Time to get up!

[dorkins]

Hi all, on recommendations on here I hibernated my tortoise in the fridge for the first time in his 50 odd years of his life, this was because of the temperatures being too warm for him to hibernate at his usual time (Sept/Oct) he always got up around Christmas time and now he has been successfully hibernating now for 3 months (checked monthly, weight loss has been fine) I would be happier in getting him up, I have all the facilities to keep him happy until he can go out, the question is what is the best procedure to follow? he has been at a constant 5/6 degC, he is due for a weight check but thought it best to use this "disturbance" to make the necessary arrangements. Should it be a gradual temp.increase? I can raise his temps slowly over a period of time or could it be a 5 -10 deg jump?
Ideally I would like to put him in the coolest room in the house to start but this is at 15degC or should I put him in 20degC with his lamp etc a big jump of 15+degC
Your advice greatly appreciated as always.

Nigel.

[Nina]

Hi Nigel,

I'm so glad that he has had a good hibernation, and 12 weeks for his first hibernation is probably long enough, so it's good to wake him up soon (they can go as long as 14 weeks, but it's not recommended to hibernate longer than that because their immune systems start to be compromised in a very long hibernation).

Here's a link to a guide to waking up tortoises from hibernation. Have a read of that and then please come back with any questions you might have:
https://www.tortoise-protection-group.o ... 080608.pdf
Although it says to put him in a warmish place to start with, I think you could put him in the coolest room, as you suggested, for an hour or so, and then when he starts moving about a bit, move him to a warmer place. I put mine at the far end of their table at that stage, about 4' away from the heat lamp and as they gradually warm up they walk over to the spot under the lamp, where they bask until back to normal temperatures.

Cheers, Happy New Year, and let us know how you (and he) get on.

Nina

[dorkins]

Thank you Nina, just a little correction, he's had about 50 hibernations! I will go and have a read, like you, I would rather he acclimatised a bit.

Thanks, Nigel.

[dorkins]

Bit of an update, I appreciate that many of you will be familiar with the following but have posted it for those who may not be familiar with fridge hibernation (my first time) and like me maybe a bit nervous, this is my experience so far.

So far everything has gone according to plan , I brought his temperatures up over a period of about 12 hours, first from his 5dgeC hibernating temp to around 10 deg then stepped up to 15deg then to a floor temp of 22deg with a heat/uv lamp giving him a spot of around 32deg. he found the lamp quite quickly and after an hour or so gave him a bath which he drank from and then he had his first meal and went back to bed having eaten quite well. I have learnt that when he goes back to his box I now lift the lid off in the morning to encourage him to find his lamp and start the routine again, his floor temp in his box overnight is around 20deg then the heating brings it up to around 24deg. and it is dark, if I don't remove the lid for light he is inclined to stay in his box.

[Nina]

Thanks so much for the update, Nigel -- and I don't know why I said something about it being his first hibernation (rather than his first fridge hibernation)!

It sounds textbook perfect to me. Out of curiosity, did you weigh him when he went into the fridge and then when he came out? I was just wondering what sort of weight loss he experienced (I'll bet it was minimum).

The temperatures you've got seem OK, but it might be a bit better if you could get daytime temps closer to 30C directly under his light (not measured by a thermometer on a nearby wall), and about 20C at the cooler end of his enclosure. And if his sleeping area is in the cool end then he might be tempted to come out and walk towards the warmth in the morning. They tend to need a temp of around 26C to effectively digest their food, but on the other hand if these are the temps you have always kept him in and it works well for him then I wouldn't change anything, because this is working well for him.

So all in all, are you happy with fridge hibernation, and do you think you would do it again?

Nina