Hi all!  I've been dabbling in international tortoise forums again, and have been having a lively discussion with some very keen and experienced French keepers.  They are really quite upset about my fridge hibernation and in the nicest possible way imploring me to think again.

I've explained at length about the way the weather changes constantly here in the winter and how I can manage and monitor all aspects in the fridge but to no avail.  They have accepted now that hibernation 'au naturel' in the coldframe cannot work for me and also  that I don't have a room in my house which is kept at 8C all winter.  Now they are advising me to dig a hole in the garden and bury my torts in a box!

These keepers do not accept at all that temperature fluctuations are a big risk, in fact they say its normal for this to happen.  I haven't worked out yet what it is about the fridge that upsets them so much and I will be sticking with the fridge method this year but its interesting to hear other opinions all the same.

Hi Jonathan,

We had a bit of that discussion on here a while ago. Here is a link to the thread (sorry it's not live, but my browser doesn't work on this forum):
http://www.tortoise-protection-group.org.uk/site/130.asp?tID=496
Tangerine's contribution is the one about 13 messages down.
Tangerine posted a link to a really lovely hibernation box that she uses outdoors (sorry the link isn't live, but you can cut and paste):
http://tortue.forumpro.fr/l-hibernation-f11/caissons-d-hibernation-t49.htm
But I think that the consensus here was that it is just too warm and wet to risk outdoor hibernation in many areas of the UK now (although I know that some people still do it).

Nina

Sorry, I pushed Send before I'd finished. I meant to say that the French reaction using a fridge is probably no different than the average British non-tort keeper's reaction -- one of horror, because it sounds so alien. However, I find that when you explain that you have far more control over the environment within the fridge, and that you do not therefore leave your tort open to the vagaries of the British climate, most people do see the sense in it. {g}

Nina

Thanks for that Nina and I will check out that previous discussion.  I am nervous  enough about the fridge which as you say can be controlled and monitored very closely.  I wouldn't be able to cope with having them outside, box or not, even if the tortoises were content. 

Other aspects of the French tortoise care are basically the same as ours, though they don't generally need an indoors table for a Hermann because of the better weather.

I wouldn't have mine outside, in the ground, partly because of the weather, but partly because of the danger of animals. The latest issue of Testudo (the journal of the BCG) has an article in it by a vet (a French vet, oddly enough), who reports on treatment of a T.g.g. who was severely injured by a rat or rats during hibernation. The photos are horrific. And he says "Such photos are common in hibernated tortoises, where no precautions are taken to keep the tortoise safe from predation." So you would certainly have to make sure your box was rat proof.

Nina

Thanks Nina I'm not going to try the box in the ground.  The more I think about that the more it seems like a rubbish kind of fridge that is very hard to monitor.