Think our horsefield is trying to hibernate

[LisaGG]

We have had our 4/5 year old horsefield since last summer. Since the weather has got colder, he has started sleeping a lot more and become less active. For the past 3 days, he has stayed burried down deep in his soil and not moved at all. We have now put a night heater in his table too which is on a thermostat to come on when the temp drops below 20 degrees but he still hasn't come up for air. We had decided not to hibernate him this year as we have not yet had him for 12 months. We were going to wait until next year so we could research and do it properly but worried now that he's trying to hibernate anyway. Should we get him out and give warm baths daily to help make him more active?

 

[SinLA]

I was in the exact same boat as you. Here is a great thread to read:

Tom's Brumation Thread

@Tom - When you start dropping temps, do you keep the basking area as is and just drop ambient/night temps? That is correct. I also gradually shorten the length of time the basking light is on.

tortoiseforum.org

I ended up keeping my guy up, though i did prep him for hibernation when he became more active and I decided to keep him awake...

 

[wellington]

20 degrees is way too cold. You need to keep him at 75 day and night, with 95-100 basking and bright lights for 12 to 14 hours to keep him up. They have to be prepared for a proper brumation or they could die, so keep him up. Pull him out of hiding every day, give a warm soak and put him in front of food.

 

[SinLA]

Just to confirm, I believe the 20 is Celsius. So about 68° F …

 

[wellington]

Just to confirm, I believe the 20 is Celsius. So about 68° F …

Still too low for keeping up.

 

[LisaGG]

Just to confirm, I believe the 20 is Celsius. So about 68° F …

Thanks, of course I was talking in Fahrenheit. His basking temp is around 35c/95f and his night temp has been set at 20c/68f but we can turn the thermostat up to 24c/75f if that would be better for him. We woke him up and gave him a nice long soak yesterday and he emptied both his bowel and bladder. Will keep doing that regularly.