HELP I need tips on how to keep her warm

Legutier

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My Sulcata has gone into shock with this cold weather. She just wants to be next to heater and not interested in her basking light. HELP!! Soaking her daily for 25 minutes and she’s not interested in eating. The vets are no help. Can someone give me good tips. The coldest it gets here is 45 degrees very rare that it gets to the low high 39s. But it’s definitely the coldest winter compared to other years. This my first tortoise, I’ve only had her for 1 year.
 

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Tom

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My Sulcata has gone into shock with this cold weather. She just wants to be next to heater and not interested in her basking light. HELP!! Soaking her daily for 25 minutes and she’s not interested in eating. The vets are no help. Can someone give me good tips. The coldest it gets here is 45 degrees very rare that it gets to the low high 39s. But it’s definitely the coldest winter compared to other years. This my first tortoise, I’ve only had her for 1 year.
Your tortoise is much too large for basking lamps. That will burn the carapace. No CHEs either.

You need a large heated shelter in a large outdoor enclosure. Your tortoise can come out and bask on warmer sunny days, or stay in its warm "burrow" on cooler overcast days.

Here are two examples with different ways to heat them safely and effectively.


Housing them indoors on the floor is a recipe for disaster in many ways. You are seeing why right now.

I set my thermostats to 86 in winter when the days don't get all that warm, and 80 in spring and fall when we have warm day time temps and sunny weather. My summer days are always near 100, so I set my thermostats to around 72-75 for a little night time cool down then.

Questions are welcome. Act fast as this giant tropical reptile needs heat ASAP.
 

Legutier

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Thank you for your tips!! I greatly appreciate it. I’ll be getting an insulated dog house with heating pad. I just think she’s too little to be outside still she’s only 18lbs. I was going to wait till spring to transition her outside.
 

wellington

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The only way she should be in the house on the floor is if you have dedicated a room just for her with her own heat, substrate and uvb lighting, hide box and food and water dishes. No uvb needed if she can get outside most days.
She needs the proper heat like Tom mentioned before she gets sick
 

Tom

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Thank you for your tips!! I greatly appreciate it. I’ll be getting an insulated dog house with heating pad. I just think she’s too little to be outside still she’s only 18lbs. I was going to wait till spring to transition her outside.
Dog houses don't work. Those are designed for dogs which generate their own heat. Nor do deck boxes or other such types of sheds. I've tried. The dimension are wrong, and they are not insulated and sealed well enough. Gotta build one or have one built for you, so that it is the right height inside, has the correct door size, and works efficiently.

You don't want a heat pad. You want a Kane heat mat, or a Stansfield brand one. These are aka farrowing pads meant for large sows with piglets. Keep the piglets warmer on a cold night. They have built in safeties, are water proof, and can stand up to the hooves of a large sow, so they are totally fine under a tortoise. You will also need a RHP over head as the Kane mat alone will not be warm enough on a cold winter night.

I move them outside full time with a heated shelter when they reach about 8-10 inches. Late spring time is certainly the best time to do it, but your tortoise needs 80+ degree temps 24/7 right now. Like tonight. No way to do that on the floor.

I'm sorry no one told you all of this sooner, but my goal is only to help you keep your tortoise happy and healthy, and you need the right housing for that.
 

Legutier

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Dog houses don't work. Those are designed for dogs which generate their own heat. Nor do deck boxes or other such types of sheds. I've tried. The dimension are wrong, and they are not insulated and sealed well enough. Gotta build one or have one built for you, so that it is the right height inside, has the correct door size, and works efficiently.

You don't want a heat pad. You want a Kane heat mat, or a Stansfield brand one. These are aka farrowing pads meant for large sows with piglets. Keep the piglets warmer on a cold night. They have built in safeties, are water proof, and can stand up to the hooves of a large sow, so they are totally fine under a tortoise. You will also need a RHP over head as the Kane mat alone will not be warm enough on a cold winter night.

I move them outside full time with a heated shelter when they reach about 8-10 inches. Late spring time is certainly the best time to do it, but your tortoise needs 80+ degree temps 24/7 right now. Like tonight. No way to do that on the floor.

I'm sorry no one told you all of this sooner, but my goal is only to help you keep your tortoise happy and healthy, and you need the right housing for that.
Thank you Tom. I truly appreciate all this information. I’ve read people having them in insulated dog homes like igloos and people having them indoors. I just want to be the best owner for her. Ever since I was little I’ve always wanted a tortoise. And a few years ago I ran across one in the middle of the street on my way home I had it for a week then I saw posters of missing tortoise and I gave it back because I would want someone to do the same if that was my pet. I was given this tortoise by a coworker who could not take her of her any longer. I felt her gifting her to me was my good karma for giving the one I found back to their owner. I’d like to be the best owner possible for this tortoise and I will start working making these changes for her. Thank you again ☺️
 

Tom

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Thank you Tom. I truly appreciate all this information. I’ve read people having them in insulated dog homes like igloos and people having them indoors. I just want to be the best owner for her. Ever since I was little I’ve always wanted a tortoise. And a few years ago I ran across one in the middle of the street on my way home I had it for a week then I saw posters of missing tortoise and I gave it back because I would want someone to do the same if that was my pet. I was given this tortoise by a coworker who could not take her of her any longer. I felt her gifting her to me was my good karma for giving the one I found back to their owner. I’d like to be the best owner possible for this tortoise and I will start working making these changes for her. Thank you again ☺️
You have an admirable goal, and I hope this forum can help you fulfill it! :)

Some things you ought to know going forward:
1. Most of the tortoise advice you find out in the world is old, wrong, and based in incorrect assumptions of how they live in the wild. FB is the worst that I've seen, but pet stores, breeders, vets, and other experts, are often equally bad.
2. Speaking of vets... Most of them know very little about tortoise care. There is no semester on tortoises in vet school. Most of them repeat the same wrong info that has been repeated for years. Their degrees and schooling do not impart decades of tortoise wisdom upon them.
3. The vast majority of the people who breed this species start hatchlings and babies all wrong, and a large percentage of them don't survive past 50 grams and a few months. Its terribly sad.
4. Now some GOOD news. There are a bunch of experienced tortoise keepers on this forum and we've been doing experiments and observations for over a decade now on how to best start, house, and care for tortoises. Much has been learned and we all freely share this info with each other and any other members here. You now get this knowledge with out having to learn all this the hard way as so many of us did.

Your questions are welcome here. Keep asking them and we will help as much as we can.
 

Legutier

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Carpinteria, CA
Yes your absolutely right. Information is outdated and the vets charge an arm and a leg for reptiles and give you hardly any information. I took her to the Vet and they said to change her food and keep her on a lamp or heater not both. I will definitely use this platform for information from now on.
 

Jan A

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Yes your absolutely right. Information is outdated and the vets charge an arm and a leg for reptiles and give you hardly any information. I took her to the Vet and they said to change her food and keep her on a lamp or heater not both. I will definitely use this platform for information from now on.
Welcome aboard!!
 

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