Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've kept box turtles all my life, and thought some tortoises might be nice, I don't think I'd be getting any very soon, just eventually. Are there tortoises that hibernate or do they all have to come in during the winter? I live in Northern Virgina, so it gets fairly cold (the coldest night that we had this winter was about 10 degrees F)
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"Let us step out into the night and pursue that mighty temptress, adventure." (Albus Dumbledore)

My menagerie
2.1 Ball Pythons 1.0 Amazon Tree Boa 1.0 Corn Snake 1.0 Dumeril's Boa 1.2 Bearded Dragons(and 11 eggs!) 2.1 Crested Geckos (and 2 eggs!) 2.0 Eastern Painted Turtles 1.1.5 Eastern Box Turtles 1.1 Eastern Red-spotted Newts 1.0 Northern Mockingbird 0.3 Chickens 2.0 Cats 1.1 Ferrets plus lots of mice, goldfish, and feeder insects

Hay I like that little quote!"let us not go quitely into that last goodnight"(or something like that) Dylan Thomas "I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours" Bob Dylan. Any other sayings about "night" this could be fun although off topic!Or are there any sayings/poems/quotes about tortoises? Its been boreing here lately.Vic

Some tortoises pretty much always brumate in the wild- Russian's, for example.

Some tortoises brumate in the wild in some parts of their climate or when conditions warrant. Greeks, Hermanns, etc.

Some tortoises do not brumate in the wild (or only do so in unusual conditions)- Red-foots, Sulcata, etc.

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Richard -amazoa-

"Changes in behavior occur when the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change."

Could a Russian Tortoise hibernate in Northern Va? What about Greeks and Hermanns? If I got a tortoise, could I safely burmate it in my yard? If not, could I keep it in a cool place like my basement(about 50 or 60 degrees)for the winter?
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"Let us step out into the night and pursue that mighty temptress, adventure." (Albus Dumbledore)

My menagerie
2.1 Ball Pythons 1.0 Amazon Tree Boa 1.0 Corn Snake 1.0 Dumeril's Boa 1.2.10 Bearded Dragons 2.1 Crested Geckos (and 2 eggs!) 1.1.4 Eastern Box Turtles 1.0 Northern Mockingbird 0.3 Chickens 2.0 Cats 1.1 Ferrets plus lots of mice, goldfish, and feeder insects

I would opt for the basement with a substrate deep enough they could bury down in such as cypress mulch. I keep redfoots, elongated tortoises so maybe some other breeders will give their opinions here. Good luck Rick
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Richard -amazoa-

"Changes in behavior occur when the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change."