How warm to go outside?

[mommytoeandj]

Hello all! I have a new 1 month old baby mountain Greek tortoise. I have read all the benefits of being outside in the sun, but we live in Wisconsin. Right now it's sunny but only 55 degrees Fahrenheit. What's the lowest safe sunny temperature for a little tort to be outside?

 

[TortieLuver]

As long as she's in the sun, it's fine. A good 20-30 minutes of natural sun will be good.

 

[Rjhoop]

Yea it was only 65 here in N.Y. but i put a thermometer in my sullys outdoor pen and it got up to 110 in the sun.. he was out for 3 hours today!!!

 

[Floof]

Here's where having a temp gun comes in handy! Here in Utah, I can put my bearded dragons (similar temperature thresholds to a tortoise when it comes to outdoor time) out whenever it's above 50-55F and the sun is shining, because the stone retaining wall I sun them on is usually 80-90F under these conditions. I still take my infrared thermometer out and take the temperature of the stone before I put them out, and the thermometer is good to check continuously through the basking session to make sure things aren't getting too cold while they're out.

Without a thermometer to check the surface temperature, I would say play it safe and wait 'til it's 65F or so out and still only put her in areas that are getting full sun.

 

[dmarcus]

I agree as long as the sun is shining I let my hatchling out. it was 56F hear on Thursday morning but the sun was bright and it felt much warmer and my hatchling was basking in it..