How often do they skip meals in winter?

[kitxunei]

Our sulcata is about three or four years old and 14 pounds.
We brought him inside for the winter where it’s around 80° with our indoor makeshift basking set up. There has been a day or two where he hasn’t eaten anything and I’m wondering if that’s normal. He has been sleeping a lot more. I know he should be slowing down in the winter, but sulcatas don’t brumate so I’m wondering what is considered normal? Thanks

Edit to note: we don’t keep him indoors over the entire winter - we live in FL, so it’s just during our rare cold snaps.

 

[Megatron's Mom]

Mine does slow down a little bit but has not skipped a meal until once some of my LED lights went out. She was not happy with it not being super bright. Once I fix my lights she snapped back to her normal self.

Even though the room is 80, it's most likely not hot enough to get him wanting to eat. Warm up his basking area to at least 95.

 

[Tom]

Our sulcata is about three or four years old and 14 pounds.
We brought him inside for the winter where it’s around 80° with our indoor makeshift basking set up. There has been a day or two where he hasn’t eaten anything and I’m wondering if that’s normal. He has been sleeping a lot more. I know he should be slowing down in the winter, but sulcatas don’t brumate so I’m wondering what is considered normal? Thanks

Edit to note: we don’t keep him indoors over the entire winter - we live in FL, so it’s just during our rare cold snaps.

You need a heated outdoor shelter connected to the enclosure, or just inside the enclosure. Bringing them "in" doesn't work for several reasons, but mainly because its too cold down on the floor of your house, even when heated to 80 degrees.

Basking areas are not effective for larger tortoises unless you have an array of bulbs and hang them high enough to not damage the carapace. For most people its more practical to just use a Kane mat with a RHP overhead.

Here are two examples of the night boxes. During the colder weather, you just shut them in and close the door. It's fine for a couple of days here and there. During our winter weather, we have cold spells where the high just gets up to 50 and then around freezing over night. I close them in at night and open the doors during the day. They will come out and graze, but then go back inside the warm box. Occasionally, they just stay in for the whole day.

Single Tortoise Night Box

I like my larger tortoises to live outside full time. My climate permits this year round with a little help. For people who live where it snows all winter, this type of box is still good for warmer weather, getting them out earlier in Spring, and keeping them out a bit later into fall. You'll...

tortoiseforum.org

Double Door Night Box

As the years have gone by and I build more of these boxes, I learn more and more each time. This one is the latest and I incorporated everything I've learned over the years. I also tried to take lots of pics so I can explain in more detail some of what is going on. It will take multiple posts to...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[kitxunei]

Thank you so much, @Tom ! I need to build him a bigger shelter anyway, so your tutorials are very helpful. I'll work on building a better outdoor heated space for him and buying one of those Kane heat mats. The coldest it got here was about 50F.

Question: Can you please explain why we don't put substrate in a sulcata's shelter? I built my current night box in a way that it's partially underground, so he burrows himself into the soil when he sleeps, and he seems to like it. Since the bottom is enclosed (with plywood and chicken wire), he can't burrow deep enough to escape. What do you think?

 

[Tom]

Thank you so much, @Tom ! I need to build him a bigger shelter anyway, so your tutorials are very helpful. I'll work on building a better outdoor heated space for him and buying one of those Kane heat mats. The coldest it got here was about 50F.

Question: Can you please explain why we don't put substrate in a sulcata's shelter? I built my current night box in a way that it's partially underground, so he burrows himself into the soil when he sleeps, and he seems to like it. Since the bottom is enclosed (with plywood and chicken wire), he can't burrow deep enough to escape. What do you think?

The ground s a big heat sink. It sucks the heat out of them. No problem in summer, but it's a big problem in winter. They need an insulated bottom.

I don't use substrate because it is not needed and it just causes problems. Just some plain dirt for cleaning.

By the way, chicken wire isn't a good idea under a sulcata. They will tear up their scales trying to dig through it, and a later one can easily dig through it.

 

[ryan57]

The ground s a big heat sink. It sucks the heat out of them. No problem in summer, but it's a big problem in winter. They need an insulated bottom.

I don't use substrate because it is not needed and it just causes problems. Just some plain dirt for cleaning.

By the way, chicken wire isn't a good idea under a sulcata. They will tear up their scales trying to dig through it, and a later one can easily dig through it.

On this front, I figured out how to use Kane Mats indoors very safely. I'm using the large ones with the built in thermostat set to 92degrees and they are plugged into a zoo-med external temp controller set to 89. The sensor is right down the center of the Kane mat in the center using the suction cup that came with the sensor.

The key for fire safety, because I'm using the mat on carpet and under fabric and high density foam, is sandwiching the Kane mat surface area between two non combustible materials. I'm using cement board which is thicker and larger in area, directly on the carpet and 1/4" 3' x 5' Hardibacker on top of the Kane mat. This creates a non-combustible heating area that works absolutely fantastic. Stump wasn't getting warm enough at his size from anything but the Kane mat.

Maybe work out a subfloor like this into your outdoor box and it's no fuss. Build the section for the Kane mat with cement board subfloor instead of plywood, cut some strips of hardibacker for the edge above the floor, nail it down and then put the full sheet of hardibacker on top and voila, you have a fireproof rig with the heat on a section of the floor.