I have two Russian Tortoises that I rescued this summer. They stay outside in a pen and have been doing well. I have also built them a double-boxed hibernaculum, which is outdoors on a covered, shady part of my deck.



As far as I can tell, they have not come out to forage in over a month. I check on them weekly, and they are always in their hide box, buried deep under they hay and partially dug into the ground, fast asleep.



My guess is that they are already gone for the season, but it's hard to say since the temps still range from 40 to 70.



I'm thinking of moving them to their hibernaculum tomorrow. Previously it was suggested in the forum that I should do this mid November.



Any thoughts? They temperature fluctuation has me a bit concerned, but they seem to be already gone, and I just want to be sure. The are where the hibernaculum is gets no sunlight, so I imagine that it is substantially more temperature stable.

[ Hide Replies ]

• Time to hibernate? - time_lord, Mon Nov 9 12:28:25 2009
• RE: Time to hibernate? - VICtort, Wed Nov 11 22:02:20 2009