How to keep a Russian awake?

[tortoise_addict]

I have not had my kids a full year and do not want them to brumate.
Tinker Bell and Peter Pan have there own plan. On the 12th Pan ate like normal little pig and Tink woke up long enough to watch me from the hay and then went back to sleep. They have slowly tapered off and neither have made an appearance yesterday or today.
I re did there substrate yesterday and soaked them for about 30 minutes while I cleaned there table. They were out long enough to explore a little then before I could get Wallie's (box turtle) bin cleaned and changed they were no where to be found. They have not been out to touch there food for a couple days. They have two basking lamps and with the room being warm, why on earth would they try and brumate?
How do I wake them up?
Here are some pictures of my kiddos.
This is the last time I remember Pan eating a entire plate while Tink watched. He finished what they both would normally eat then pooped in the plate.

Tink just watched as he ate.

I caught Pan out and basking yesterday after a bedding change but Tink was gone and shortly after this pick so was Pan

This was today and not sure if I should wake them daily or let them be?
It was very sad and there food went soggy.....

Is this normal or is it ok?
They always come out when I call them and they hear there plate plop down. Today, NOTHING! They have not been eating as much the last week or two but normally they devour there weight daily in greens.
Should I let nature run its course and sleep or wake them up?
Thanks
Sorry its my first winter with torts! Even my boxie has cut back on food.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

It's actually not the temperature that makes them get ready for hibernation but rather the length of the light. So while you should keep the temps up you also need to have their lights on for 14 hours or so...oh...they are beautiful and I like how you are keeping them...

 

[tortoisenerd]

My vet said they can also sense changes in barometric pressure (in addition to the heat & light). I wonder if that's true? I'm also making sure my little guy doesn't try to hibernate. He's loving the 14 hours of UVB and warmer temperatures--even if he's napping through the day he's still eating well and active. Best wishes! Gorgeous torts. =)

 

[tortoise_addict]

Thanks.
They are in the same room as 1 box turtle, 1 greek tort, 10 bearded dragons and 1 uro. They are on 14 hour timers and its pretty warm and they have MVB bulbs so the heat and light has not changed.
I woke them up today and made them warm up. They ate a little not much and went back to bed. All they munched on were dandelion greens. They would not touch the rest nor the cactus.
I know they go nuts over avacado so I might try to tempt them with some.

 

[Yvonne G]

If your Russians are wild-caught, they might still be on eastern hemisphere time. Sometimes it takes a couple years for a wild caught tortoise to acclimate and not feel the hibernation pull. You just might have to allow them to go through a mini-hibernation period. Just let them stop eating for a couple weeks to clean out their systems, then put them into a cool, quiet place and let them be for a couple weeks. Then you can slowly wake them up and they won't know that they didn't sleep through a whole winter.

Yvonne

 

[captainjack]

My tortoise was sadly wild caught and he doesn't hibernate...wel he hasn't in the two years i have had him however.....he does have slow down periods...he has these little periods of a few weeks where he will sleep alot of the day regardless of his lights being on and will eat very little. His vet said this is normal...although it is not full hibernation it is still a period of in activity that he seems to relish and enjoy.

 

[tortoise_addict]

Thanks, I think that is what there doing. My dragons will partially brumate and these guys seem to be doing that. They came out for a little bit today and did not eat much of there dandelion before they went back to sleep.
I am going to keep an eye on them. They get avocado tomorrow for Christmas. It is there favorite.