Tortoise Hibernation Guide

For 2 weeks before hibernation keep your tortoise's daytime temperature above 24oC. The tortoise needs to hibernate without any food in its stomach so do not feed during this time. Bath your tortoise daily in tepid water to stimulate the tortoise to defecate and clear the gut of waste.

Spend a further 1-2 weeks placing your tortoise in cooler locations by switching off its heating, then moving it to cooler rooms. Hibernation should be between 2oC and 10oC, the ideal temperature is 5oC.

Weigh your tortoise and record it's weight. Place your tortoise in a box just bigger than its self and put in some shredded paper. Put the small box into larger box and surround it with shredded paper, place the whole thing into a refridgerator. Insulating the boxes will reduce the impact of any temporary temperature fluctuation, but it will not prevent freezing if the temperature drops below 0oC.

Throughout the hibernation period always regularly check the temperature within your fridge is a steady 5oC.

Check the weight of your tortoise weekly. Only allow 1% of your tortoise's initial weight to be lost per month. For example, on a 500 gram tortoise allow 5 grams to be lost each month. If your tortoise is losing too much weight bring out of hibernation immediately.

Hibernate a two year old tortoise for one month, a three year old for two months and anything else for three months only. Do not ever hibernate your tortoise for longer than three months. If your tortoise urinates whist in hibernation, warm it up straight away and seek veterinary advise.