Living Outside!?

Kimbles2009

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Joined
Jun 25, 2017
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Peterborough UK
Hi everyone,

I have a Horsfield tortoise, Eddie, who is about 6 or 7 years old. He has successfully hibernated this winter for the first time and I want to start getting his outdoor enclosure ready for the spring! He currently lives indoors on a tortoise table. My question is, what months of the year can he live outside and would I need to bring him in at night? I will provide him with a waterproof hide in his outdoor enclosure! I'd like to let him live outdoors for spring and summer and can bring him indoors october time if needs be! Any advice would be greatly appreciated! ??
I've attached a picture of Eddie too!

Thanks

Kim 20200201_124417.jpg
 
Last edited:

Tom

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Kim, You need to go into your user profile and put in a location. We don't need your address, just something about where in the world you are. Very different advice for Minneapolis vs. Menifee.

It also looks like you need a sunken terra cotta saucer for food, so your tortoise isn't eating off of the substrate.
 

Kimbles2009

New Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2017
Messages
27
Location (City and/or State)
Peterborough UK
Kim, You need to go into your user profile and put in a location. We don't need your address, just something about where in the world you are. Very different advice for Minneapolis vs. Menifee.

It also looks like you need a sunken terra cotta saucer for food, so your tortoise isn't eating off of the substrate.
Thanks Tom, I'll do that! He does have a sunken bowl to eat from, he had just dragged that bit of food with him!
 

Tom

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Thanks Tom, I'll do that! He does have a sunken bowl to eat from, he had just dragged that bit of food with him!
I had a whole thread detailing what I did here, but the pics are gone now. I made a semi-buried box with a lid at the surface, and a rain cover over the entrance. You'll have to be careful to make sure rain runs down hill and not into the entrance. I added an RHP for heat in the early spring and late fall, so I could leave them outside for more of each year. Here we have warm days during spring and fall, but cold nights. The heat would just keep their sleeping quarters from getting too cold at night. You'd need more heat more of the time in your climate. Here are a couple of pics that I found:
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Tom

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That worked well for me here in my climate, but you might be better off with something more like this one that I made for my Chersina. These boxes are insulated top to bottom, and I incorporate ambient heat to keep the night temps a little warmer, and a heat lamp for chilly days. My Chersina hibernates in winter, but otherwise lives outside in this box year round. I made this box for two. For a single tortoise, you wouldn't need the divider, and you'd only need one heat lamp. This design gives your tortoise the best of both worlds. I set ambient to about 55-60F, so it doesn't get any colder than that. Then, the heat lamp is on a timer and it kicks on during cold days to warm up the whole box AND create a basking area for the tortoise to warm up in. During warm sunny weather, I turn the heat lamp off. Its not uncommon here to have days in the 80s and nights in the low 40s.
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