Enclosure prepping for winter

[dholland24]

Hey Guys, I put my two Sulcatas out into this enclosure back in May. They will be two in January, one weighs 6lbs and the other 3lbs.They roam around the enclosure during the day and then I put them in for the night. A lot of time's the gray shade is put up across the middle for them in the summer. My question is , what do I need to do for them this winter? I can add heating lamps to the enclosure that they have very easily. Thanks in advance for any suggestions and I apologize in advance for anything that's wrong with the current set up. These are the first two I've ever owned.

 

[wellington]

If you are housing them together then the first thing you need to fo is seperate them. Tortoises should not be housed in pairs. It's very stressful on them, one will always be bullied and under sized and if it's a Male and female the female will be bred to death by the male trying nonstop.
Then once you have them set up correctly apart, they each need an insulated heated night box for the cold days and nights you will get.
Check out @Tom thread on another night box.

 

[Tom]

Hey Guys, I put my two Sulcatas out into this enclosure back in May. They will be two in January, one weighs 6lbs and the other 3lbs.They roam around the enclosure during the day and then I put them in for the night. A lot of time's the gray shade is put up across the middle for them in the summer. My question is , what do I need to do for them this winter? I can add heating lamps to the enclosure that they have very easily. Thanks in advance for any suggestions and I apologize in advance for anything that's wrong with the current set up. These are the first two I've ever owned.

Here is the correct care info:

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? 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. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

They need to be separated ASAP. Tortoises should never live as pairs. That is why one is twice the size of the other. Here is a way to do it with one night box.

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

This is a way yo do it with separate night boxes, if that is easier for you:

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

Your box should be set to 80 most of the year. I let them burrow in summer, and then block the burrow entrance in fall until it gets hot again in spring. In winter, when the days are cold, I set the boxes to 86.

These guys live underground where they come from and every day is near 100 degrees. Ground temps there are 80-85 year round, and they should not be getting colder than that here.

Questions are welcome.

 

[dholland24]

Here is the correct care info:

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? 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. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

They need to be separated ASAP. Tortoises should never live as pairs. That is why one is twice the size of the other. Here is a way to do it with one night box.

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

This is a way yo do it with separate night boxes, if that is easier for you:

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

Your box should be set to 80 most of the year. I let them burrow in summer, and then block the burrow entrance in fall until it gets hot again in spring. In winter, when the days are cold, I set the boxes to 86.

These guys live underground where they come from and every day is near 100 degrees. Ground temps there are 80-85 year round, and they should not be getting colder than that here.

Questions are welcome.

Here is the correct care info:

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? 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. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

They need to be separated ASAP. Tortoises should never live as pairs. That is why one is twice the size of the other. Here is a way to do it with one night box.

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

This is a way yo do it with separate night boxes, if that is easier for you:

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

Your box should be set to 80 most of the year. I let them burrow in summer, and then block the burrow entrance in fall until it gets hot again in spring. In winter, when the days are cold, I set the boxes to 86.

These guys live underground where they come from and every day is near 100 degrees. Ground temps there are 80-85 year round, and they should not be getting colder than that here.

Questions are welcome.

Thank you for all the info, it is definitely a lot of great stuff. The vet had told me that they were both females and that it would be ok with them together. Do they need to be separated full time? Or just at night?

 

[Tom]

Thank you for all the info, it is definitely a lot of great stuff. The vet had told me that they were both females and that it would be ok with them together. Do they need to be separated full time? Or just at night?

Vets know very little about tortoises. You can't sex them at that size. They all look female as juveniles. The secondary sex characteristics don't show up until the adult hormones start flowing. Some males will flash their penis early, but in most cases this species cannot be reliably sexed until at least 14 inches, and sometimes not until 17 inches. This is in the 20-30 pound range.

They should never be living as a pair. Not as babies and the sexes don't matter. Groups can sometimes work, but not pairs.

 

[dholland24]

Well, guess I have to make some changes! I never insulated their house because of how hot it is here in Houston but knew I needed some changes for winter. It won't be hard to add the heat lamp about them, about 10" above them and on a time from night until morning? Will there be a time that they just want to burrow down for months at a time? Do I need to add enough of the dirt for them to get deep? Thanks for all of your help

 

[Tom]

Well, guess I have to make some changes! I never insulated their house because of how hot it is here in Houston but knew I needed some changes for winter. It won't be hard to add the heat lamp about them, about 10" above them and on a time from night until morning? Will there be a time that they just want to burrow down for months at a time? Do I need to add enough of the dirt for them to get deep? Thanks for all of your help

Heat lamps are not safe or effective for larger tortoises. Yours are small enough that you might get away with it for one more winter, but better to use the heating strategies that I linked for you. Heat lamps will not allow a larger tortoise to warm its core, especially if their plastron is resting on colder ground, and the lamps tend to slow-burn their carapace causing permanent damage. Heat lamps are necessary for indoor baby raising set ups, but I move away from them for larger tortoise species once they move outside and can use the sun as their heat lamp.

The ground is too cold for them to burrow here in North America except in the heat of summer. I let mine burrow from about mid/late June through September. I watch the October weather, and close off the burrow when I see that inevitable cool down coming. For example, right now, we are still having a hot spell with daily highs near 100 for the next week. When day time highs drop into the low 80s or 70s, and nights start getting colder, I catch them above ground and I block off the burrow entrances with a sheet of plywood, and make them sleep in their heated night boxes through winter and early spring. Ground temps where they come from are between 80-85 all year long, and that is what they do best with here too.

A dirt floor in your night box won't work for two reasons. 1. They will dig to China and fill the box with the resultant dirt. 2. The ground acts as a heat sink and it takes a lot of electricity to counter that in winter. You need a solid well insulated floor and you can trow some dirt on top of that if you want.