Why Hibernate?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[Rocky5]

okay im getting a med - spur thighed tortoise and i have no idea what i keep on seeing "hibernate" everywhere.... there is no clear awnser of what will happen if you dont hibernate... can you please explain to me why it is needed?

[purplepixie]

Because thats what hibernating speices do, its part of the life cycle.

[Rocky5]

yah but if i keep it in doors.... it shouldnt NEED to hibernate if i keep the timers and temp at summer right?

[YummyMummy04]

Originally Posted by Rocky5

yah but if i keep it in doors.... it shouldnt NEED to hibernate if i keep the timers and temp at summer right?

I think you need to research some more maybe...

[LiamRatSnake]

Hibernation is a natural thing. Some will argue that it's unnecessary but it can lead to pyramiding in torts which wouldn't naturally feed all year round.

[fatfecker]

It will tend to get slow itself down around autumn time anyway, if you do not hibernate you will find that they will tend to grow alot faster than normal and without access to the suns UV to metabolise calcium you will get abnormal growth, UV bulbs are no match for the sun and overwintering a healthy tortoise is pointless in my opinion.

You say you are keeping it indoors, I assume that was just for the winter period as med tortoises really need decent outdoor accommodation in the summer.

Not too sure as to the long term effects on overwintering healthy tortoises year after year.

[daysleeper1985]

I would say from this a much larger issue is the one of you planning on keeping it indoors all year round. Tortoises are not domesticated animals, they come from outside and thrive in that environment. I have said this to many people and have had it said to me, if you can't provide an outside envrironment for your tortoise for at least the summer months then you shouldn't be getting tortoise at all. The only time a lot of successful keepers bring their torts indoors is when they are being wound down for hibernation or being brought out of it...

[Rocky5]

Well...what i was planning on doing was in the summer putting it in a self-made play ground so it cant escape and have chicken wire above it, and when it starts getting dark id bring him in and either let him roam around the room then at night put it in its desk top home

[annsimpson1]

letting a tort roam around the floor is a bad idea full stop, there have been incidents of them getting forgotten then trodden on, of picking up and eating things such as hair and fluff to say nothing of the fact there will be no uv or heat (torts don't get warm from the ambient temp) and as for hibernating there haven't been enough torts not hibernated over a number of years to prove that it doesn't do long term harm. Getting the conditions right to overwinter can be harder than hibernating and if your tort decide to do what nature intended and slows down by itself (as mine do) you'll have a real job to prevent it doing so.As far as I'm concerned when I decided to keep torts I knew they are a hibernating species and was prepared for that if I didn't or wasn't prepared to do so I'd have not brought them.

[naomij]

i was told by the pet shop ( guessing this is wrong like everything else they told us!) that we should not attempt to hibenate our hermann for a few years as hes too little, so it will be in autumn 2010 or even 2011? is this right? they also told us that by turning off all heating , lamps etc, he will hibenate himself as long as hes in an unheated room like a garage, and will be able to do this in his own house? again, is this right or is the fridge method as advised on this forum correct?

what age did you 1st hibenate your tort?