New House

Chief

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I am trying to introduce my tortoise to his new home with a heat pad. He is used to sleeping in a burrow we made for him. When he wakes up in the mourning I put him in the new house and he loves it. He will stay in there for up to 4 hours. In the evening he still wants to sleep in the burrow. I will catch him going into the burrow and place him in the new house, but he comes out and goes back to the burrow. Any ideas on how to get him to spend the night in there? I live in Southern California, the big boy's name is Sheldon and he weighs in at 11 lbs. We have had him for 9 months
 

wellington

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Can you put the house on top of the burrow, after closing the burrow off. If you can't move the house, then just close off the burrow.
 

Chief

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wellington said:
Can you put the house on top of the burrow, after closing the burrow off. If you can't move the house, then just close off the burrow.

We put the house right next to the burrow. We could block it off. He loves to go in it when its hot. In a perfect world I would like him to have access to both spots.
 

mike taylor

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I removed my borrow. Then my sulcata got the picture.

Sent from my C771 using TortForum mobile app
 

wellington

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Block the burrow until he starts to use the house on his own for a while, then let him have the burrow back.
 

Tom

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Put a remote probe from a thermometer down in the burrow right now. I'll bet its much too cold. I close off my burrows for the winter. They get to use them for about 5 months out of the year. Its just too cold in the ground the rest of the time. Here is what they use for the remaining 7 months of the year:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-66867.html

Remember that 80-85 degrees is fairly cool by sulcata standards. Its nearly 100 degrees every day over there. Our summers are like their winters. Their summers are like Phoenix, AZ summers, and THAT is when the burrows are really needed. At three feet under ground, my man made burrows stay 80 degrees all summer long with daily highs near 100 and nights in the 60's. Now with temps in the 70s-80s and nights in the 40s-50s, it is low 60s underground without heat. As it gets cooler the underground temps will drop to around 49-50.
 

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