Adult Greek Temps

[ShellingtonTheFirst]

I’ve read every care sheet and relevant thread out there before anyone suggests it, as well as doing my own research, but as you all know, there’s so much conflicting information out there and it seems everyone who keeps Greeks keeps them at all different types of temps (at least the ambient!) So, my question is this.

I keep my 4 year old Greek’s basking spot at 37c (98/99f), his night time temps at 18c (64f) and his ‘cool’ end at 26.6c (79.8f). Ambient temps are between his cool end temp and around 34c (93f)’ish depending on where you shoot for temps in his viv.

Does that sound okay?

 

[Tom]

Does that sound okay?

Yes. It sounds ideal. Optimal. Excellent. Great.

The more you read info from other sites, FB, YT, vets, and pet shops, the more confused and frustrated you will become.

In time, you will learn the hard way what works best, or you'll quit in frustration after enough setbacks and failures. I almost did.

The whole point of the threads that I spend hours and hours typing up is to share what I have learned the hard way, over decades of keeping tortoises in almost any way conceivable. Those threads are meant to help people avoid the typical wrong info, pitfalls, and heart wrenching failures that so many of us had to endure in years past.

Greeks are a hardy species, with several subspecies from different parts of the world and different climates. They can tolerate a wide variety of conditions and survive. Many people have a tortoise that has somehow survived in less than optimal temperatures and living conditions and those people often conclude that their methods are great because their tortoise is still alive. They then proceed to go on the internet and tell everyone else to keep their tortoise that way too. We don't want our tortoises to merely survive. We want them to thrive. It is not until someone undertakes years of side-by-side experiments, with lots and lots of tortoises, in lots and lots of different housing situations, that they BEGIN to understand which keeping methods yield which results. Most of the people who argue with me have only ever done it one way and have no idea what they are even talking about. Many have only had one or two tortoises. How could someone possibly know what is "best" compared to other methods with such a lack of first hand experience? They can't.

 

[ShellingtonTheFirst]

Yes. It sounds ideal. Optimal. Excellent. Great.

The more you read info from other sites, FB, YT, vets, and pet shops, the more confused and frustrated you will become.

In time, you will learn the hard way what works best, or you'll quit in frustration after enough setbacks and failures. I almost did.

The whole point of the threads that I spend hours and hours typing up is to share what I have learned the hard way, over decades of keeping tortoises in almost any way conceivable. Those threads are meant to help people avoid the typical wrong info, pitfalls, and heart wrenching failures that so many of us had to endure in years past.

Greeks are a hardy species, with several subspecies from different parts of the world and different climates. They can tolerate a wide variety of conditions and survive. Many people have a tortoise that has somehow survived in less than optimal temperatures and living conditions and those people often conclude that their methods are great because their tortoise is still alive. They then proceed to go on the internet and tell everyone else to keep their tortoise that way too. We don't want our tortoises to merely survive. We want them to thrive. It is not until someone undertakes years of side-by-side experiments, with lots and lots of tortoises, in lots and lots of different housing situations, that they BEGIN to understand which keeping methods yield which results. Most of the people who argue with me have only ever done it one way and have no idea what they are even talking about. Many have only had one or two tortoises. How could someone possibly know what is "best" compared to other methods with such a lack of first hand experience? They can't.

I do trust your expertise Tom, I just worry about Shelly sometimes and like to triple check his conditions are as optimal as possible every month or so. 🥲

 

[ShellingtonTheFirst]

Particularly his ‘cool side’ is very warm and though he seems healthy and happy, I’ve read a few people on this forum saying they keep their Greeks cool end anywhere all the way down to around 20C! It makes me worry that I may be cooking him lol.

 

[Tom]

Particularly his ‘cool side’ is very warm and though he seems healthy and happy, I’ve read a few people on this forum saying they keep their Greeks cool end anywhere all the way down to around 20C! It makes me worry that I may be cooking him lol.

There is what they can tolerate, and then there is what is ideal. Most greeks can tolerate cold temps. That's why they usually do so well in the UK.