22-11-18, 01:00 AM
(This post was last modified: 22-11-18, 01:19 AM by tommyardin.)
(21-11-18, 09:28 PM)agricola link Wrote: Hmmm. Not so sure about the fridge. We had two, but one passed away 5 years ago. We think he was about 80 years old. Father in law found him in the early 50s while out dog walking. He moved to our house when me and the wife moved in 1986. Lovely old fella. Still got the other one, hes been with us 12 years now, found in church yard, unable to trace any owner, guess hes about 60. Ive called them both "he" but the truth is we never know/knew what sex they are, I honestly think its more likely they're both female, but its irrelevant really as we dont dress them up! They overwinter in the garage, in a box lined with cardboard and packed with hay, from late november till early/late March, depends on the weather to an extent
Hi, it’s true the fridge is the best way to hibernate them.
Some people put them in a cardboard box with straw in it and leave them in an outside shed over winter. The trouble with this the temperature can drop to minus 4 or even 5 and those temperatures can kill them as their blood can freeze, also rats can get into sheds and will bite lumps off tortoise, the other thing that can happen is in February you can get slightly warmer winter sun shining on the windows or the black felt roof of a shed and raise the temperature by 7 or 8 degrees, the tortoises then start to wake up from hibernation the temperature drops to minus degrees again and the tortoise is unlikely to survive. Fridge set at 5 degrees C and all those problems are overcome and you then decide when hibernation is over and it not dictated by the weather. 4 months ours are in the fridge and that’s the way it’s been for 6 years now. Lots on the internet net about it.