HIBERNATING TORT WAS LOOKING AT ME!

Started by Guest_kaybee_* , Dec 28 2009 05:29 PM

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#1 Guest_kaybee_*

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Posted 28 December 2009 - 05:29 PM

Hi Everyone! Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas!

I am just a tad worried about my Toby...all my babies are on there 4th day of hibernation and today and yesterday in the afternoons when checking them Toby is looking at me!

Other times he has been asleep. he hasn't actually moved though :unsure:

The other thing is that none of them have dug down, yet they normally used to in there table or outside :huh:

The box temp within the fridge fluctuates between 4.9 and 5.7 deg c

Is this normal? Can anyone help please?

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#2 Guest_cyberangel_*

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Posted 28 December 2009 - 06:34 PM

Dont look to often at your hibernating tortoise in the first couple of weeks, as he/she needs to really settle down. If you keep looking he/she will look back:0)

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#3 Guest_Dawn_*

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Posted 28 December 2009 - 06:57 PM

perfectly normal hun xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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#4 Guest_kaybee_*

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Posted 28 December 2009 - 09:29 PM

Thankyou both sooo much for your replies, thats a relief! :rolleyes:

I feel like I did when I was a new mum, y'know when you keep checking that the baby is still breathing and if you cant tell, you poke them a bit!! :laugh:

I shall endeavour to leave them be!!

I cant wait til this is all over and I can be back to all the normal worries of tortie mother hood!! :wacko:

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#5 Guest_Dawn_*

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Posted 29 December 2009 - 08:32 PM

until next year............................................................................
..

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#6 Guest_dewsy_*

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Posted 29 December 2009 - 09:27 PM

Hi, I have an issue similar to yours. My Toby has been in the fridge for nearly 3 weeks now. He settled down really well and went to sleep almost instantly. However during the second week I accidentally left the fridge door open a little longer than normal (about 10 mins where it is usually a minute. To be honest I got side tracked and forgot how irresponsible!!!). when I remembered there was Toby looking at me. I had woken him up! well I panicked and quickly shut the fridge door hoping he would go back to sleep. (It's my first time at this). Luckily he did settle back down and I have checked on him since. He hasn't urinated and his nose looks clear. I just want to be reassured that doing this has not brought any harm to him, or should I have just kept him awake? PLEASE can someone give me some advice.

Joanne

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#7 Guest_markf_*

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Posted 30 December 2009 - 02:33 PM

how warm was the thermometor??? I think that will be the key.

I know if i left my fridge door open for 10 mins it would be at room temperature. I think small tortoises dont always need to long to wake.

As to whether it should be woken, others with more expertise will know, but could you tell us what the reading was on your thermometor?

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#8 Guest_Dawn_*

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Posted 30 December 2009 - 07:08 PM

Hi Joanne,

Personally I wouldn't worry, I think Toby will be fine. Fridges are good at maintaining their temps and Toby wouldn;t have had time to reach room temp himself. Contrary to popular belief tortoises don't go into a deep sleep - well this is what I was told on another forum by a reliable source!!! Apparently they will open their eyes and move around a fair bit whilst hibernating, not sure if either Terry, Sue or Sandy (who have hibernated for years) can clarify this one way or another?

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#9 Guest_Dawn_*

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Posted 30 December 2009 - 07:12 PM

OMG!!!! LOL!!!! Just re-read my post!!!! I meant that Terry, Sue and Sandy have been hibernating their torts for a long time!!!!! It sounds like I was saying that they personally hibernated!!!!! :laugh:

God I'm digging a deeper hole here!!!

Please except my humble apologies you three....... :wub:

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#10 Guest_dewsy_*

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Posted 30 December 2009 - 08:58 PM

The themometre reads between 5 and 7 degrees. However the temp went up to 16 degrees when the fridge was open. The heating was on and as it is a small room it didn't take long for it to warm up. I have turned the radiator off since. I just hope I haven't caused any disruptions for him and any problems for the waking up period. He is a 4 year old tort and I was going to hibernate him for 12 weeks, do you think this will be okay for him?

thanks Joanne

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#11 Guest_wizzasmum_*

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Posted 30 December 2009 - 09:14 PM

They do move around a fair bit while hibernating Dawn but they should not be so aware that they open their eyes. The movement is in response to temp fluctuation, but so they can dig deeper or not so deep as though underground. Personally I would get a tortoise up if it was truly awake. The reason for not letting a tortoise go back to sleep is because, when they wake from hibernation the body recieves a boost of glycogen. This is a once a year boost and it does not 'recharge' for want of a better word once used. If the tortoise is put back to sleep then there is a danger of post hibernation anorexia when it does finally awake the second time round.
Hope this helps

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#12 Guest_wizzasmum_*

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Posted 30 December 2009 - 09:15 PM

Hmmm - might be a good idea - the hibernation, not the apology :wacko:

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#13 Guest_wizzasmum_*

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Posted 30 December 2009 - 09:17 PM

Personally I would abandon this hibernation if he was mine. I'm sure others might say differently

Having rehabbed torts with post hibernation anorexia though, I'd rather overwinter from this point on.

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#14 Guest_Kila_*

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Posted 30 December 2009 - 09:19 PM

Edit.....posted at the same time as the above posters. Didn't see that you had just been given the below info. Sorry.

From the Tortoise Protection Group website........

"At 10°C (50°F), many of the changes that took place in the tortoise’s metabolism are
reversed – in addition, a chemical called glycogen is released into the blood stream.
This provides the tortoise with an energy ‘boost’ and the tortoise must begin eating
before this initial boost is used up. The tortoise only gets this boost once, and must not
be put back into hibernation once it has woken"

I don't know if this applies in your case. I'm only 2 and half weeks into my first hibernation so I'm nervous of everything! :-)

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#15 Guest_Dawn_*

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Posted 30 December 2009 - 09:46 PM

Agree, if the temp got that high - which wasn't stated in the first post - then I to would probably wake him :huh:

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#16 Guest_dewsy_*

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Posted 01 January 2010 - 07:49 PM

Would you get Toby up now even though he has gone back into hibernation for another week? I'm concerned about this post hibernation aneroxia which I was unfamiliar with before. Have you heard of many cases of this happening? I mean do you think Toby is likely to suffer from this if I wake him up? or do you think that as this has only happened once then he may be alright and not affected at all? I did want to carry the hibernation out for longer than 4 weeks and feel that I've failed if I wake him up too soon. What I'm trying to say is would it be safer if I wake him up now rather than later?

Thanks Joanne

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#17 Guest_Dawn_*

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Posted 01 January 2010 - 08:15 PM

How long was the fridge above 10 degrees?

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#18 Guest_dewsy_*

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Posted 01 January 2010 - 08:51 PM

About 10-15 minutes before I closed the fridge door. It probably took about 5 mins for the temp to drop again below 10 degrees and Toby didn't settle straight away. He stayed awake for a little while. This all happened on Christmas day would you believe so I couldn't monitor him all morning and note the time that he settled back down (it happened about 10 am) as I was going out. However I did call back home late afternoon (3.00 pm) and he was asleep.

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#19 Guest_Dawn_*

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Posted 01 January 2010 - 10:17 PM

If the temp was only above 10degrees for 10 - 15 mins then I wouldnt worry personally. Like you and me, if we were in a really cold room, it would take longer than 10 mins to warm up properly, especially if were in a box with cold bedding.

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#20 Guest_wizzasmum_*

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Posted 01 January 2010 - 11:41 PM

If he was actually awake and moving around with eyes open then I would wake him. He WILL go back to slep if put back in for a week but this does not necessarioly mean all is well. Many years ago lots of tortoises died in hibernation - this was just one of the reasons, others were incorrect emptying, too cold temps and not cold enough temps. It has to be your decision at the end of the day of course.

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