tortoise hibernation

[slinkycat]

we have a 7 year old hermanns tortoise, he's doing great, only problem is every year we follow the instructions fom the shop we got him from to hibernate him in the fridge. It works fine, apart from that each year he takes up more and more room once he's in his (bigger&bigger) insulated box. last year we tried putting him in a mini fridge, but he's grown again and i know he won't fit again. Other than buying another full size fridge(he does get in the way of the salad and bacon in ours!) can anyone suggest another way of hibernating him? I know it goes against modern tortoise husbandry, but would he be ok in an insulated box in a frost free shed?

[Kleiber]

I haven't got an answer, but I said before that I thought you had a good sense of humour - thank you, you've cheered me up this morning (and I needed it!). I'm just imagining you having to move the tortoise every time you want a BLT!! K xx
ps hope someone does come up with a good reply for you & your tortoise!

[wolf63]

I never use my salad compartments - I could rent them to you for the winter months. We could negotiate a fee.

[jules77]

OMG a tortoise in the fridge!!! I had a tortoise for nearly 40 years before I lost her and I was devastated as she was so tame. Unfortunately she came out of hibernation with mouth rot, and after being tube fed at the vets for a few weeks she died and feel this was partly due to the fact that she kept waking up during the winter wanting to be fed. I had had to keep her in the kitchen as the unheated spare bedroom, where historically she had been kept was being used.

However, having said that, as long as the frost doesnt get to her, you could put her box inside another box and between the two place polysterene tiles or similar and she should be fine, unless you can use an unheated room in the house which had always worked well for us as at least we knew when she woke up. Ours used to scratch the box like mad, and if we didnt get her out she would climb the sides and one day we found her in her box upside down, so were lucky we got to her. Some people use the garage if it is attached to the house as that is relatively frost free, but problem with that is if you use it for the car the car fumes can kill them. Something else I was told was to cover them with a towel or old blanket as hay/straw contains bacteria and mites etc, which can spread disease.

I found the British Chelonia tortoise rescue group very helpful when my tortoise was ill

http://www.britishcheloniagroup.org.uk/

[freak_unique]

Hey couldnt you get one of those under the counter fridge or counter top fridges that you use for caravanning etc?Or is that the type of fridge she has outgrown? I was thinking you meant shed outgrown the tiny mini fridges that hold about 6 cans.

[Kleiber]

Why not get a second-hand fridge? They might not be "A" rated, but they're cheap & I'm sure your tortoise would appreciate it!

[jules77]

found this article on a site which is good reading, as you may be considering putting a fridge in an outhouse or similar

http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/Refriger ator.htm

[WendyS]

For about 25 year I hibernated my tortoise in a wooden box without a lid in hay in a cold garage or shed. But don't put the box on a shelf. If he wakes up he may try to climb out, fall on the floor and kill himself or crack his shell.. But you will have to check him regularly because winters are getting warmer now. I may admit, this is the first time I've ever heard of hibernating a tortoise in a fridge.

[slinkycat]

Thanks for all the replies folks, I do love the shocked reaction it provokes whenever people hear about keeping the tortoise in the fridge! It is the recommended method from experts though, cos of the constant temperature.
Thats a shame about your tortoise jules, must have been very upsetting after having her for 40 years:-(
Will check out the links, but think I'll probably go with the second hand fridge idea - thanks Kleiber - as it what he's used to. Also if he has his own fridge, his bedroom light won't get switched on every time someone wants that BLT!
Glad I cheered you up Kleiber
Wolf - I'm worrying about your eating habits!

[wolf63]

slinkycat

I actually thought that this was a joke question. I never imagined that you would put a tortoise in a fridge.

I have a mega big fridge and there is only me. The bottom shelf/salad bit is always empty. But the rest of the fridge is full of salad and diet coke/pepsi max.