Drop in Temperature tonight!

[AZDutchess]

We live in Tucson, AZ and have been having a long summer with warmer temps until yesterday and all of a sudden we dropped to 48 as low at night! Our Texas Tortoise is 4yrs old and lives outside, I was planning to let her brumate for the first time that I know of, we have only had her 2 months now, control brumation and start the process this month but mother nature flipped on us.. she went into her box we made for her outside (see pics) but she has been feeding the past week so not ready to be down yet.. I am worried about her out there with the temps at 48 and a full belly, what can I do at this point?

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

How warm is the box? Will the weather warm up soon?

 

[AZDutchess]

How warm is the box? Will the weather warm up soon?

I haven't been able to install a thermostat in it yet so I am not sure, it gets direct sunlight during the day so I know it warms up, I aroused her this afternoon so she would come out and move around. I would guess it is around 55 in there maybe I just know our temps aren't going to stay this low consistently until December maybe.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

I haven't been able to install a thermostat in it yet so I am not sure, it gets direct sunlight during the day so I know it warms up, I aroused her this afternoon so she would come out and move around. I would guess it is around 55 in there maybe I just know our temps aren't going to stay this low consistently until December maybe.

Do you have a thermometer in the box? What about anything in terms of heating?

 

[Jess0813]

We live in Tucson, AZ and have been having a long summer with warmer temps until yesterday and all of a sudden we dropped to 48 as low at night! Our Texas Tortoise is 4yrs old and lives outside, I was planning to let her brumate for the first time that I know of, we have only had her 2 months now, control brumation and start the process this month but mother nature flipped on us.. she went into her box we made for her outside (see pics) but she has been feeding the past week so not ready to be down yet.. I am worried about her out there with the temps at 48 and a full belly, what can I do at this point?

Wow what a great home you have for your tortoise! I also live in Tucson and as a new mom for a sulcata, for the first time I’m scared of this cold we’ve been having!! Just make sure she has an area she can get used to where she knows she can bask. My sulcata knows his area and if he’s cold he goes straight for it. And the humidity is a big thing. It’s been so dry in Tucson, make sure she has the humidity she needs, my little guy has dry skin with the weather and I regret not regulating the humidity sooner

 

[wellington]

We usually dont recommend brumating a new to you tortoise. Only having it a couple months, you really don't know much about it, is it healthy, etc. if he were mine, I would keep him up for this winter. However, you do need to add heat to his night box set on a thermostat and be sure to shut him in it every night and let him out every morning.

 

[AZDutchess]

We usually dont recommend brumating a new to you tortoise. Only having it a couple months, you really don't know much about it, is it healthy, etc. if he were mine, I would keep him up for this winter. However, you do need to add heat to his night box set on a thermostat and be sure to shut him in it every night and let him out every morning.

So here in Tucson our temps are very all over the board in the fall to winter, we can go from days in the 80's to nights down to 40's sometimes even mid 30's for late Dec and January.. the days may not get above 50.. are you saying she would just stay in the box then and not come outside? We normally have her roaming a huge enclosure outside. I know I need to get a thermostat and decide on a heater for the box right away, as all this happened quickly.. we adopted her from a friend that couldn't care for her any longer so I know what conditions she was living before...( 50gal glass aquarium indoors and never went into full brumation just slowed down during winter She's 4 yrs old now but they only had her for a year, so don't know about her previous life.)
I was going to put a little substrate in the box, Repti-bark and a container of water for hydration as well.

 

[AZDutchess]

Wow what a great home you have for your tortoise! I also live in Tucson and as a new mom for a sulcata, for the first time I’m scared of this cold we’ve been having!! Just make sure she has an area she can get used to where she knows she can bask. My sulcata knows his area and if he’s cold he goes straight for it. And the humidity is a big thing. It’s been so dry in Tucson, make sure she has the humidity she needs, my little guy has dry skin with the weather and I regret not regulating the humidity sooner

Thank you, we have a nice area for her outside and then built the box for winter and safety, but I didn't have time yet to fit the box with a thermostat or heater to regulate the temperature for her, so that's my biggest concern right now, since this is her first year outside that I know of.. her previous owner had her inside in an aquarium.. she is 4yrs old though and she was thriving up until now outside. I have a big water dish for her to dip in that she uses regularly and I know she's hydrated, I have seen her pee a couple times while eating. We have watched her drink several times too. But I will put a water container in the box once I fix it with a heat source for sure! Thanks! How old is your Tort? Does he stay outside all winter and does he brumate on his own?

 

[Maggie3fan]

Welcome to the newcomers...but I think both of you need to research hibernation and your species of tort...In my opinion you both are too new with new torts and should not think about hibernation for a year. Sulcata do not hibernate nor slow down in winter. I would never allow a Sulcata to live outside in 55 degree weather...My larger Sulcata is kept at 85 degrees in the PNW. Your Texas tort is so young and new to you and I believe he should be kept warmer than 55 degrees. All my tortoises are kept in a heated and insulated shed with access to an outside enclosure.
My advice is to forget about hibernation for a least a year...

 

[AZDutchess]

Welcome to the newcomers...but I think both of you need to research hibernation and your species of tort...In my opinion you both are too new with new torts and should not think about hibernation for a year. Sulcata do not hibernate nor slow down in winter. I would never allow a Sulcata to live outside in 55 degree weather...My larger Sulcata is kept at 85 degrees in the PNW. Your Texas tort is so young and new to you and I believe he should be kept warmer than 55 degrees. All my tortoises are kept in a heated and insulated shed with access to an outside enclosure.
My advice is to forget about hibernation for a least a year...View attachment 382101

I am ok with her not brumating and won't force it, my questions are what should I do or need to do for her right now to help survive thru this cold spell we just got suddenly? I wasn't ready for it and obviously she wasn't either and she keeps going into the box I made and sleeping and hunkering down now, yesterday I aroused her and she was cold I slowly warmed her against my chest and she made a sigh noise, I put her down in the sun in her feeding area then she ate a little bit and went back into the box. Today I plan to go get whatever I need to prep the box for heat.

 

[Maggie3fan]

Right now you don't need to spend a buncha money for a fancy light bulb...I would buy a 65 watt incandescent bulb for heat, sometimes you can still find them in hardware stores...put him in a warm bathtub and keep it warm for half and hour or more...he needs to be warmed up...

 

[wellington]

You need an incandescent flood bulb for basking under and that temp should reach 95-100 on those colder days.
Then get a mini oil filled radiator heater for the hide box. Set that on a thermostat to come on when temps drop below 80-85. It can drop lower at night but I would keep it in the 70's.
I would also either make that box more cold proof, I see lots of gaps or build a solid and smaller hide box within the box you already have.

 

[AZDutchess]

You need an incandescent flood bulb for basking under and that temp should reach 95-100 on those colder days.
Then get a mini oil filled radiator heater for the hide box. Set that on a thermostat to come on when temps drop below 80-85. It can drop lower at night but I would keep it in the 70's.
I would also either make that box more cold proof, I see lots of gaps or build a solid and smaller hide box within the box you already have.

Thank you! We are building a smaller hide box today to put within it that will be more secure and less "drafty" and I will get a bulb to set up with a thermostat as well. She came out and was basking in the sun this morning so I soaked her in warm water for about an hour, I think she smiled at me.. lol then I decided to feed her because I am not going to let her brumate this year until we are better acquainted with her and her habits, I will just watch her carefully and lock her up at night in the box and make sure it's heated. BTW our temps are up to 77 today! So she's walking around now.

 

[AZDutchess]

Right now you don't need to spend a buncha money for a fancy light bulb...I would buy a 65 watt incandescent bulb for heat, sometimes you can still find them in hardware stores...put him in a warm bathtub and keep it warm for half and hour or more...he needs to be warmed up...

I put her in the warm bath this morning after she came out, she seemed to love it! Now she's doing a walk about in her enclosure after she ate. I decided not to brumate this year, I will just put her up at night and do what Wellington suggested with a smaller hide box inside to help insulate, hubby is building it now. Going to get bulb and thermostat now. THANK YOU for your response and help!

 

[wellington]

Thank you! We are building a smaller hide box today to put within it that will be more secure and less "drafty" and I will get a bulb to set up with a thermostat as well. She came out and was basking in the sun this morning so I soaked her in warm water for about an hour, I think she smiled at me.. lol then I decided to feed her because I am not going to let her brumate this year until we are better acquainted with her and her habits, I will just watch her carefully and lock her up at night in the box and make sure it's heated. BTW our temps are up to 77 today! So she's walking around now.

That sounds good. I would heat the smaller box with either a mini radiator heater like Tom does in his night boxes or with a heated pig blanket on the floor and a radiant heat panel above, all on a thermostat. Then put the basking light in the bigger area. The basking light would only need to be on when the sun wasn't out.
The two boxes will give him the choice to go outside or stay in. Just be sure to lock him up each night in the smaller box, so there is no risk of him sleeping outside when it's too cold.

 

[Tom]

We live in Tucson, AZ and have been having a long summer with warmer temps until yesterday and all of a sudden we dropped to 48 as low at night! Our Texas Tortoise is 4yrs old and lives outside, I was planning to let her brumate for the first time that I know of, we have only had her 2 months now, control brumation and start the process this month but mother nature flipped on us.. she went into her box we made for her outside (see pics) but she has been feeding the past week so not ready to be down yet.. I am worried about her out there with the temps at 48 and a full belly, what can I do at this point?

You need to know the temperatures in the box and also be able to control them. In this thread I show pic and explain a good way to do this for your species:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

This thread explains all the details of brumation, and also what to do if you don't want to do brumation:

Tom's Brumation Thread

Every fall we get bombarded here on the forum with all sorts of questions and problems regarding hibernation and tortoises "slowing down" for winter. The purpose of this thread is to talk about all aspects of this subject, to dispel some of the myths and mysteries, and give a "how to" list of...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome.

 

[Tom]

Wow what a great home you have for your tortoise! I also live in Tucson and as a new mom for a sulcata, for the first time I’m scared of this cold we’ve been having!! Just make sure she has an area she can get used to where she knows she can bask. My sulcata knows his area and if he’s cold he goes straight for it. And the humidity is a big thing. It’s been so dry in Tucson, make sure she has the humidity she needs, my little guy has dry skin with the weather and I regret not regulating the humidity sooner

Hello and welcome.

If your sulcata is large enough to live outside full time, then it is too large for heat lamps. Those are not effective for warming the core of larger tortoises in outdoor housing, and they will slow burn the top of the carapace.

Heat lamps can still work well for smaller species like the OPs Texas tortoise and also for Testudo tortoises, Chersina, and I use them for smaller tropical species too, like my Burmese stars.

Here are two examples of safe and effective ways to heat larger tortoises. Questions are welcome:

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