HIBERNATION AND BRUMATION

Before hibernation (brumation) occurs, behavioral changes take place in your tortoise over a period of weeks. By September and October it will eat less. Be sure to offer a drink and a soak in the water dish or basin. The tortoise will spend more and more time in the winter burrow until it no longer emerges.

LOCATION & TEMPERATURE

The best place for both hatchlings and larger tortoises to hibernate is in an underground burrow several body lengths long. Burrows should keep the tortoises from overheating in summer and freezing in winter.

Only in an outdoor setting can the fall and spring adjustment periods proceed normally. In winter, most indoor tempera­tures are too warm and dry to slow the metabolism at a time when a tortoise nor­mally does not eat and is programmed to sleep. A tortoise kept too warm in winter may be dehydrated, debilitated, or dead by spring. Temperatures from 35-50 degrees Fahrenheit are needed during the winter.

Substitutes for an outdoor burrow (see Information Sheet #15) are likely to be too warm, too dry, or dangerous. For example, a storage shed or garage may be too warm in early fall and late winter. If the tortoise is free to walk about, it may become caught among stored items or come to rest in the path of vehicles.

If you confine the tortoise to a box where you cannot check it easily and often, the tortoise may tip over or become very stressed trying to get out. In the fall the tortoise may not be ready for confinement in a box when you choose. In the spring, the tortoise may awaken and become active earlier than you expect.

If you must provide a substitute wintering place, see that the temperature stays between 35 and 50 degrees F.

1. Use a cardboard box with several sheets of newspaper on the bottom. Do not use towels – toenails tangle easily in towels.

2. Place thermometer on the floor of the box.

3. Cover the box with a partly open lid. Place it on the floor where it won’t fall if the tortoise tries to climb out. Make it a convenient location for you to check the tortoise and temperature occasionally and hear any restlessness. See Page ii for securing Information Sheet #15 on alternative locations for hibernation for tortoises of all ages.

Winter construction. If you are constructing a burrow in winter, we can check if for you when it is complete. You can move the tortoise into it as soon as the burrow is ready, even in winter!

Emerging in the spring. In March and April, the tortoise comes out of the burrow with increasing frequency and basks for a few hours. It may not return to the cold burrow but choose superficial cover like a corner or under a shrub. Do not be con­cerned. Your tortoise will know when to use its burrow.

Eating and other activities may not start for days or weeks. On a warm day, offer a drink and soak in lukewarm, very shallow water. Dry the tortoise well after­ward. When the tortoise starts walking about and eating plants, that is the signal to start offering MegaDiet.

The day that a tortoise starts to hibernate in the fall and emerge from the burrow for the first time in the spring varies with each tortoise and may change from year to year. It may have little to do with the amount of daylight in 24 hours or the increasing temperatures, and more to do with the tortoise’s internal ( biological) clock.


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