Why do turtles hibernate?

First, the reason why turtles hibernate:

Turtles are cold-blooded animals, and the low temperature in winter makes it difficult for them to move and find food. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce their metabolism to conserve energy. In addition, the cold weather reduces the source of food, hibernation is a kind of self-protection, which can reduce physical exertion.

Every year, when the temperature drops rapidly from 1 1 to 65438+2, the tortoise will go into hibernation. After stopping eating, it will empty the stomach. When the white gelatinous substance is discharged, it means that the bowel cleaning is finished and you can hibernate at any time. When the temperature drops below 13 degrees, you can put it in the water above the turtle's back or hibernate in the wet sand. The tortoise will wake up at the temperature of 15 degrees Celsius and end hibernation.

Second, the turtle feeding during hibernation matters needing attention:

1, breeders must rely on their own understanding of turtles and their own judgment ability to judge whether their turtles have the conditions for hibernation. You know, any form of hibernation is a very "severe" test for the health of turtles.

2. For turtles living in cold regions, the optimum hibernation temperature should be between 7℃ and 10℃. If the temperature is too low for a long time, turtles will die. If the temperature is too high, they may not go into hibernation at all.

3. When the temperature is lower than 15℃, the tortoise will hibernate. If you don't intend to hibernate, keep the temperature at 22℃-30℃. If the temperature is lower than 15℃ and you don't want the turtle to hibernate, you should gradually raise the temperature, don't raise the temperature too fast, and you can't feed it at the stage of neither high nor low temperature. You can only let the turtle eat at 20℃-30℃.

If the breeder wants to check the health status of the hibernating turtle, he should do it at most once a month, unless in a very special emergency, the breeder can disturb a hibernating turtle. This kind of inspection can only be carried out occasionally, and it must not be carried out frequently, otherwise it will disturb the hibernation of turtles and make them unable to completely enter the hibernation state, thus making it difficult to achieve the purpose of letting turtles enter hibernation. Too much disturbance is likely to increase the mortality rate of hibernating turtles.

5. Once the breeder chooses the hibernating containers for the turtles, the breeder must never simply put them at the outdoor temperature and expect this situation to continue until the turtles complete hibernation. This is true of any kind of turtle, whether it is a water turtle, a semi-water turtle or a tortoise. If the temperature is kept below 3C for a long time, it will produce a very high mortality rate.

6. Before letting the turtle hibernate, it should also ensure that the turtle's body is completely "emptied" to avoid rectal infarction caused by temperature drop. A simple method is to let the tortoise take a warm bath for half an hour every day one week before hibernation, which is the key to make the tortoise's gastrointestinal system "clean".

Extended data

During hibernation, turtle's metabolism slows down, digestion stops, circulation drops, and immune and other self-protection systems slow down or stop. So diseases will take advantage of this opportunity, and some seemingly insignificant ailments will bring great trouble to turtles. Therefore, it is suggested that turtle breeders should not let sick turtles or weak turtles hibernate.

For newly hatched turtles, it is best not to let them hibernate for the first two years. And those turtles brought by heat have no habit of hibernating, so don't let them hibernate.

For turtles that can't hibernate, measures can be taken to raise them by heating when the temperature drops in winter. If it is a turtle, you can use ordinary incandescent bulbs or ordinary desk lamps with special bulbs for reptiles (including ultraviolet rays), electric blankets and heating stones for reptiles, or put electric heaters in the room, but be careful not to let the air be too dry; If it is a water turtle, you can put a thermostat in the water (common in fish markets).

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Tortoise (Animal Name)

Baidu encyclopedia-hibernation

Baidu Encyclopedia-Hibernation is the key to raising turtles