Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

Baby T has been in hibernation since 12/27. His temps are a constant 52-56 degrees depending on the weather outside. He did have another 2 gram weight loss during the cooling down period the first week but since then he is holding steady at 43 grams. His temps have been stable at around 52-54 degrees and humidity at about 75%. I am wetting his moss weekly along with taking him out for just a moment to get a weight. I am keeping detailed records as this is the first time I have done an indoors hibernation (or any other hibernation) My husband thought I was nuts as I had thermometers all over the house in various locations trying to find a suitable place.

Just wanted to give an update.

Thanks for everyone's ongoing help.

Linda

Sounds like you're on the right track!

I'm glad you updated. I was thinking of you and that baby.

Sounds great, conditions sound fine, glad to hear his doing is well, and brumation seems to be working, don't worry his instincts will prevail and in the spring he will emerge hungry and eat you out of house and home
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

Thanks Jeff,

Hey! Great to hear from you!

Feeding him a balanced diet is a great way to prevent pyramiding. All the vitamins and minerals work together to keep him healthy. That's why you don't want to give him just one type of vitamin when you are supplementing animals; you want to give him/her multivitamins so the body can metabolize all the vitamins better and more efficiently. IF he is healthy (getting enough nutrients), then he won't pyramid. At least, that's what I think.

I wish you well but I worry that your temperature is too high. Many turtles will stop eating at temperatures in the mid-50’s but their metabolism is still somewhat active until it gets colder than that. I always hibernated my Eastern Box female in very damp sphagnum moss in a slightly ventilated plastic box in the back bottom of my refrigerator. She stayed there from October until April of every year. The temperature there was always between 40 and 45 degrees F. and she did well for years. A good source of info on this is http://boxturtlesite.info/dvmhib.html