Right now in Phoenix he's doing just fine digging his burrow as it gets hotter. Occasionally, we get into the 30s and sometimes 20s on extreme nights in the winter. I tried looking up the low temperatures in Saharan Africa and couldn't find specific temperatures of where they live. All i can find is "they can stand surprisingly cold temperatures." I assume the Sahara has unusually cold nights as well. Will he be ok or should i put heating sources in his enclosure?
Are sulcatas able to survive extreme cold nights in phoenix?
- Thread starter rowsdower
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- desert phoenix sulcata temperature
You need to find @Tom ’s “Night Box Thread”. - a nicely built night box with a heater is whats needed. U don’t want them sleeping rough, in the cold. Check out Khartoum temps in the Sudan. Cold? Not quite.
Can they survive it? Yes. Some of them survive it some of the time. But some of them die. They should not be allowed to stay underground during your winters. My climate is similar to yours and I let mine burrow all summer long out here, but I close off the borrows in the fall and make them sleep in the heated night boxes.
The coldest cold winter night might drop into the mid-60s there in sub-Saharan Africa, but the next day will be near 100 degrees. Ground temps, where the sulcatas actually spend their nights, are 80 in winter and 85 in summer. This is what we should be trying to simulate.
I don't want my animals to survive. I want them to thrive. I used to keep them colder in winter. The sheds and heating equipment I was using just couldn't keep up. When I finally built a proper night box and started keeping them at the correct temperatures, the difference was astounding.
Here are a couple of examples:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-night-box-thread.88966/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-best-night-box-design-yet.66867/
Your questions are welcome.
The coldest cold winter night might drop into the mid-60s there in sub-Saharan Africa, but the next day will be near 100 degrees. Ground temps, where the sulcatas actually spend their nights, are 80 in winter and 85 in summer. This is what we should be trying to simulate.
I don't want my animals to survive. I want them to thrive. I used to keep them colder in winter. The sheds and heating equipment I was using just couldn't keep up. When I finally built a proper night box and started keeping them at the correct temperatures, the difference was astounding.
Here are a couple of examples:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-night-box-thread.88966/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-best-night-box-design-yet.66867/
Your questions are welcome.
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