Gosh I'd no idea you had to do this. Probably a stupid question but as someone who knows nothing about tortoises, why do they have to hibernate? Do they need to if they can't do it themselves?!
That sounds really daft but I'm interested now...
they are biologically programmed for an annual hibernation period it is so that tortoises are not eating for 365 days a year and so encourages slow natural growth,to keep it awake it could get bone disease, lumpy shells or cancer.So its better to hibernate