Hibernating My Tort In Malta

Hello,

I've had my Hermanni for the past 7 months and she seems pretty healthy, she's 14 months old now. I live in Malta and the temperature rarely goes under 15C, so I had in mind not to hibernate her...however she has been sleeping for around 18 hours everyday in the past month. There's a halogen and a UVB lamp in the pen (the pen is open and she can go anywhere in the room) and the temperature is around 29C in the hot spot but at around 2pm she just gets out of the pen and walks to a carpet where she always sleeps and wakes up at around 8am the following day! During this month she was still eating like a pig.

The last 2 days were colder than the norm (around 12C) and she was very reluctant to move, yesterday I left her 30cms away from her basking lamp and she didn't even walk under it (but still walked all the way to her sleeping carpet), today I put her under the lamp but I saw her nodding like she was almost falling asleep...she ate a little less than her normal measure.

Now I'm worried but I feel its too late for hibernation now...and anyways I cannot stand putting her in the fridge. So apart from hibernating her, does anyone have any tips I could use. I was thinking about buying a small heat mat to place under her sleeping carpet but I don't know if this will make things any better.

Thanks

Hi There,
I would provide plenty of heat and light and keep her in her enclosure. Tortoises usually slow down during the winter season and the low surrounding temps might also be affecting her. As long as she is eating there is no need to worry!
Kind Regards
Freddy

Thanks Freddy!

what do you think about heat mats...did you ever use them?

Thanks

Your welcome!
Heat mats are not generally recommended as they can cause severe burns to torts. Hope this helps. Take care.
Kind Regards
Freddy

To increase activity levels you could provide more light and heat and reduce options to get away from the warmth. I think 29 is far too low. As long as the tortoise has the choice to move away from the hotspot you might try 35c. The slowing down is partly caused by the fall in light levels. If you are keeping the tortoise up he may do better with more light.

Hi Ozric,

thanks for your advice...unfortunately she fell ill with some RI last week. I upped her temperatures to around 31c in the mornings and around 22c at night...if I go higher I end up with less than 30% humidity which is still bad (I think).



Thanks again!