How do you tell if your pet is ready to hibernate?
If your tortoise slows down, reduces its intake of food and starts to hide more frequently you know to start to prepare for hibernation. Once the weather starts to cool and the days get shorter the natural internal clock of your pet will kick in and there a some important steps for you as the carer to undertake in order that it survives its winter sleep.
Do not let your tortoise hibernate if it has been ill recently as it may still have a disease or infection that could kill it whilst it is in hibernation. If your pet is a hatchling of less that one or two years old it is also not a good idea to allow it to do this. You can prevent your baby tortoise from hibernating by careful control of its environment. It is a combination of external environmental factors as well as its internal clock that determines if and when it will go to sleep for a few months.
How to care for a tortoise in hibernation?
If the signs are clear that your pet is preparing to hibernate, stop feeding it about two weeks before it is put away for the winter. Ensure you do continue to offer it water daily. If there is any food residue left in the gut it could rot whilst it is asleep. Bath it in lukewarm water. You can also start to reduce the photoperiods so that there is less daylight hours and longer nights. This will also slow it down ready to go to sleep.
What should you place your tortoise in to hibernate?
Prepare a small box with some bedding such as fine potting soil or shredded bark. This
needs to be deep enough for it to bury itself in it. Place the box in a
cool area of your home where the temperature is cool and does not fluctuate
vastly. It needs to be above freezing but lower that 60 degrees. Check on it regularly to see all is well but try not to disturb it too much. (you can put your tortoise into a refrigerator for hibernation - ensure you check the details and do some research before following this method)
If your pet lives in an outside enclosure make sure you know where it has chosen to bury itself for hibernating. If the ambient temperature has not reduced sufficiently you may have to dig it up and treat it as if it lived in an inside enclosure. This is very important, if it wakes up during the winter and does not have food to eat and water to drink it will starve. If it does wake early you will have to keep it in a suitable enclosure with adequate heat and light and also of course continue to feed it.
Care of a tortoise waking from hibernation.
Once awake soak in clean lukewarm water and add some drops of reptile vitamin liquid into the bath. Let it soak for an hour or so every day for three or four days and provide clean drinking water. When it has re-hydrated offer it some food such as some red or yellow flowers as this will spark its appetite. Also add some vitamin/mineral supplement to its diet too. Check for any symptoms of illness or parasites. Check, eyes, nose, bottom, shell etc to see all appears well. If you are at all unsure take it to your vet.
Once your tortoise has fully woken, re-hydrated, eaten and started moving around it may be ready to breed. This is the most likely time it may try to escape so be sure you have made its enclosure secure.
Ellie Bear is a tortoise enthusiast and she owns and maintains http://www.tortoisetips.com where you can find much more detailed information on all aspects of tortoise care and tortoise hibernation
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ellie_Bear
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