Topic: Tortoise Advice Please

[selwyn-smith]

I inherited my fathers tortoise recently, we moved him to my garden shed when he was hibernating , from my fathers shed. I was so relieved when he woke up, I didn't want to be the one to have  undoing of the ancestral pet on my hand!.
I put him in a warm tray of water, as I remembered doing when I was a little girl. I have been doing this every morning to encourage him to drink, and he has, a bit. He has also had a little food but not very much, which is worrying me. I put him back in the shed a night, and now keep him there all day as it has got so cold. He seems to have stopped eating and drinking all together now. Is this because it has got so cold, should I be worried.
Oh such a responsibility! He's well over 67.
He looks so miserable, and worryingly is very similar in looks to my dear old dad!
Any advice would be very welcome.
 Katy

[angle shades]

 :)

my old boy has gone back to sleep, it's too early for them to wake up.

is he awake?

they will only drink,eat and move around when it is warm/hot

I check my old boy every day, but he is in a cardboard box, with shredded newspaper in the house( a cool area)

hope this helps, ask away if you need to, happy to help/ shades x

[selwyn-smith]

Hi Shades,
Thanks for replying, he was a wake and wandering round his new garden. Now he is back in the shed, he is sort of dozing I think, he lifts his head when I go in there, but isn't very interested in anything and goes back to sleep in his hut with hay in.
It's so hard they are not like a dog you tell if they are happy or sad.
I think what I'm really worried about is ... is his lack of energy (moving around eating drinking) due to the cold or lack of food and water?

[angle shades]

 :)

It's because it's cold,

my boy hasn't had food or water yet,he's asleep.

i don't want him to wake up yet, if he starts moving about, i open the back door to slow him down.

if he won't go back to sleep and is walking about in his box and trying to climb out his box we let him walk about in the house in the warm./shades x

[selwyn-smith]

Thankyou Shades, 
That's what I needed to know. I will leave Tim be but keep an eye on him. It's snowing in sunny southern Surrey at the moment!
I'm just imagining you sitting in your house with coats on, back door open but happy sleeping tortoise!
Katy

[Jeannine]

There is a very comprehensive web site www.tortoisetrust.org
I accidently found it a few months ago when surfing for something else.It has tons of info re hibernation.

Warning... they have a page on cruelty to turtles which comes up first so go past it. It's not very nice. XX Jeannine

[Tinkie_Bear]

My old tortie, George, woke up about a month ago, it was so mild there was no hope of him going back to sleep again (but he probably would again now if we let him) We brought him in the house and he is a house pet at the moment.  He is not eating very much but is getting more interested with every passing day.  I took him to the vets yesterday to have his toe nails cut - he was a very good boy!  If you want to keep Tim awake bring him in the house and let him do as he pleases, George is very happy.

Helen x

[selwyn-smith]

Thankyou Jeannine and Helen,

I did bring Tim into the house when I heard it was going down well below freezing, I put him in my studio, without heating, and up until today he has been very quiet, but this morning he was definitely on the move. So we got him up and we gave him a proper bath in warm water, he had a good long drink, and proved to us that things were working both ends, which was a bit of a relief as I don,t think he had been to the loo since he had woken from hibernation.
He tucked into some dandelion leaves, and spent the day menacing the dog in the kitchen.
He decided to put himself back to bed so I have taken him back up to the cooler studio for the night, and will get him up again tomorrow.
So Phew! All systems go, Timmy is up and around for another year.
He was given to my parents 67 years ago as a wedding present from my grandmother ( Strange woman!), and he was the size he is now then, so I don't know how old he is.
He has turned into a bit of a family heirloom.

Thankyou for all your advice,
Katy