Low temps with reds?

[blackcat38]

I've found her!!!!! Well my dog found her this morning

She's been missing for almost a month; I'm so so please

She seems fine and is eating well, I was really worry as some days/nights have been really cold and overcast and I thought how she would manage, being a tropical tort and all.

so it got me thinking how did she cope with the cold temps? it's definitely been below 10c most nights here. Can reds slow their bodies down into a kind of temporary hibernation to cope with the temperature drop? Could she in fact hibernate if I didn't find her and she was left out over winter? Or would the minus temps kill her?

 

[cdmay]

Glad you found your missing girl.
I can't say for sure what the lowest temperature a RF can endure is but I can add some experiences of mine that (of course) were NOT planned.
On two separate occasions I have found neonate cherryhead RFs wandering around in my back yard after temperatures had dipped into the low 40s for a few nights. In both cases they were hatchlings that had hatched in the yard somehow after I missed the female's nesting. Both hatchlings appeared in perfect health and they both seemed to be at least a couple of months old. Prior to the really cold (for South Florida, I mean) nights we had experienced temperatures into the 50s and 60s on several occasions.
Then, last summer I found a perfect 4 inch juvenile sitting in my next door neighbor's front walkway. Clearly this was another of my hatchlings that had hatched in the yard and then while still small had made its way through my fence. My guess is that it was at least two years old given that it had not been fed by me and that it was essentially, a wild raised tortoise.
But the point is that the little guy had endured two (maybe three?) full winters in South Florida and during that time there were several cold snaps where temperatures had dipped into the upper 30s or low 40s.
I would never recommend intentionally allowing a RF to be subjected to such extremes but then, it does make you wonder.
One last bit of info...my friend Jim Buskirk was studying RFs in the Paraguayan Chaco (a thorn scrub habitat) a few years ago. While there they experienced temps that neared 100 degree F. Then, a cold front came up from the south and within 24 hours there were temps below freezing. Of course, the RFs they had been seeing disappeared.
While it was still hot however, Jim and his companions had observed the tortoises basking in open sunlit areas which is typical behavior. But once it was becoming cold, they had gone to seek shelter in brush piles or armadillo burrows.

 

[terryo]

Amazing....and very interesting Carl.

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

Wow! That is wonderful Pretty amazing... how many days was she out weathering the cold?

 

[blackcat38]

thanks so much for that info
she was out for about one month.

Does anyone know what would happen if I hadn't of found her and she was out through winter?

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

Wow, what did she eat? Any ideas? Is your yard fenced in?

 

[Madkins007]

There are lots of stories about them getting pretty dang cool, and doing so for several days. Some keepers have found their torts with frost on them after an unplanned night in a sudden chill. I found my 5 guys (3" to 8") out feeding like nothing happened after a chilly night with a hard rain.

Red-foot Torts in the Chaco Valley and some other habitats have to suffer heat, cold, and dryness, and are believed to aestivate sometimes to avoid the worst of it. This is not hibernation/brumation and probably would not allow them to survive real, lasting cold with dark days- a nice day the next day seems to be important.

I sorta doubt we could establish a reliable 'lowest temp', since I would bet it depends on the torts age, size, condition, the humidity, soil temps, shelter characteristics, wind chill, morning characteristics, whether or not there was late sunlight to heat things, etc.

I think the traditional '65F' for adults is good, but I no longer freak over sudden, unplanned lower temps.

 

[blackcat38]

Wow, what did she eat? Any ideas? Is your yard fenced in?

Yeah my garden is fenced, but when I couldn't find her after a week or so looking everyday, I thought she must of gotten out. The dog didn't pick up on her till the day she found her wondering by the green house which is in the open, she must of been right at the back of the hedges that I couldn't get to. I'm guessing she just grazed on weeds, I wasn't really worried about food as there are weeds about.

thanks madkins007 and cdmay, you always come through with the interesting facts

 

[dreadyA]

That just shows how tough they really are!