Heat Warnings: Heat can cause serious problems and be deadly for torts.
We often think "well my torts are Desert type and are use to hot arid conditions". Not necessarily !
Over heating & dehydration are two big risk factors in this heat
Heat on the West Coast has been pretty bad this past few weeks. Down in the IE we have had triple numbers day after day.
My Greeks and 2 DT are outside for the summer. I have used sprinklers and the hose to just keep the pens cooler and the torts healthy. The DT have dug in and I am letting them to help escape the heat.
The Greeks have hides and plants to hide under as they do not burrow but do bury themselves.
Please keep your torts well hydrated in the heat. Though mine are outside and have access to water constantly and I have used sprinklers and just run the hose. My adults are doing well passing urates and poo naturally and normally firm poo and smooth urates.
However two of my juveniles who are eating and appear fine, I recently decided to bring inside to give extra soaks and monitor outputs. Dotsy (age; a year and a half) has twice now passed some fairly gritty urates with just a few small stones. Enough to cause concern, and I am glad I brought them in when I did. I am still waiting for Comet to pass urates and will continue to monitor them both until there is on more problems.
When Maggie posted her 'Heat' thread I wanted to remind and Warn people to watch their torts in this heat. As Maggie and I have posted it can do damage if your not diligent and on top of things and heat related problems can happen quickly and when you least expect it.
We often think "well my torts are Desert type and are use to hot arid conditions". Not necessarily !
Over heating & dehydration are two big risk factors in this heat
Heat on the West Coast has been pretty bad this past few weeks. Down in the IE we have had triple numbers day after day.
My Greeks and 2 DT are outside for the summer. I have used sprinklers and the hose to just keep the pens cooler and the torts healthy. The DT have dug in and I am letting them to help escape the heat.
The Greeks have hides and plants to hide under as they do not burrow but do bury themselves.
Please keep your torts well hydrated in the heat. Though mine are outside and have access to water constantly and I have used sprinklers and just run the hose. My adults are doing well passing urates and poo naturally and normally firm poo and smooth urates.
However two of my juveniles who are eating and appear fine, I recently decided to bring inside to give extra soaks and monitor outputs. Dotsy (age; a year and a half) has twice now passed some fairly gritty urates with just a few small stones. Enough to cause concern, and I am glad I brought them in when I did. I am still waiting for Comet to pass urates and will continue to monitor them both until there is on more problems.
When Maggie posted her 'Heat' thread I wanted to remind and Warn people to watch their torts in this heat. As Maggie and I have posted it can do damage if your not diligent and on top of things and heat related problems can happen quickly and when you least expect it.