baby spurred thighed tortoise

Question
QUESTION: Hi,
I have a baby 1 year old spurred thighed tortoise, at what age do I hibernate her, people keep telling me all sorts of things, so I do not know whether I should hibernate her or not.
Thank you very much
Christina

ANSWER: Hi Christina, There are two entirely different tortoise species that share the common name "spurred thigh". One is the African species most often called "Sulcata" and this species does not hibernate. Attempting to hibernate a sulcata would very likely be fatal. The other spur thigh is the Mediterranean tortoise often called the Greek tortoise which does hibernate. Let me know if yours is a Greek and I will follow up with some hibernation info.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: she is a Mediterranean spur thighed tortoise.
Thank you

Answer
Hello again, I share the opinion of many that baby and juvenile tortoises should not be hibernated. Surviving hibernation is dependent on health and fat reserves (and correct hibernation conditions of course) and young tortoises naturally have not built up those reserves yet. The smaller the tortoise the greater the chance of hibernation fatality. The prospect of finding your baby dead from doing something that was not essential is too horrible to comtemplate and just not worth the risk. The general rule of thumb is to wait until they are 3 to 5 years old to hibernate. I've included a few of my favourite links on the subject that discuss the proper preparations and techniques for hibernation.


http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/safer.html

http://www.tortoisecentre.co.uk/hibernation.htm

http://www.elandsvet.co.uk/pdf/Tortoise%20Hibernation.pdf