Longtime Sulcata Owner, First Time Poster

[tfest]

My wife and I, when we were really dumb 23 year olds bought a very young female Sulcata from a local pet store.

Her name is Capone and she loves dogs and chickens.

 

[Len B]

Welcome to the forum, She looks good. How do you house her in the colder months and is she 15 years old?

 

[tfest]

Welcome to the forum, She looks good. How do you house her in the colder months and is she 15 years old?

Duh, forgot to add her age. She's 16 years old and 11". We're in kind of a pickle when it comes to the winter months, especially now that I'm work from home and we have a very small house with a huge yard (her summers are fantastic). So, she shares my office with me, in a kiddie pool at night and walks around the house during the day. She likes to nap on a dog bed with one of our pits, it's pretty adorable.

We we're young and dumb when we got her, figured we would have a better set up by now...

 

[Blackdog1714]

Duh, forgot to add her age. She's 16 years old and 11". We're in kind of a pickle when it comes to the winter months, especially now that I'm work from home and we have a very small house with a huge yard (her summers are fantastic). So, she shares my office with me, in a kiddie pool at night and walks around the house during the day. She likes to nap on a dog bed with one of our pits, it's pretty adorable.

We we're young and dumb when we got her, figured we would have a better set up by now...

We have a grumpy gus that lives sorta up that way that does it. The best way is to build a night box and let your tort to decide to come out

Single Tortoise Night Box

I like my larger tortoises to live outside full time. My climate permits this year round with a little help. For people who live where it snows all winter, this type of box is still good for warmer weather, getting them out earlier in Spring, and keeping them out a bit later into fall. You'll...

www.tortoiseforum.org

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi and welcome!

 

[Maggie3fan]

My wife and I, when we were really dumb 23 year olds bought a very young female Sulcata from a local pet store.

Her name is Capone and she loves dogs and chickens.

View attachment 314072

You live in Portland? I'm in Corvallis, and there's another friend in Eugene. Welcome...Are you sure she is really I she? I had my Sulcata for 3 years as a male, now she's female...

 

[tfest]

You live in Portland? I'm in Corvallis, and there's another friend in Eugene. Welcome...Are you sure she is really I she? I had my Sulcata for 3 years as a male, now she's female...

Yeah, the Portland Zoo was looking for a female and they we're interested. Upon inspection, she was too small for their 2 males. We have been playing around with the thought of rehoming since the weather here sucks and she deserves to have a large outdoor area year around to frolic in the dandelions.

 

[tfest]

We have a grumpy gus that lives sorta up that way that does it. The best way is to build a night box and let your tort to decide to come out

Single Tortoise Night Box

I like my larger tortoises to live outside full time. My climate permits this year round with a little help. For people who live where it snows all winter, this type of box is still good for warmer weather, getting them out earlier in Spring, and keeping them out a bit later into fall. You'll...

www.tortoiseforum.org

I wish that would work here. While we never go sub zero and days below freezing are a rarity we do have weeks on end that the temperature does not go above 45 and the sun never comes out from behind the clouds. I have considered building her a shed to live in during the winter and she can come out during the day between May and October, just seems cruel to confine an animal to such a small space for 5-6months out of the year.

 

[tfest]

This is our weather until the end of April. We had these visions of having an animal sanctuary and large outdoor spaces but at this point the housing market in this area is way out of any normal persons price range. I'm glad we bought when houses were "cheap" back in 2007.

 

[NorCal tortoise guy]

Beautiful tortoise! I think perhaps the zoo doesn’t know as much as they think they know. I have a couple small girls like her that are breed by very large males every year. But that is nether here nor there haha. Sad to have to consider rehoming but good for you for considering what is best for the tortoise first!!

 

[Yvonne G]

I wish that would work here. While we never go sub zero and days below freezing are a rarity we do have weeks on end that the temperature does not go above 45 and the sun never comes out from behind the clouds. I have considered building her a shed to live in during the winter and she can come out during the day between May and October, just seems cruel to confine an animal to such a small space for 5-6months out of the year.

Take a look at my 100+ sulcata, Dudley, shed: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/dudleys-rebuild.111350/

Dudley isn't confined to the shed. For example, he's out in his yard right now, eating the dead grass, and the temperature outside is 46F degrees. It was 39F when he first came out and started roaming around. When he gets cold he goes back into the shed.