Russian Tortoise winter behavior

[AbeTheRussianTort]

Hello! I posted here before asking about brumation (which I am not ready to do this year). I live in sunny Los Angeles, and just last week we had a week of rain. Otherwise, day time temperature was/is still around 70F/80F for a few hours outside.
I had finally set up tort box inside, with heat lamp/UV light yada yada yada.
Like today, at 10:30am, it is 76F outside. So Abe is outside but he will go back inside to sleep.
All days last week, he was inside full time.
Question:
1. Why does he still eat less?
2. He does eat, but he is sleepy all the time. Is this normal behavior?
3. I soak him everyday, 15-20 mins, when I am tending the chickens and the ducks. He is perky after soaking, and he will walk around in his garden, but then, he gets sleepy again.
4. I thought the purpose of indoor box is so that he thinks it’s still summer. But why he is exhibiting winter (brumation) signs even though it is set ip correctly inside?
FYI, he sleeps in the laundry room where there is heater, there is a humidifier (one senior hen sleeps inside also), so temperature and humidity controlled.

I am just wondering if all this behavior is normal.
Thank you!

 

[Maro2Bear]

How long do you have your lights set on for? Right now we just crossed shortest “day” of the year and daylight will get longer each day. Your tort is programmed by this. You need to mimic “summertime” both in temperatures and day length.

 

[TammyJ]

I wonder if taking him outside at all may be somehow encouraging him to start brumating? Any temperature difference between his indoor enclosure and outside may be perpetuating his urge to brumate. Just wondering.

 

[Tom]

Hello! I posted here before asking about brumation (which I am not ready to do this year). I live in sunny Los Angeles, and just last week we had a week of rain. Otherwise, day time temperature was/is still around 70F/80F for a few hours outside.
I had finally set up tort box inside, with heat lamp/UV light yada yada yada.
Like today, at 10:30am, it is 76F outside. So Abe is outside but he will go back inside to sleep.
All days last week, he was inside full time.
Question:
1. Why does he still eat less?
2. He does eat, but he is sleepy all the time. Is this normal behavior?
3. I soak him everyday, 15-20 mins, when I am tending the chickens and the ducks. He is perky after soaking, and he will walk around in his garden, but then, he gets sleepy again.
4. I thought the purpose of indoor box is so that he thinks it’s still summer. But why he is exhibiting winter (brumation) signs even though it is set ip correctly inside?
FYI, he sleeps in the laundry room where there is heater, there is a humidifier (one senior hen sleeps inside also), so temperature and humidity controlled.

I am just wondering if all this behavior is normal.
Thank you!

Even if you put the tort in a windowless basement and run super good bright full spectrum lighting for 14 hours a day, they still some how "know" its time to brumate. The light duration and intensity are way lower in winter than summer. Temperatures are much lower too.

You are not comfortable with brumation, likely because you've read "horror stories" from people who did it all wrong, but your tortoise's mind and body still know that it is a normal natural process and the tortoise should be fast asleep in cold storage right now.

What to do about it? Nothing really. At least he is still somewhat active and eating. Some of them just refuse to stay up. That is the part of the brumation thread where I said, "your tortoise may have other ideas..." in reference to not brumating a brumating species. It sounds like you are doing everything right.

 

[Cathie G]

Yes. To all. I have a Russian and he knows when it's time to brumate. I don't let him but I also let him. If that makes sense. I just do his regular care through his sleepy time that's November/December. He isn't active. Doesn't eat much but does eat some. I won't let him sleep for days either. The regular care keeps him somewhat awake. I don't brumate my Russian because he arrived with probably MBD. So if they have problems with their health don't. If they don't have problems learn the exact way to do it first. Then do it.🤗

 

[AbeTheRussianTort]

Even if you put the tort in a windowless basement and run super good bright full spectrum lighting for 14 hours a day, they still some how "know" its time to brumate. The light duration and intensity are way lower in winter than summer. Temperatures are much lower too.

You are not comfortable with brumation, likely because you've read "horror stories" from people who did it all wrong, but your tortoise's mind and body still know that it is a normal natural process and the tortoise should be fast asleep in cold storage right now.

What to do about it? Nothing really. At least he is still somewhat active and eating. Some of them just refuse to stay up. That is the part of the brumation thread where I said, "your tortoise may have other ideas..." in reference to not brumating a brumating species. It sounds like you are doing everything right.

Thank you Tom! Glad to hear that this is normal

 

[AbeTheRussianTort]

How long do you have your lights set on for? Right now we just crossed shortest “day” of the year and daylight will get longer each day. Your tort is programmed by this. You need to mimic “summertime” both in temperatures and day length.

Yes. I set up everything correctly. Today it is a beautiful sunny and warm Christmas with bright sunshine. I took Abe to his outside to play with chickens and ducks…. And all of them were suntanning together…. Sooooo cute! For some reason I cannot attach picture here.