch more here:

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

 

[Sarah2020]

Welcome please read the links in #2 and cross check set up and settings.
Hybernating / brumation needs prep, time, tortoise age consideration, duration of ownership and current date in summary... this is not going to happen this winter for your tortoise.
They do get sleepy and sleep more in winter however please maintain, diet, water, soaks, heat and light as normal with no change for forthcoming months. Daily if it goes into a corner then fetch it and place on fresh food to encourage eating. I also recommend warm water shallow soaks in a high sided container 3 times a week for around 30 mins as this helps hydration and gets the internal motions moving!