Im So Gutted One Of My Tortoises Have Died

pepsirat

pepsirat

Regular Member
I was putting my birds to bed, and decided to check on my hybernating tortoise. When i opened there special tortoise hutch i noted there was something wrong my smaller tortoise was on his side. I check them once a week to see how they are doing. His weight was good for his size, my other tortoise is fine but i brought him in now. Zuse who has died was four and this was his second hibernation. My other tortoise Moby is five and is now walking along the floor, took him a little bit to wake up.


I also found a mouse living behind the hutch but if it was the mouse would it not of gone for my other tortoise. I hope he has just died in his sleep. I feed my tortoise on a good diet of mainly weeds i grow for them, with a bit of fruit and veg. Dose anyone sals have tortoises. 
 
So sorry to hear of this, how would he have got on his side, did he wake and get stuck do you think? Mandi has got tortoises, and I dont think she let's them hibernate, or didn't used to @mandi  


Really sorry Pepsirat ?
 
He might of done. I never use to hibernate them but was told i should. Im not hibernating Moby anymore. 
 
He was a bit bigger than the first photo but he was always a smaller tortoise than Moby. Moby eats like a pig, while zuse took some convincing to eat.
 
I don't have my torts now but was never brave enough to hibernate


Was told it's not a must and also with our mild winters the fridge method is the best way


It all just scared me too much


So sorry for your loss xx
 
Yeah when i first got them i was not going to hibernate them but was talked into by another tortoise owner. I will not hybernate again, going to take Moby for a health check.
 
Well I'm going to bed now. Moby has had a warm bath and belive it or not has had a bite out of a cucumber. 


This is the reson I hibernated 


I have been hibernating torts successfully for the past 30 years. So I thought I would post the following information for the benefit of tortoise owners everywhere......Hibernation is an essential part of a Hermanns' life. Because it begins at a cellular level in each individual tortoise you could say it's in a torts bones. They are predisposed both physically and genetically to hibernation.When a tortoise hibernates it becomes biologically programmed to do so for the rest of its life. That is why it is so difficult to keep a tortoise up at a time when it should be hibernating. It is hard for a tortoise to fight this natural instinct. And so it can be seen that more than just heat and light is involved. Indeed a tortoise's biological clock will tell it when hibernation time comes around each year.Hibernation is the most natural thing in the world for a Hermanns'. They are cold blooded creatures and are not designed to be active and eating all year round. Hibernation offers them a rest period in which their metabolism slows down and they get a chance to recharge themselves before the season begins again in spring.Those of us who have studied natural history understand that Hermanns' have evolved as cold blooded creatures over many thousands of years and are designed to hibernate. Any other approach is not only unnatural but wrong.Moreover, there is a wealth of experience that shows hibernation is in fact beneficial. I have a 50 year old female Hermanns' that I have been hibernating successfully for the past 30 years. She has never had any health problems. I put her constant good health and great longevity down to the fact that she has always been hibernated.So, if you want your tortoise to live a long, healthy and happy life then I would highly recommend hibernation.Darran the owner of this website and forum has a very useful guide to hibernation on the homepage. New and experienced owners would do well to read this information and apply it when hibernating their torts.


I just feel like iv let them down by hibernating, I checked on them they seemed fine.


Anyway sorry about rambling on I realy loved my tortoise. Right going to bed.
 
Sorry for your loss :(  


It's an animal that has always fascinated me, my great aunt had one when i was a wee sprog she said it was really really old and had been her mothers before her (great aunt was in her 60's back then) always thought them way too specialised for me to have one, just the same as snakes and lizards they fascinate me too. I enjoyed your ramble of information :)  
 
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