Description

Brumation is an adaptation to survive cold winters within a tortoise’s native environment. In captivity, Mediterranean and Horsfield’s tortoises will often naturally slow-down in the winter months responding to exogenous and endogenous cues. For a healthy tortoise of the appropriate species, a controlled period of brumation is normally recommended to help reduce growth rate and allow for natural hormonal fluctuations. Unfortunately, some people still brumate their tortoises for too long and we see complications in late Spring time. This process of brumation in many species of chelonia is completely normal, but actually when it comes to advising about brumation in our captive tortoises there is so much we don’t know, as there just isn’t the scientific data out there. This presentation will discuss key points when considering brumation in a captive setting and help clinicians navigate the process and to understand some potential problems that may be encountered.

Learning Objectives

• Recognise which species would undergo brumation in the wild
• To be able to perform a pre-brumation clinical assessment
• Describe appropriate options for brumation to be able to advise clients
• To be able to confidently discuss how to ‘wind down’ a tortoise for brumation
• Describe appropriate control measures and checks to minimise risks during brumation
• To advise clients on the steps to take for emergence from brumation
• To recognise post brumation complications and formulate a diagnostic and treatment plan