Hibernation time....

[Emma25]

Hello,

A question/advice for Nina please (again!) We have been looking at fridges to hibernate Penny in, and have decided on a under counter fridge which we will hopefully get in the next couple of weeks, we will then set it up and have it running for a while and make sure temperatures are correct and stable before we put Penny in it.

Our plan is to start winding her down round about 11th November, with a view to putting her into hibernation on 9th / 10th December. We have all the guides and weight charts which you kindly sent me in an email and will follow them to the letter.

We have a plastic box to put her in which, we are a bit worried about cardboard boxes after she managed to break through two of them last year. We will of course put plenty of air holes in and we are going to use shredded paper as substrate. We got some strange looks in the shop when we explained why we were checking if the box we have got would fit in...

She has noticeably slowed down now over the last few weeks, although she still has bursts of energy at times and generally causing mischief! She is still eating but that has also really slowed down. She is basking but not as much and she is sleeping alot more.

Her weight on August 10th was 1371g, in September (20th) that went up to 1409 g and then her weight dropped to 1384g on October 22nd.

We are feeling really anxious and nervous about the hibernation, especially after it didn't quite go to plan last year so I am just looking to see if we are on the right track and if our plan sounds ok?

Thank you for taking the time to read and any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Emma

[lin]

Hi Emma.
Nina will be along to answer you as soon as she gets a chance.

Lin

[Nina]

Hi Emma,

Sorry to be a bit late in replying, but I wanted to read through the old posts, so that I can remember what happened last year. You did have a stressful time of it, didn't you!

I think your winding down time sounds good. I can't remember now, but did I send you a copy of the little sheet that I use to record the winding down period? You can pre fill in lots of it (days, dates, hours of heat and light, etc.), so that you have already got the list of diminishing hours of heat and light for the whole period and you don't have to think about it each day, and that makes it a lot easier. My lights are on timers, so I just adjust the hours on the timers each night as necessary. i've attached a copy of the one I used for Doris in 2020 (forgive me if I' posted it last year), and a blank one.
[attachment=1]m_Doris Wind Down 2020.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=0]Wind Down Template.jpg[/attachment]

I think you are absolutely on track, and have all the right plans in place. I think last year you had one of those thermometers where you set the unit outside on top of the fridge or counter and then the probe goes in the box with Penny. Hopefully it has a max/min facility on it, as I find it very useful to know how warm or cold it got since I last checked. Definitely have it running for as many weeks as possible before you put her in. And you'll find plastic box much better than the cardboard ones -- just make sure that she has room to turn around if she wants to (they do move a fair amount in hibernation, but it doesn't have to be that much bigger than allowing her to turn around if you''re short of room). And I would give it probably a fortnight at least before you actually look at her(of course open the door for 5 or 6 seconds a day to waft some fresh air in, but don't take her out to weigh or look at her). I find it really stressful listening to mine scratching around in their boxes for the first week or two (Horsfields are notoroiusly late in settling down), so I just try to stay out of earshot (and pour myself a big glass of wine!).

I also put a small bowl of water in, as a fridge is a very drying environment, and quite a few bottles of water -- I fill the fridge door with water bottles and also put several on the shelves with the tortoises. Once the water it is cold, that mass of water in the bottles helps to stabilize temperatures in the fridge, so that they don't fluctuate as much after the door is opened, etc.

Does that make any sense?

Nina

[Emma25]

Hi Nina,

Thank you for replying, it's great to know it's sounding good and all on plan.

You did send me through the winding down record that you had filled in, but not a blank one so that's really useful and we will print it off and use that one.

We did have a couple of thermometers with probes on, but this year we are going to buy one with a min/max on it (probably two for backup). I think in a post last year you put a link on to something similar which you have.

The box we have allows her room to turn around and dig a little into the shredded paper that we will use.

It really is nerve racking to think of boxing her up and putting her in the fridge! Thank you for all the advice though, it really is helpful and puts our minds at rest.

Many Thanks
Emma

[Nina]

Honestly, Emma, you're doing really well, and I know it's scary (I get more stressed about my tortoises than I ever did about my son when he was growing up!), but you'll be fine. The thermometer I use is this one -- but there's no particular reason why I use that brand, and you can get similar ones in lots of places: https://www.pharmacy-equipment.co.uk/pr ... er-tmm105/ and you can probably find them cheaper as well.

Nina

[Emma25]

Hi Nina, sorry for the delayed reply. Thanks so much for all the help and advice and I keep you updated with the hibernation.

[Nina]

Thanks, Emma -- I'll look forward to hearing a great success story this year! Mine are in their first week of wind down, and I've got my fingers firmly crossed . . . . .

Nina