Russian tortoises are very good at disguising where they've buried themselves. They don't dig a burrow, per se, but rather a tunnel and they fill in behind them as they go...little gophers, or moles.
So when I spied all of them out in the sun one day little over a month ago I figured it was a good time to gather them all up so I'd be sure to have them when the cold weather finally arrived. I set them up temporarily in a 4'x8' cinder block enclosure with lights and water, and fed them daily until the temperature started cooling.
I quit offering food or turning on the light a couple weeks ago. And two days ago I noticed that all of them stayed hiding in the tunnel and not coming out at all. Brumation time!
In the same area (on my carport) I have a smaller cinder block enclosure for brumation. I gathered up a bunch of fallen mulberry leaves and started to prepare the hibernaculum:
As the leaves break apart and settle down, I'll add more to make sure there's a nice, insulating layer to protect the tortoises throughout the winter. I leave the lid closed, only opening it occasionally to make sure all is quiet and no one is on top of the leaves.
In Spring, when the night temperature is consistently 50F or above, I'll prop open the lid. When the tortoises wake up, I give them a good soak and put them back out into their yard. Once our night time temps reach 50F it never gets down to freezing again. And if it rains, I make sure all the tortoises are in their shelters in their yard, and I barricade the entrance so they can't come out and get cold in the rain.
I never bring them back in under lights. Having just spent the winter in cold temperatures, they are acclimated to the ups and downs of temperature change. To bring them in under lights means they would have to be kept warm until the weather warms up enough to put them back out. Leaving them out is much easier on them and on me, and is not harmful for them at all, as long as they are dry.
So when I spied all of them out in the sun one day little over a month ago I figured it was a good time to gather them all up so I'd be sure to have them when the cold weather finally arrived. I set them up temporarily in a 4'x8' cinder block enclosure with lights and water, and fed them daily until the temperature started cooling.
I quit offering food or turning on the light a couple weeks ago. And two days ago I noticed that all of them stayed hiding in the tunnel and not coming out at all. Brumation time!
In the same area (on my carport) I have a smaller cinder block enclosure for brumation. I gathered up a bunch of fallen mulberry leaves and started to prepare the hibernaculum:
As the leaves break apart and settle down, I'll add more to make sure there's a nice, insulating layer to protect the tortoises throughout the winter. I leave the lid closed, only opening it occasionally to make sure all is quiet and no one is on top of the leaves.
In Spring, when the night temperature is consistently 50F or above, I'll prop open the lid. When the tortoises wake up, I give them a good soak and put them back out into their yard. Once our night time temps reach 50F it never gets down to freezing again. And if it rains, I make sure all the tortoises are in their shelters in their yard, and I barricade the entrance so they can't come out and get cold in the rain.
I never bring them back in under lights. Having just spent the winter in cold temperatures, they are acclimated to the ups and downs of temperature change. To bring them in under lights means they would have to be kept warm until the weather warms up enough to put them back out. Leaving them out is much easier on them and on me, and is not harmful for them at all, as long as they are dry.