Hibernating a tortoise.

[Fairysparkled]

The daughter wants to do this with hers this winter. This will be the first time, as she has used heat and uv lamps over the previous winters. She has been reading up on this for ages and is telling me that it goes in a fridge after being put in a plastic box. Can this be right.

[evergreen]

We used to put ours in a warm cardboard box in the shed or on top of the wardrobe, I’m going back 40ish years

[Mary A]

Look at the Tortoise Trust website, lots of advice on there i.e. pre hibernation fasting-- but yes, refrigeration hibernation is a thing for some tortoises! One of ours wouldn't survive hibernation so we don't hibernate either of them but they do naturally become less active and eat less during the winter.

[arkv1lla]

Yes it's correct.

We were going to hibernate ours for the first time last year (he was 3 years old)

I took him to the vet for a pre hibernation check and the vet told me there was no need to hibernate him as he was a indoor tortoise (we have a Hennmans)

He said they usually hibernate in their natural habitat as food is scarce and it gets cold, well that doesn't happen with a house tortoise

After much discussion we decided not to to hibernate him. There's lots of arguments about the benefits of hibernating versus not hibernating on many tortoise forums.

Our Scoot is thriving and we're not going to hibernate him this year either

[Mr Tom Morrow]

I find Tortoises intriguing but know nothing about them sadly

However this was on the BBC News the other day and may help somebody out.

bbc/news/uk-wales-54251821

[Loopylooloo]

I kept tortoises for may years, the tortoise trust is very helpful, make sure they dont eat for a good few weeks beforehand, but that they are also able to survive, by weighing and measuring them first. Tortoises are amazing pets, but a lot harder to keep than people think. And a lot faster too!

[Loopylooloo]

I learnt so much over the years, like that they need a bath daily in a shallow dish, so they can drink, and that they can dig to escape, and run fast when the gate is open! They also need a varied diet of mixed weeds, like dandelions, thistles, kale, etc, not just a bit of cucumber, we were advised to make it into a coleslaw type mix, so that every bite was varied,

[Guest]

Yes hibernation in a fridge is a thing for some tortoises. Just rememeber before hibernation to decrease food amount and before packing it up give it a lovely warm bath up to the chin of the tortoise. It should help it poop. You need their digestive tract food free.

[Redsox77]

We don’t hibernate either of ours. They have a uv lamp and heat Matt and a little less active and eat slightly less but they wouldn’t survive hibernation. I’ve heard the fridge is the thing but I’m less certain about a plastic box as they will need air!

[LunaNyteskye]

We don't hibernate ours either. We did research it but decided against it. He's happy enough all winter with his UV lamp during the day and heat pad at night.