HEAT WARNINGS for everyone

[Crazy1]

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.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Robyn...That's excellent advice you have posted. Until I saw Bob so limp yesterday I never would have worried about a Sulcata in the heat. I told my son..."But Sulcata live in the Sudan" and my son came back with..."But Bob lives in Corvallis". It's going to be 108 again today, that's just so terribly hot for Oregon. I will keep on top of Bob today and I'm not putting my smaller torts or Queenie outside...seeing Bob like that scared the **** outa me. He is so much a member of my family and I just love him so much the thought that I could have injured or lost him thru my ignorance is just so scary...awful!

 

[Crazy1]

Well I must admit Maggie you were my inspiration for the post. Your 'heat' post and lil' Bits stone has me watching all my torts for dehydration complications. I'm sure glad I am. It could have literally saved Dotsy.
So thanks Maggie and I hope Bob is feeling much better.

I know a lot of us with torts are at work all day and if some are lucky they are in air-conditioned areas. So thinking about the heat your tort is in is not foremost on your mind. The past week our swamp cooler at work has been out in our office area and the temps have been in the high 90s inside. This got me to thinking about just what the torts may be feeling. Odd things happen for the best reasons sometimes. Who would have thought sweating in my office would have helped my torts.

 

[Nay]

Boy, I'd better stop complaining, it's been 70's a few nights in a row here, and late 80's even 90 in the day and I have been a witch!!(hate the heat!) Then I hear 108!!!!! yukkkk. Guess I don't have it so bad.
Na

 

[jlyoncc1]

It has been hot here also. Not 108 but hot none the less. I have been running the sprinkler a couple of times a day and my two smaller sulcatas really enjoyed it! They must have been really hot because they just sat under and drank from puddles even though they do have their new pond. The big guys I had to actually put in the sprinklers where they hung out for a few minutes and then went back into hiding.

 

[egyptiandan]

You can send the heat here I haven't been out of the low 80s all year.

But yes, no matter where a tortoise is from they can't take body temperatures over 100F for very long. Great advice Robyn.

Danny

 

[Isa]

Thanks for the reminder and advice Robyn . Here, it is not that hot outside for the month of July (max 92-93) and it is raining most of the time

 

[terryo]

That was a wonderful post. I took mine in today....rain, like I never saw...off and on. Humidity so high, I couldn't breath out there. Hope it's a little sunny tomorrow.

 

[Crazy1]

Thanks, all. Now all of you are welcome to send some of that rain our way, its way too dry here. Drought conditions and they are talking about rationing water. Though the temps were down a bit today only about 96F. News said there may be an El Nino out at sea that may help with our lack of water.

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

At least in AZ most of ya seem to have AC... my poor 3rd floor apartment doesnt... but I think my RF doesn't mind it lol

 

[purpod]

Oh yes, thanx a bunch for the reminder, Rob ~ luckily for my tort's, T.O has not gotten into triple digits as of late, but one never knows.

And Doc; don't feel badly, I do not have AC in my home either and it has been just awful inside the past two weeks; of course, my leopards are not complaining, but I, like Nay, am not a huge fan of super high temps.

Hey Danny, low 80's sounds GREAT to me, LOL ~

Blessings to all and "May your water bags always be full" {John Norman}
Your 'resident' Purpod Peep

 

[stells]

No chance of any of that over here... to hit 30 C is considered a heatwave lol

Danny you need to get used to the weather you are having... its a typical summer here lol

 

[egyptiandan]

I know I'm trying

Danny

 

[Stazz]

Thanks for the great info Robs ! tallula is lucky to be an indoor baby in THIS horrid heat. We got back to 118F outside....not great after a Wintery holiday LOL ! I still feel nauseous trying to get used to the heat/humidity again. glad to be back though. Hope all goes well with all your torts and your heat over there