I live in an area that is full of tortoises, during the summer days it’s impossible to go outside and not see a tortoise. But as winter gets closer they slowly start to disappear. So this got me wondering, where do they go? Are the tortoises hibernating? To find out the answer I decided to do some research, here is what I found out.
Do tortoises hibernate? Yes, most tortoises hibernate during the winter, while some of them hibernate during the summer. Most tortoises will usually hibernate in a hole that they dug underground.
While most animals are only able to hibernate during the winter, some tortoise species are also able to do so in the summer. During hibernation tortoises do a lot of interesting things that no other animals can do, so let’s take a closer look at how tortoises hibernate, and what makes them so different from other animals.
Hibernation
First, let’s see what hibernation actually means. Hibernation is a state in which some mammals and reptiles will enter during cold periods. When they are in this state, they will reduce their metabolic rate, which means that they will use less energy, they won’t require any food or water, and they will sleep the whole time.
That is the basic explication of what hibernation means. While this explanation covers the basic facts it doesn’t explain how it actually happens, and it doesn’t cover the different things that only certain species can do. So let’s move on to tortoises and see how they do it.
How tortoises hibernate
Unlike most animals that hibernate, tortoises are reptiles. And this means that they are cold-blooded animals. Cold-blooded animals are not able to generate body heat and they rely on the surrounding temperature to heat their body. So tortoises will observe very easily subtle changes in the temperature.
When the weather starts to get cold the metabolism of a tortoise will automatically start to slow down. And as a result, their hearts will start to slow down, along with all other processes that happen in their bodies.
In general, the heart of a tortoise beats between 40 and 45 times per minute, when they hibernate they will slow down to around 10 beats per minute. This should give you an idea of how much they slow down during hibernation.
As a result of this slow down they will need considerably less oxygen, sometimes due to unfortunate situations tortoises don’t have access to oxygen at all, but because they are hibernating they are able to live without oxygen for up to 5 months. They can also survive for 5 to 8 months without any food or water. The amount of time they can do those things varies from species to species, the numbers that I gave you are just some averages.
The fact that tortoises don’t need to generate heat to warm their bodies is also very helpful for them because, unlike mammals that hibernate, tortoises don’t need to use energy to warm their bodies. This also means that they have to be very careful with the place where choose to hibernate. So the fact that they are cold-blooded has its advantages and disadvantages when it comes to hibernation.
Tortoises are able to do all those amazing things because they reduce their metabolic rate. But reducing the metabolic rate can also have some unpleasant side effects. One of the bad things that happen is that they have a hard time getting rid of the lactic acid that accumulates. Lactic acid is the same thing that gives us muscle soreness, so you can imagine how unpleasant it can be for the tortoise to wake up after a long sleep with muscle cramps all over the body.
To neutralize the lactic acid tortoises use magnesium and calcium that they’ve stored in their shells. If they didn’t do that the lactic acid build-up would be too big, and they wouldn’t be able to wake up from hibernation at all.
The calcium and magnesium that they used would have helped them grow, but because getting rid of the lactic acid was more important they had to use it for that. This is another bad side effect, tortoises won’t be able to grow when they hibernate. And growing isn’t something superficial for tortoises, it’s something that can save their life. The bigger they get the fewer predators will come after them.
But in the end, even if they don’t grow it was definitely worth it, because they managed to survive the winter.
Now let’s take a closer look at the specific things that tortoises do when they hibernate.
How Tortoises Find a Place to Hibernate
When choosing a place to hibernate tortoises will be interested in two things. Protection from the cold weather and protection from predators.
Most tortoise species don’t have a favorite place where they hibernate. They will hibernate in any place that will provide the proper protection. So you can find a tortoise hibernating anywhere, you can find them in a pile of leaves, you can find them in a tree hollow, in a burrow, or in a hole in the ground.
Here is a video of a tortoise waking up from hibernating in a hole in the ground:
And here is a video of a tortoise who just woke up from hibernating and just got out of the ground:
When do tortoises start to hibernate ?
Most tortoises will start hibernating in October when the weather usually starts to get colder. At that point, their metabolic rate starts to slow down slowly, until they reach their hibernating metabolic rate.
But it all depends on the weather, not on what month it is. The seasons were never an exact thing, it’s always possible to have relatively warm weather in October and November, or to have cold weather in April. So it usually depends on the weather not what month it is. But in general, October is the month most tortoises start to hibernate.
When do tortoises stop hibernating ?
March is usually when the weather starts to get warmer and when most tortoises get out of hibernation. But again it depends more on temperature than on what month it is.
Most tortoises will resume their normal activities when the temperature is between 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit ( 13 to 15 degrees Celsius ).
When a tortoise gets out of hibernation it will need a couple of weeks before it can resume its normal activities, like eating or drinking. There are two reasons why they do this.
The first is that they need to gather some heat so that their metabolic rate goes up and everything goes back to normal. And secondly, this is also a defense mechanism, in case the weather starts to get cold again they will be able to return to hibernation very fast.
Tortoises are also able to do one other interesting thing very similar to hibernation. Sometimes when it gets cold outside tortoises will not enter in a state of hibernation, but in a state of brumation.
Brumation
Brumation is very similar to hibernation, but with one key difference. During hibernation, the tortoises are asleep, while during brumation they are awake.
During brumation all processes in the body start to slow down, this includes their heart rather, the rate at which they breathe, etc. During brumation tortoises also don’t eat food, or they eat very little food.
Tortoises start brumating when the weather gets cold, but not cold enough for them to start hibernating. A lot of pet tortoises brumate during the winter months.
When tortoises are brumating they do very little, they rarely bask, they don’t look for food or for water, they just walk around, or sometimes they just stay in the same place for hours without doing anything.
Not too much can be said about brumation, it’s just a state in which tortoises go in when it’s cold outside, but not cold enough for them to hibernate. And when they are in this state they don’t do anything.
Here is a video of a tortoise that is in the middle of brumation:
At the beginning of the article I’ve mentioned that not all tortoises will hibernate during the winter, some of them will hibernate during the summer. Hibernation during the summer is called aestivation.
Aestivation
Hibernation and aestivation are identical processes. The only difference is that tortoises hibernate during the winter and aestivate during the summer. But not all tortoises will aestivate, only a few species that live in the desert, and other places with very hot weather will do so.
During the winter tortoises hibernate because it’s too cold for them to find any food, any water, and to live in general. The same thing happens for tortoises that live in the desert, during the summer months. It gets too hot for them to be able to find any food or water and to live in general.
During those hot months the metabolism of the tortoises will start to slow down, and they will usually dig a hole in the ground, or they will stay in the water, or they will cover themselves with mud or the best substrate that they have at their disposal. After that, they will wait for the hot weather to pass.
The key to survival is to find a place where they will be away from the direct heat of the sun. When tortoises aestivate they don’t have any way to hydrate themselves. So if they end up in direct sunlight when they are aestivating, it might be the end for them.
As I said aestivation and hibernation are the same processes, just in different conditions. During both of them, tortoises reduce their metabolic rate so they use very little food, water, oxygen, and energy. And they basically sleep until the bad weather passes.
Related Questions
What should I do if I find a tortoise hibernating? The best thing that you can do is to leave it alone. The tortoise chooses that specific spot to hibernate for a reason. Tortoises know what they are doing when they hibernate, there is no reason to intervene.
Do tortoises freeze in the winter? No, during the winter tortoises choose a spot that is warm as possible to hibernate. Tortoises are generally not able to survive freezing temperatures, so they try to stay as far away from them as possible.
Do tortoises feel cold? Yes, tortoises can feel cold. Tortoises are cold-blooded, meaning that they don’t generate their own body heat, and they rely on environmental heat to maintain their body temperature. And they have to be able to feel cold and heat to be able to choose a good spot to bask.
Do tortoises wake up during hibernation? No, tortoises sleep the entire time that they hibernate.
How long do tortoises hibernate? It all depends on the weather. If the bad weather lasts only for 3 months then tortoises will only hibernate for 3 months. If the bad weather lasts for 6 months, tortoises will hibernate for 6 months.
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