Thought I'd give a report of how I put my Russian torts through hibernation this year.
1) They were outdoors from mid-March through most of October. This was a little longer than usual, but the weather was also warmer in early Spring and late Fall. It's usually April-September.
2) I started reducing heat and light in November. By November 12 they were down to 5 hours of light a day.
3) They were mostly shut down by late November. By this time I quit feeding them and was giving them soaks every few days.
4) In early December I moved them to the coldest part of the basement. They were placed in ventilated rubbermaid sweater boxes. The three adults in one large box, and the 2 yr old in a smaller box. I placed slightly dampened newspaper in the boxes. The corner they were placed in was completely dark. The temps ranged from 59 degrees in early December to about 42 in February.
I checked on them one or twice and re-moistened the newspaper if it was dry.
5) At the end of January I pulled the 2yr old out of hibernation. After approximately 62 days of hibernation he had lost 10 grams or about 4%.
6) I pulled the adults out (today) after almost 100 days because the temps were getting close to 60 again.. They had lost 1.0 - 3.7% of their bodyweight. All weightlosses are probably overstatements since my last recorded weighing before hibernation was a couple weeks before they had completely emptied their stomaches.
7) All torts (adults and juvenile) are in the basement. where the ambient temps are in the low 60s. They have 12 hours of light and heat with basking spots in the 85F range. The juvenile is eating enthusiastically and I'll start the adults on food in a couple days.
I hope to have them outdoors again in about 3 weeks. I recently added calcium to the soil in their pens and planted clover.
There were lots of eggs last year but no hatchlings. I'm hoping for better luck this year.
