My 11 year old Horsfield decided that he didn't want to hibernate this winter. Normally November - February in a fridge with no problem. He woke in December, ate like mad so I decided I'll keep him awake in an indoor enclosure with a UV lamp.
In April he stops eating anything but wants to escape his enclosure. I let him free roam the garden in nice weather but now he will just bury himself underground and if I don't bring him in again he will completely cover himself deep underground. Still won't eat.
He's 130mm long and weighs 600g so within the McIntyre ratio if that helps. Why does he want to sleep now and any advice on what I should do with him.
Wants to hibernate now it's warm weather ?
Re: Wants to hibernate now it's warm weather ?
Hi Mick,
Please forgive this late response to your post! We moved hosts this week and the function that notifies us whenever a new message is posted has stopped working, so we have only just seen your post now.
It's difficult to know the cause of his behaviour, although I did know of one other tortoise (a Horsfield) that was fairly lethargic all summer and then picked up brightly in the winter. You've given some good info on how you keep him, and it sounds like a good balance of being indoors and out, and if he had really woken up properly in the fridge in December then you were right to keep him awake (although I find that my Horsfields can sometimes take two or three weeks to settle down in the fridge (they're notorious for that).
Can you send us a photo of his indoor enclosure -- just in case there is a little tweak we could suggest? What temperature are you getting directly under his heat/light lamp (and this should be measured at the height of his shell, and not by a thermometer on a nearby wall)? And what is the temperature at the cool end. Are you able to raise and lower his heat source, in order to be able to raise or lower the temperature in his enclosure, as needed, if the temperature in the room gets very warm or very cool?
When he is outside, does he go to bury himself immediately, or does he have a bit of a runaround first? What are you offering him as food? If there is something that you know he particularly likes, then you could offer him that by hand. Tortoises love to be hand fed, but it should be kept to a minimum because if you do it all the time they sometimes don't want to eat on their own. You could try smearing some cucumber juice onto a leaf or flower, as they usually like cucumber and will go for that. You can even cut up his normal food into small pieces and mix it all together with some tiny pieces of cucumber, and when he goes for the cucumber he will get some ordinary leaves, etc.
I'm really sorry for asking so many questions, but the more detail we have the more likely we are to find a solution.
Nina
Mick wrote:
> My 11 year old Horsfield decided that he didn't want to hibernate this
> winter. Normally November - February in a fridge with no problem. He woke
> in December, ate like mad so I decided I'll keep him awake in an indoor
> enclosure with a UV lamp.
>
> In April he stops eating anything but wants to escape his enclosure. I let
> him free roam the garden in nice weather but now he will just bury himself
> underground and if I don't bring him in again he will completely cover
> himself deep underground. Still won't eat.
>
> He's 130mm long and weighs 600g so within the McIntyre ratio if that helps.
> Why does he want to sleep now and any advice on what I should do with him.
Please forgive this late response to your post! We moved hosts this week and the function that notifies us whenever a new message is posted has stopped working, so we have only just seen your post now.
It's difficult to know the cause of his behaviour, although I did know of one other tortoise (a Horsfield) that was fairly lethargic all summer and then picked up brightly in the winter. You've given some good info on how you keep him, and it sounds like a good balance of being indoors and out, and if he had really woken up properly in the fridge in December then you were right to keep him awake (although I find that my Horsfields can sometimes take two or three weeks to settle down in the fridge (they're notorious for that).
Can you send us a photo of his indoor enclosure -- just in case there is a little tweak we could suggest? What temperature are you getting directly under his heat/light lamp (and this should be measured at the height of his shell, and not by a thermometer on a nearby wall)? And what is the temperature at the cool end. Are you able to raise and lower his heat source, in order to be able to raise or lower the temperature in his enclosure, as needed, if the temperature in the room gets very warm or very cool?
When he is outside, does he go to bury himself immediately, or does he have a bit of a runaround first? What are you offering him as food? If there is something that you know he particularly likes, then you could offer him that by hand. Tortoises love to be hand fed, but it should be kept to a minimum because if you do it all the time they sometimes don't want to eat on their own. You could try smearing some cucumber juice onto a leaf or flower, as they usually like cucumber and will go for that. You can even cut up his normal food into small pieces and mix it all together with some tiny pieces of cucumber, and when he goes for the cucumber he will get some ordinary leaves, etc.
I'm really sorry for asking so many questions, but the more detail we have the more likely we are to find a solution.
Nina
Mick wrote:
> My 11 year old Horsfield decided that he didn't want to hibernate this
> winter. Normally November - February in a fridge with no problem. He woke
> in December, ate like mad so I decided I'll keep him awake in an indoor
> enclosure with a UV lamp.
>
> In April he stops eating anything but wants to escape his enclosure. I let
> him free roam the garden in nice weather but now he will just bury himself
> underground and if I don't bring him in again he will completely cover
> himself deep underground. Still won't eat.
>
> He's 130mm long and weighs 600g so within the McIntyre ratio if that helps.
> Why does he want to sleep now and any advice on what I should do with him.
Re: Wants to hibernate now it's warm weather ?
Thanks for getting back to me. He was very active and eating from December to February and sometimes I let him roam the house to stretch his legs, He prefers dandelions, cauliflower leaves and red pepper. But since March he stopped eating and when the weather warmed up I let him out and he looked for places to hide where I had to rescue him because he was stuck somewhere. (The black disc you can see is a Bluetooth tracker, so I don't lose him).
But since the weather warmed up and even in the recent heatwave, he would bury himself as if hibernating and I've even left him there for 24 hours to see if he comes out but he just goes in deeper.
The temperature under the UV lamp shows 45c. [attachment=1]20240904_152058.jpg[/attachment][attachment=2]20250505_113622.jpg[/attachment]
But since the weather warmed up and even in the recent heatwave, he would bury himself as if hibernating and I've even left him there for 24 hours to see if he comes out but he just goes in deeper.
The temperature under the UV lamp shows 45c. [attachment=1]20240904_152058.jpg[/attachment][attachment=2]20250505_113622.jpg[/attachment]
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Re: Wants to hibernate now it's warm weather ?
Hi Mick,
Many thanks for the information and the photos.
This isn't an explanation of the problem, but it could be contributing -- 45C is way too hot for him. When the temperature gets above 35C it's actually dangerous, although presumably at the other end of his enclosure it's a bit cooler so he can get away from the heat. Your thermometer is on the substrate, so it will be reading hotter than the air above it, but can you raise the lamp up higher so that the temperature in the able is a bit lower?
What you are aiming for is a temperature directly under the lamp of around 30C and that should be measured at the height of the tortoise's shell if possible, and at the cooler end it should be about 20C. In that way he can move from warmer to cooler areas in order to thermoregulate. I use this sort of thermometer, with a digital display unit that can be placed outside the enclosure and a probe on the end of a long cord that you can hang down into the enclosure. https://www.pharmacy-equipment.co.uk/pr ... er-tmm105/ The added advantage is that it has a maximum/minimum facility, so you can see how hot or cold it got since you last looked.
Has he eaten anything at all since March? Cauliflower leaves and peppers arent the greatest food for him, and at the moment there should be lots of good weeds about and plants in the garden that you can offer him, but for now it's just important to get him eating again. Have you tried hand feeding him, as I suggested in my last post -- that often does work. Have a go and let us know if he goes for that. Do also give him frequent soaks in a container he can't see out of (like an old washing up bowl), in lukewarm water for about 15 - 20 minutes. That will enable him to rehydrate. Tortoises can go for a long time without food, but they can dehydrate quickly under hot lights indoors.
I know this must be really stressful for you, but try and get that temperature in his table down to about 30C or so, and have a go at hand feeding (you could try running some cucumber on his food, as I mentioned before, and let us know if you have any success.
Nina
Many thanks for the information and the photos.
This isn't an explanation of the problem, but it could be contributing -- 45C is way too hot for him. When the temperature gets above 35C it's actually dangerous, although presumably at the other end of his enclosure it's a bit cooler so he can get away from the heat. Your thermometer is on the substrate, so it will be reading hotter than the air above it, but can you raise the lamp up higher so that the temperature in the able is a bit lower?
What you are aiming for is a temperature directly under the lamp of around 30C and that should be measured at the height of the tortoise's shell if possible, and at the cooler end it should be about 20C. In that way he can move from warmer to cooler areas in order to thermoregulate. I use this sort of thermometer, with a digital display unit that can be placed outside the enclosure and a probe on the end of a long cord that you can hang down into the enclosure. https://www.pharmacy-equipment.co.uk/pr ... er-tmm105/ The added advantage is that it has a maximum/minimum facility, so you can see how hot or cold it got since you last looked.
Has he eaten anything at all since March? Cauliflower leaves and peppers arent the greatest food for him, and at the moment there should be lots of good weeds about and plants in the garden that you can offer him, but for now it's just important to get him eating again. Have you tried hand feeding him, as I suggested in my last post -- that often does work. Have a go and let us know if he goes for that. Do also give him frequent soaks in a container he can't see out of (like an old washing up bowl), in lukewarm water for about 15 - 20 minutes. That will enable him to rehydrate. Tortoises can go for a long time without food, but they can dehydrate quickly under hot lights indoors.
I know this must be really stressful for you, but try and get that temperature in his table down to about 30C or so, and have a go at hand feeding (you could try running some cucumber on his food, as I mentioned before, and let us know if you have any success.
Nina
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