Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and I have a question about how to keep my tortoise warm in winter. I have a 5-year-old Hermann's tortoise named Leo, and he lives in an indoor enclosure with a heat lamp, a UVB lamp, a basking spot, and a hide. He eats a variety of leafy greens, weeds, flowers, and some fruits. He is very active and healthy, and I love him very much.
However, I live in a cold climate where the temperature can drop below freezing in winter. I know that some tortoises hibernate in winter, but I'm not sure if Leo should do that or not. I've read conflicting information about whether Hermann's tortoises need to hibernate or not, and how to prepare them for hibernation if they do. I'm worried that if I let him hibernate, he might not wake up, or he might get sick or dehydrated. But I'm also worried that if I don't let him hibernate, he might get stressed or confused by the changing seasons and daylight hours.
So, I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with keeping Hermann's tortoises in cold climates, and what they do to keep them warm and comfortable in winter. Do you let them hibernate or not? How do you monitor their temperature, weight, and health during hibernation? How do you wake them up and resume their normal activity and diet? Or do you keep them awake and active throughout the winter? How do you adjust their lighting, heating, and humidity? How do you keep them entertained and stimulated?
I would appreciate any advice or tips from fellow tortoise owners. Thank you for reading my thread and I hope to hear from you soon.
How to keep your tortoise warm in winter?
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VerbotVegete
- Posts: 1
- Joined: 20 Feb 2024, 02:50
Re: How to keep your tortoise warm in winter?
Hi VerbotVergete, and welcome to The Tortoise Table,
You've asked some really good questions, and I'll try to answer them as best as I can.
It sounds from your description like Leo has a good life with you! I'm assuming that his enclosure is a tortoise table (an open box) rather than an enclosed vivarium, so that is good, and his diet sounds excellent as well, and I'm sure that this is why he is active and healthy. The only comment I would make about his diet is to cut down on the fruit. Mediterranean tortoises, like Hermann's tortoise, do love fruit, but their digestive systems don't cope well with the natural sugars in fruit, so I would maybe cut out the fruit or save it for a time when you need to administer medicine. Fruit won't harm him, but it does upset his natural gut flora.
Big questions about overwintering vs. hibernation. Many people do keep their tortoises awake over winter -- either because the tortoise has a health problem and isn't fit to hibernate, or because that is their preference. Because Hermann's tortoises are a naturally hibernating species, it is really best to hibernate them, and they come out of hibernation with renewed vigour.
If you choose to overwinter Leo, it's really important to ensure that the temperature is correct in his enclosure, so he doesn't naturally start to try and hibernate himself. Basically you want to recreate a sunny summer's day, so make sure the temperature in his basking spot (measured directly below the heat source and at the level of Leo's shell) is 30C and that the cool end of his enclosure is around 20C. And you might want to add a little extra light if necessary -- a low wattage eco bulb will add light but not heat, and I sometimes put a low energy bulb into one of those bendy desk lamps and hook it over the side of the table to provide extra light). In most houses you shouldn't need any extra heat at night, unless the temperature falls below about 14C, but if it does then you can use a ceramic heat emitter (produces heat but no light), set on a thermostat to go on when the temps drop below about 13C or 14C. If the room that Leo is in is cold, then you want to lower your heat source to increase the temperature in the table, and if it gets too warm you can raise it further away.
If you choose to hibernate Leo -- and we would definitely recommend this -- we have sheets that give instructions for preparation for hibernation -- which is the most important part -- as well as information for box hibernation and fridge hibernation (which is what most people use nowadays). Because our climates are so unpredictable these days, hibernating in a fridge (it must be a fridge without an ice box), provides a consistent perfect temperature (between 3C - 7C) for hibernating. I know the idea of putting your tortoise in a fridge sounds horrific, but it is actually very good, and each year we hear of tortoises hibernated in an insulated box in an outbuilding without additional heat provision, who die either because of long periods of below-zero temperatures resulted eventually in their soft tissues freezing, or because a warm spell woke them up and they used up their glycogen supply and the owner was unaware that they had woken up.
I would be happy to send you the sheets on preparing (winding down) your tortoise, box hibernation, fridge hibernation, and waking up the tortoise if you're interested. Just email me at nina@thetortoisetable.org.uk . I think it's probably too late to hibernate this winter, but you would have lots of time to think about it and prepare for next year, and we would be happy to answer any questions and support you. I think for a first hibernation I would aim for 8 - 10 weeks, and that can go up to 10 - 12 or 13 weeks as he gets older.
In order to go into hibernation Leo will need to be in very good health, and have an empty stomach and a full bladder. If he urinates while in hibernation then you wake him up to avoid dehydration, but othewise he should be fine. With a fridge, all you need to do is open the door for a few seconds every day, to ensure a little exchange of fresh air.
To safely monitor his temperature in hibernation (either in a box or in the fridge), you can use one of those fridge/freezer thermometers like this https://www.tortoisetown.com/aldabra-tortoise-care/ (you can buy them in lots of places). It has a display unit that sits outside the fridge (and I use them in my tortoise table as well), with a probe on the end of a long cord that can either go into the fridge and through a hole in the tortoise's box, or into his table hanging right down under the light at the level of his shell. It has a Max/Min facility on it, which is really useful as you can see how hot or how cool it got since you last looked.
Oh dear -- I've rambled on far too long (and hope I have sent you to sleep), but I hope it's given some answers to your questions, and please don't hesitate to come back with more questions. What country do you live in (we correspond with tortoise keepers all over the world, and it's always nice to know where they are)? If you'd like to post a photo of Leo in his set-up that would be great (we never tire of looking at photos of tortoises)!
Best wishes,
Nina
You've asked some really good questions, and I'll try to answer them as best as I can.
It sounds from your description like Leo has a good life with you! I'm assuming that his enclosure is a tortoise table (an open box) rather than an enclosed vivarium, so that is good, and his diet sounds excellent as well, and I'm sure that this is why he is active and healthy. The only comment I would make about his diet is to cut down on the fruit. Mediterranean tortoises, like Hermann's tortoise, do love fruit, but their digestive systems don't cope well with the natural sugars in fruit, so I would maybe cut out the fruit or save it for a time when you need to administer medicine. Fruit won't harm him, but it does upset his natural gut flora.
Big questions about overwintering vs. hibernation. Many people do keep their tortoises awake over winter -- either because the tortoise has a health problem and isn't fit to hibernate, or because that is their preference. Because Hermann's tortoises are a naturally hibernating species, it is really best to hibernate them, and they come out of hibernation with renewed vigour.
If you choose to overwinter Leo, it's really important to ensure that the temperature is correct in his enclosure, so he doesn't naturally start to try and hibernate himself. Basically you want to recreate a sunny summer's day, so make sure the temperature in his basking spot (measured directly below the heat source and at the level of Leo's shell) is 30C and that the cool end of his enclosure is around 20C. And you might want to add a little extra light if necessary -- a low wattage eco bulb will add light but not heat, and I sometimes put a low energy bulb into one of those bendy desk lamps and hook it over the side of the table to provide extra light). In most houses you shouldn't need any extra heat at night, unless the temperature falls below about 14C, but if it does then you can use a ceramic heat emitter (produces heat but no light), set on a thermostat to go on when the temps drop below about 13C or 14C. If the room that Leo is in is cold, then you want to lower your heat source to increase the temperature in the table, and if it gets too warm you can raise it further away.
If you choose to hibernate Leo -- and we would definitely recommend this -- we have sheets that give instructions for preparation for hibernation -- which is the most important part -- as well as information for box hibernation and fridge hibernation (which is what most people use nowadays). Because our climates are so unpredictable these days, hibernating in a fridge (it must be a fridge without an ice box), provides a consistent perfect temperature (between 3C - 7C) for hibernating. I know the idea of putting your tortoise in a fridge sounds horrific, but it is actually very good, and each year we hear of tortoises hibernated in an insulated box in an outbuilding without additional heat provision, who die either because of long periods of below-zero temperatures resulted eventually in their soft tissues freezing, or because a warm spell woke them up and they used up their glycogen supply and the owner was unaware that they had woken up.
I would be happy to send you the sheets on preparing (winding down) your tortoise, box hibernation, fridge hibernation, and waking up the tortoise if you're interested. Just email me at nina@thetortoisetable.org.uk . I think it's probably too late to hibernate this winter, but you would have lots of time to think about it and prepare for next year, and we would be happy to answer any questions and support you. I think for a first hibernation I would aim for 8 - 10 weeks, and that can go up to 10 - 12 or 13 weeks as he gets older.
In order to go into hibernation Leo will need to be in very good health, and have an empty stomach and a full bladder. If he urinates while in hibernation then you wake him up to avoid dehydration, but othewise he should be fine. With a fridge, all you need to do is open the door for a few seconds every day, to ensure a little exchange of fresh air.
To safely monitor his temperature in hibernation (either in a box or in the fridge), you can use one of those fridge/freezer thermometers like this https://www.tortoisetown.com/aldabra-tortoise-care/ (you can buy them in lots of places). It has a display unit that sits outside the fridge (and I use them in my tortoise table as well), with a probe on the end of a long cord that can either go into the fridge and through a hole in the tortoise's box, or into his table hanging right down under the light at the level of his shell. It has a Max/Min facility on it, which is really useful as you can see how hot or how cool it got since you last looked.
Oh dear -- I've rambled on far too long (and hope I have sent you to sleep), but I hope it's given some answers to your questions, and please don't hesitate to come back with more questions. What country do you live in (we correspond with tortoise keepers all over the world, and it's always nice to know where they are)? If you'd like to post a photo of Leo in his set-up that would be great (we never tire of looking at photos of tortoises)!
Best wishes,
Nina
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