First year of hibernating

[KWarr]

Hello
We got our little Horsfield Tortoise, Zippy, in April 2021. I have used your website, forums and database a lot in order to give Zippy the best life . He is a very happy active little chap (or chappess!!) so I have no worries about his health. We didn’t hibernate him last year as it was his first year with us but this year I think he should, especially as he’s put on a little extra weight over the summer munching his way through his weeds in the garden!! I’m v nervous about it though so after some advice. We live in the south of England so I’m guessing the fridge method is the best. I can’t find any details on your site of the exact timings, good fridges etc. The thing I’m most confused by is how I get him from room temp (probably 17-18 degrees even if I turn off the heating in his room) to fridge temperature. It seems a big sudden drop? Any help or advice would be gratefully received. Many thanks. Kate

[Teddy28]

Hi Kate, it might be worth posting again as sometimes posts get missed. I understand you being nervous about hibernation, I had a little tortoise who I adopted when he was 6 who had never been hibernated, sadly a poorly little soul, too much damage before i got him who died. I then adopted a 30 year old chap who was used to hibernating but I didn't hibernate him the first year but we now have 2 hibernation under our belt and approaching our third. I use a Husky beer cooler, bought new as I didn't want to take any chances with a second hand one. I was SO nervous on our first hibernation but Nina shared lots of information and a wind down chartwith me and I also used 2 temperature gauges with probes to measure temperatures inside the beer cooler as well as inside his hibernation box and checked temperatures every day.
Try posting again and I'm sure Nina will share x

[Teddy28]

Have a look at the topic below yours Kate 'Rescued horsfield - weight and brumation' from September 2020, lots of useful info and links if you scroll down through the threads x

[KWarr]

Thank you very much for your reply. I will wait another couple of days then post again.
Kate

[Kirkie]

Hello Kate,

Whilst I don’t keep Horsfields ( I understand they are very good hibernators) I’ve used the fridge method before. I used a beer/wine cooler type fridge as they’re designed not to reach 0C so in the event of a malfunction the fridge can’t hit freezing point. They’re not cheap to buy, for the same price some reptile egg incubators (like the lucky reptile incubator) have a cooling function which will hit 5C.

The important thing is to get it set up in advance and check the temperatures. I used to get the temperature down to 5C , mark that point on the dial then take it up to 10c. When the tortoises went in, I’d gradually dial the temperature down over a week to the spot I’d marked on the temperature control. Do this slowly and keep a close eye on it. You can add bottles of water or similar to help stabilise the temperature.

In regard to getting them from room temperature down to fridge temperature, I used to put them in a spare room and leave the windows open. I’d put them into their hibernation boxes to do this, I use boxes filled with potting compost which they will dig down into. Once the room was getting close to 10c at night I’d put them in the fridge. You might be able to move your tortoise near to a constantly open window to achieve this.

If the tortoise has an outside space, it might be an option to put it back outside whilst we’re still getting some warm sun in the south east? That what I’m doing and last couple of days they’ve stopped eating as the nights have got colder but still come out to bask and drink. Once they’ve hidden away constantly or dug in I’ll move then to their hibernation boxes. Might work for you.

[KWarr]

Thank you that makes perfect sense to open windows to drop the temp. I will look into the fridges and get one soon to play around with it.
Thanks again
Kate

[Nina]

Hi Kate,
I'm so sorry but I missed this entire thread, as the system that notifies us automatically when a new message is posted failed some time in September, and we are only now going through them! There was a huge number of spam posts that came in during that time, so we are gradually going through and deleting them, and many apologies for those too!

I know it's super scary to hibernate for the first time, but here is a guide to winding down your tortoise (preparing him for hibernation) and also fridge hibernating. You might have already seen these, but though i'd post them just in case.
https://www.tortoise-protection-group.o ... cedure.pdf
and fridge hibernation
https://www.tortoise-protection-group.o ... Sept16.pdf
Depending on how much he weighs, you will want to wind him down for 2 - 4 weeks (if he is only small then two weeks will be adequate), and for a first hibernation then 8 - 10 weeks would be fine.

And I also towards the very end of wind down put mine in a room with the radiator off, door closed and the windows open.

It's good to have a thermometer that reads max and min temperatures, so that you can see how cold or warm the fridge got since you last looked. Something like this is useful, and you just sit the display unit outside the fridge with the probe going into the box with the tortoise (this is just an example, and you can get them in lots of places) https://www.pharmacy-equipment.co.uk/pr ... er-tmm105/

Again many apologies for the late response, and if you want to chat further about hibernation you can always post here, or contact me direct at nina@thetortoisetable.org.uk, or we can chat on the phone if you like.

[KWarr]

I’ve just come back and seen this so thank you very much for all the info. We now have our fridge so I’m going to have a good read of all the information and start winding him down. I may have more questions along the way but thank you again and I’ll let you know how we get on!!
Kate and Zippy

[Nina]

Good luck Kate, and let us know how you get on.

Cheers,
Nina