Starting to wonder..

[AnimalLady]

I know its the time for these torts to hibernate and I was taking this okay for a while, but now i'm questioning if this is normal and what I should do..
Mac is sleeping, A LOT and not really eating very much. He's starting to worry me.

I soak him EVERY SINGLE DAY! I didnt always, but once he started this nonsense Ive had no choice. A couple weeks ago it got a little chilly, coldest I think was in the upper 60's. Since then he's turned like this. I wake him up, soak him, put him on his pile of food. Sometimes he eats and sometimes he just walks over it and back to sleep. Yesterday I was soaking him and when I went to check on him he fell asleep in his soak! His head was rested against the plastic and he was out cold! WTF?! I'll take him out of his home to let him roam and try to wake him up but he'll just walk a little bit and look for a place to sleep! I do know that he moves around as when I get home from work he's just about always in a different spot.. but why wont he eat? He's gone on 3 days now (today would be 4, but I really think he'll eat today) with him not eating! Its not cold anymore!!! Daytime its 80's, sometimes 90's and night time its in the 70s!

Is this normal? Should I be worried, or is this "hibernate mode"?

 

[Yvonne G]

If the tortoise lives indoors and you provide light and heat, I see no reason to hibernate.

If you want him to hibernate, you have to shorten his days (turn the light off earlier), raise the light so it's not as warm at floor level and stop feeding him.

 

[Tom]

How long are you leaving his lights on? What size enclosure and what heating and lighting equipment are you using? Sometimes they need it brighter as well as warmer.

 

[AnimalLady]

He lives outside 100% of the time. Never indoors, only if it gets too cold, dont think thats going to happen...

I dont really want to hibernate him.. i'm scared, havent had him for a year yet! So if he's outside, what do i do? Do I just continue what i'm doing? He cant hibernate outside, it isnt cold enough and I have no intents on buying him his own refrigerator! I feel he's in that "limbo" state that @Tom mentions from time to time.

 

[Tom]

He lives outside 100% of the time. Never indoors, only if it gets too cold, dont think thats going to happen...

I dont really want to hibernate him.. i'm scared, havent had him for a year yet! So if he's outside, what do i do? Do I just continue what i'm doing? He cant hibernate outside, it isnt cold enough and I have no intents on buying him his own refrigerator! I feel he's in that "limbo" state that @Tom mentions from time to time.

Oh. Well that explains it. Its Fall/Winter in North America. Of course he's going to do this outside.

As I see it, your options are to bring him in to a warm, well lit indoor enclosure, or hibernate him properly in a fridge. I don't think you are going to snap him out of this with the cooler temps and shorter days outside right now.

 

[AnimalLady]

So he needs to be indoors. Well that explains it. But its not even cold outside! It doesnt matter, huh?

What would happen if I left him like this? I'm honestly just curious, i will set him up inside today.

 

[Tom]

So he needs to be indoors. Well that explains it. But its not even cold outside! It doesnt matter, huh?

What would happen if I left him like this? I'm honestly just curious, i will set him up inside today.

Its "cold-er"… The shorten day light hours send a signal to their brain too. When the days get shorter in their natural range, it means snow and freezing temps are on the way, so they better get ready to hibernate, which means stop eating and clear your gut while its still somewhat warm and sunny. He doesn't know he's in FL now and it is warm enough to still function.

If you left him outside, he probably wouldn't eat much over winter, and he'd burn through his fat reserves during your warmer weather. Some of them survive this and make it to spring where they start eating and putting weight back on, and some of them don't.

Indoors is a way to create artificially warm, longer, "sunny" days, and make their little tortoise brain think that its not time to hibernate.

Or you could stop fighting nature and just hibernate him...

 

[AnimalLady]

See, the thing with the hibernating him is... I would need a fridge! I cannot buy an entire fridge for this guy, maybe a mini fridge? I think they're like $60...

I would just stop offering food and soaks right now? Let him go into a deep sleep? Would that do it?

How would you hibernate an adult russian tort that lives outside in a warm climate?

 

[Tom]

See, the thing with the hibernating him is... I would need a fridge! I cannot buy an entire fridge for this guy, maybe a mini fridge? I think they're like $60...

I would just stop offering food and soaks right now? Let him go into a deep sleep? Would that do it?

How would you hibernate an adult russian tort that lives outside in a warm climate?

Yes. You would need a fridge to do it right in your climate.

There is a thread explaining how to do it around here somewhere. This is always a hot topic this time of year with the russian and CDT crowds.

 

[AnimalLady]

I figured, i'm going to go look that up and decide. I think its indoors for this year, maybe next year when I know him better.

 

[AnimalLady]

Thanks Tom!