hillfamily Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 Four years ago when I went to get our tortoises out of hibernation I was upset to discover that Malcolm had died. I had checked on Daisy and Malcolm at monthly intervals and had looked at them only 4 weeks before so was a little surprised to find that Malcolm had died Later that afternoon we held a burial ceremony attended by the family and said our goodbyes. 2 months later during a very warm april/easter school holidays, Charlie and I were sitting in the garden enjoying the sunshine and noticed that one of our cats was staring intently at someting........it seemed from where I was sitting that it was a large rock or clump of earth. I thought I had better investigate as the cat was by now getting very interested. It was Malcolm Very alive and very awake He must have been so deep in hibernation that nothing would stir him I even got my mum to check him before we buried him Friends and family still laugh about this. Malcolm is still going strong and is currently on loan to some friends who desperately wanted a tortoise. He's having great fun munching his way through their veggie patch, leaving our Daisy to quietly enjoy life in our back garden without being constantly pestered by an over amourous tortoise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 Pam, that's brilliant! You couldn't have made that one up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 I've done similar with a couple of hamsters. Hurricane seemed to be as dead as a doornail, and rigor mortis had set in, when nudged with a pencil, he flipped onto his side, with his body stiff. I said nothing, but kept an eye on him for 24 hours, and there was no change and absolutely no signs of life, so I wrapped the "corpse" in newspaper and put him in the bin. I went to the petshop and bought a look alike whilst the children were at school, and everything was hunky dory for about a week and then exactly the same happened. So... kept an eye for 24 hours and no improvement, so newspaper and bin again. I went to the petshop and told the bloke what had happened and he burst out laughing, and called me a murderer! I went home and fished Hurricane mark 2 out of the bin, put him back in his cage, and brought the cage out of the chilly room and into the warm and 48 hours late we could hear the sound of his wheel turning and he had come back to life. Him Indoors called him Lazarus after that...the children never understood why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 egluntine, that's hysterical!! we had 2 rabbits which escaped and lived free range (there's a story about the survivor, Rabbit C. Nesbitt, in the rabbits section). they were virtually identical, but after a year I realised we were down to just the one. I managed to convince the children that they were just taking it in turns to sleep in their little nest in the logpile and hence we just saw one at a time... this lasted about 18 months until a friend who sometimes does some work in the garden for us pitched up to do a few bits and bobs. "oh yes" he says - in front of the girls - "see you've just got the one now, did the fox get the other?" at which point I had to come clean! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 oops, should have said, love the Malcolm story too, especially the cat looking at the ground very intently!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jules. Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 Glad to hear about your tortoise I have a spur- thighed tortoise called "Tortie" ( I was only small when I named her). She lives with my parents, & is about 60 years old. She has a habit of wandering,when we got her it was through some children who found her in the street & I was the only one brave enough to pick her up. We managed to get in contact with her owner, who said I could keep Tortie (or Number 42 as she was then known), as she spent 6 months a year away in Saudi. My parents are very fond of her, & that's why they have not let me take her to live with me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 Well lucky for Malcolm that he is a tortoise.... I don't think any other animals would have recovered so well from a stay under the ground Isn't it a pity he didn't come up during the funeral though?? It would have been a unique moment, with a 'what the hell is everyone so sad about' conclusion.... I've heard that about hamsters too... A friend had a 'dead' (I hope) hamster that she didn't dare to get rid of for a few days, as she knew they can appear pretty 'off to heaven' when they hybernate... eventually she burried him and got a new one for her daughter... I sure hope poor Speedy really was gone, and not just snoozing too deep... Although it's not so drastic, my cats often give me similar frights. They lie down on the terracotta floor of the conservatory (it's heated through the floor, cat heaven), and when I walk in from outside, they usually open an eye, or move a bit, or whatever... Occasionally they don't move at all, even if they are not asleep... just lie there like broken cats with eyes open, and freak me out totally... I end up stomping to them in a panic, shouting 'Smokey/Shadow... are you alright??' and then they turn a slow, deliberate 'what on earth are you yelling for?' glare to me... I swear they are trying to give me a heart attack... I'm used to them doing that now, but it gave me a few frights when we first had them!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paola Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, heeeeeeeeeeeee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy-Mama Posted July 11, 2007 Share Posted July 11, 2007 my horses do that in the summer just lye there sunbathing, not moving a muscle with me running up the field frantic because they have'nt looked up (as they usually would) when I call them. I didn't know hamsters hibernated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhapsody Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 Hee hee I can just see a furious tortie face coming out of the ground saying "Jeez- dont you guys ever take a pulse?!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 true, you can just imagine that tortoise feeling totally offended... i'm not sure if hybernating is the right word for hamsters, they are not like tortoises who hybernate every year, mine never did, but i did hear of a few people whose hamsters go into some 'deep sleep' if the temperature drops too much... or maybe they just have a hangover... Glad to know my cats are not the only ones giving me regular frights... We have mornings too when the chooks don't come out of the eglu as usual in the morning, and that too sends us in a panic scramble to the garden, only to find they are perfectly happy... oh dear, all these pets are not good for human heart health!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballgunner Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 hi there i hope you dont mind me asking but what housing do you use for your tortoise, also if a large fish tank would be suitable. as we are thinking of buying a hermanns tortoise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jules. Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 My tortoise lives in a cardboard box filled with straw put on its side in my parents shed. She can come & go in there as she pleases & has full access to their garden, they leave the shed door open. It's only terrapins I would say that can live in a tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballgunner Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 i also have a vivarium but it is quite small i also wonder if the chooks will attack it as they killed a frog the other day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prongs Posted July 22, 2007 Share Posted July 22, 2007 What a mistake to make! It's lucky it could get out of where you buried it else it would of died! Very funny though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mad house Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 We have been told to check on our tortoised every week when they are hibinating,also if you pull gently on one of their legs they will altamaticaly retract it...thus showing you that they are indeed alive!! Even in the deepest sleep they will retract their legs...a tip for next year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillfamily Posted July 26, 2007 Author Share Posted July 26, 2007 We pulled malcolm's leg......... but it didn't move which is what convinced me he was dead. Daisy always responds when you do this and I have to say in the years since so has Malcolm Our tort has a little wooden nest box which is inside a cold frame. We've cut a hole in the cold frame so Daisy can get in and out as she wants and she spends the day wandering around the garden and then toddles back off to her home at night. When we first had them at 16 weeks old they lived in doors in a big tank which we heated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocchick Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 true, you can just imagine that tortoise feeling totally offended... Hamsters hibernate if their temperature drops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
