How cold is too cold

[Dandelion_@_]

Our Dandelion is an ~6 year old male Hermann's. I've been following posts here and along with the regular emailed threads over several years, all of which have been super helpful. We live in northern New England, so we built an indoor enclosure for him with lamps etc and he seems content enough to live in it during his semi-hibernation over the winter, but in the Spring as the weather begins to shift to warmer but still not warm he always begins to get agitated and clearly wants to wander. We have a safe outdoor enclosure for him for the warm months, but these shoulder months make me unsure. Can he go outside with any snow on the ground? For any time at all? Would it harm him to experience cold for a bit? We've babied him and erred on the side of caution, never letting him outside at all if the temp is below 60F. Some posts I've seen with larger tortoises it seems they can handle colder. Experienced advice would be much appreciated

 

[KarenSoCal]

HermanniChris is an expert on Hermann's. Read this thread...it's all about temps.

Today, I got my hermanns tortoise baby. Question about the desirable temperature.

I am very excited that I finally got my hermanns tortoise baby today. It is a four months old well-started hatchling. And this is my first tortoise. I am trying to make sure the tempature I have in the enclosure is ideal for the baby hermanns. What should be the right temperature during day...

www.tortoiseforum.org

 

[JoesMum]

Hi

You might find this thread useful that I wrote about getting our Greek outdoors in the UK. Give it a read. It’s pinned in the enclosures forum

Outdoor Accommodation in a Colder (UK) Climate

Background We live in the UK and have had our Greek, Joe, a male Testudo Graeca Graeca (TGG), since 1970. He is full grown, weighing in at around 3.2kg (7lb) and measures just over 26cm (10”) Straight Carapace Length (SCL) He would have been wild caught, so was not a baby when he joined the...

www.tortoiseforum.org

 

[ZEROPILOT]

A lot has been said about "too cold".
Too cold to survive is actually very cold. But too cold to correctly digest food and not get ill is 80°f.
Lower temperature at night is acceptable. Unless you can avoid it.

 

[Dandelion_@_]

A lot has been said about "too cold".
Too cold to survive is actually very cold. But too cold to correctly digest food and not get ill is 80°f.
Lower temperature at night is acceptable. Unless you can avoid it.

Hi

You might find this thread useful that I wrote about getting our Greek outdoors in the UK. Give it a read. It’s pinned in the enclosures forum

Outdoor Accommodation in a Colder (UK) Climate

Background We live in the UK and have had our Greek, Joe, a male Testudo Graeca Graeca (TGG), since 1970. He is full grown, weighing in at around 3.2kg (7lb) and measures just over 26cm (10”) Straight Carapace Length (SCL) He would have been wild caught, so was not a baby when he joined the...

www.tortoiseforum.org

I read that thread and it's amazing! Thank you so much, your advice makes sense and photos will help us improve his outdoor enclosure even more (late chips are a great idea). My question remains about 'now': when my little tort is restless indoors on a 50F early spring day, may I take him outside for a few minutes to let him stomp around a while to work off some steam and get a reality check about being a New Englander, then bring him back in? Or would that be too shocking/harmful?

 

[Dandelion_@_]

A lot has been said about "too cold".
Too cold to survive is actually very cold. But too cold to correctly digest food and not get ill is 80°f.
Lower temperature at night is acceptable. Unless you can avoid it.

Thank you. That's helpful info.

 

[Yossarian]

Our Dandelion is an ~6 year old male Hermann's. I've been following posts here and along with the regular emailed threads over several years, all of which have been super helpful. We live in northern New England, so we built an indoor enclosure for him with lamps etc and he seems content enough to live in it during his semi-hibernation over the winter, but in the Spring as the weather begins to shift to warmer but still not warm he always begins to get agitated and clearly wants to wander. We have a safe outdoor enclosure for him for the warm months, but these shoulder months make me unsure. Can he go outside with any snow on the ground? For any time at all? Would it harm him to experience cold for a bit? We've babied him and erred on the side of caution, never letting him outside at all if the temp is below 60F. Some posts I've seen with larger tortoises it seems they can handle colder. Experienced advice would be much appreciated

It wont hurt the tort to run around for a few minutes outside in the cold, small torts lose body temp pretty quick though and if its too cold outside they will walk around for about 5-10 minutes and then look for somewhere to dig in. There isnt much point putting them out until its a minimum of about 65 degrees and mostly sunny. If your leaving them out all day then ground temps are important too.

 

[Dandelion_@_]

It wont hurt the tort to run around outside in the cold, small torts lose body temp pretty quick though and if its too cold outside they will walk around for about 5-10 minutes and then look for somewhere to dig in. There isnt much point putting them out until its a minimum of about 65 degrees and mostly sunny. If your leaving them out all day then ground temps are important too.

Thanks. I would never leave him outside for long under 65-70F, but he stomps back and forth and claws at the walls of his inside inclosure so much sometimes when the sun is shining brightly and he can't tell it's cold out. I thought maybe 5 minutes stomping in the cold outside might give him a break from cabin fever if it does no harm. Maybe I'll give him a try for just a couple minutes next time it's over 50 and very sunny and we'll see if he likes it. Thank you.

 

[Tom]

Thanks. I would never leave him outside for long under 65-70F, but he stomps back and forth and claws at the walls of his inside inclosure so much sometimes when the sun is shining brightly and he can't tell it's cold out. I thought maybe 5 minutes stomping in the cold outside might give him a break from cabin fever if it does no harm. Maybe I'll give him a try for just a couple minutes next time it's over 50 and very sunny and we'll see if he likes it. Thank you.

It won't. It will remind of of the larger world outside and make him more restless.

What size is the indoor enclosure? Can we see a pic?

In this thread I explain a good way to get them out earlier in spring, and keep them out later into fall: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/the-best-way-to-raise-any-temperate-species-of-tortoise.183131/

 

[Dandelion_@_]

It won't. It will remind of of the larger world outside and make him more restless.

What size is the indoor enclosure? Can we see a pic?

In this thread I explain a good way to get them out earlier in spring, and keep them out later into fall: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/the-best-way-to-raise-any-temperate-species-of-tortoise.183131/

Thank you.

 

[Dandelion_@_]

Thank you. Very Helpful.