The great awakening: tortoise hibernation tips for spring

Wakey wakey, rise and shine you magnificent, shelled creatures! In this guide, the team from Northwich Vets share key advice for helping tortoises come out of their hibernation period in the safest and healthiest way.

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How long do tortoises hibernate?

In the UK, many tortoises hibernate from around November to March. Hibernation is a natural part of their lifecycle and helps them stay healthy. Most of the year they live on a diet of greens and grass in their enclosure and in autumn they will eat more food to build up fat reserves, ready to hibernate through the winter.

Vet Caroline advises that not all species of tortoise hibernate for the same length of time, or at all. Be sure to research your species as well as the best type of tortoise hibernation box, by this we mean fridge, and location. If they appear unwell or underweight, bring them for a Vet check-up before the ‘big sleep’.

Tortoise hibernation ‘recovery room’

When your tortoise is due to emerge from hibernation in the spring, UK temperatures do not get high enough for them to live outdoors. Therefore, for the duration of your tortoise’s recovery from hibernation and the remaining cooler months, you will need to provide an indoor home with sufficient lighting and heating.

Helping your tortoise wake up from hibernation

The best way to help your tortoise wake up safely is to do it gradually. A shock to the system will not be good for their wellbeing. Follow these steps:

1) Choose a sunny day, take your tortoise out of the fridge and leave to warm up in the sun, Weigh them and record the weight.

2) Once your pet is awake and moving around (after a couple of hours), place them in a shallow bath containing warm water. Keep refreshing the water as it will cool quickly-see below.

3) Move them to their heated area where you can regulate the temperature, initially at 25 degrees Celsius, via a heat lamp. Provide UV light also. Weigh them daily & bathe them daily whilst in this heated area. Tempt to eat with weeds and favourite greens to get them eating.

4) Every other day during this period, you should increase the vivarium temperature by one degree until 26-28 degrees Celsius is achieved.

Tortoise bath time!

Your tortoise will want to drink after several weeks of hibernation. Hydration is more important than food in the initial stages of waking up and drinking will help to rehydrate them. A bath will allow them to drink quicker than simply offering them water to drink from a bowl. Here’s what you need to do:

• Use a clean plastic box (empty ice-cream tub, cat litter tray) big enough for their whole body and head outstretched- fill it with lukewarm water up to your tortoise’s mouth so they can dunk their head under and drink without being fully submerged
• Place your tortoise in the container on the floor of the heated area for about 10 minutes – they may take themselves out of it earlier
• Remember to tip the contents down the drain rather than the sink or even better, use it to water your plants! (for hygiene regularly clean the tub separately from other items with reptile-safe disinfectant

Feeding your tortoise after hibernation

Offer food as soon as your tortoise is active on the first day. Caroline’s tortoises tend to have started eating something 4-6hr after waking. If your tortoise doesn’t eat after a week, you should contact our Vets for advice. Your pet may have been hibernating for too long, has a health condition, or their post-hibernation temperature is too low.

Looking after your tortoise’s health

If you have monitored your tortoise’s weight and thoroughly prepared them for hibernation, then your tortoise should be keen to go. If you discover weight loss and dehydration on waking, rapid veterinary treatment will be needed. Also check your tortoise regularly for eyesight issues (including cloudiness and blindness), frostbite and gangrene on the legs, swellings, and green urine.

Finally, here are some top tortoise hibernation tips from Northwich Vets’ team:

• Top tip #1 – If you hear your tortoise moving about or scratching during hibernation, they have probably woken up due to it being too warm. Hibernation temperatures should stay between 3 – 7 degrees Celsius. This is why we recommend fridge hibernation for stable, constant temperatures which can be monitored daily.
• Top tip #2 – If your tortoise does warm up early and starts moving around, metabolic processes will be awakening too. Putting a tortoise back into hibernation can be dangerous for them so you need to get them warm and keep them warm.
• Top tip #3 – If your tortoise poops during hibernation, this is a concern as it indicates the tortoise was not properly starved pre-hibernation. If you see this then there is risk of gas build-up so wake up your tortoise and make a note to self to starve better next year! Urinating during hibernation can cause severe dehydration so you should also wake your pet up if they do this.

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