Night Heating

[iWantToBelieve]

I've been thinking about picking up a Greek tortoise for a while now and the only question I have left is about nighttime temperatures inside. In the summer the ambient temp is in the upper 60's and in the winter it can get down to 64. What would you recommend using for this?

 

[coreyc]

Welcome to the forum you can use a CHE ( ceramic heat emitter ) or a heat panel

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi iWantToBelieve:

Welcome to the forum!! May we know your name and where you are?

 

[iWantToBelieve]

Katelyn. From Kansas! I mainly reside on the Pangea Forums--Meg90 told me about this place.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Katelyn:

Some Greek tortoises hibernate and some don't. Its really not too hard to keep the temp inside a habitat up more towards 70 degrees. You can use a black/red bulb, a CHE (ceramic heat emitter), infra-red heat panel. Not hard at all.

 

[DerekS]

I like your user name. Welcome Katelyn.

 

[Mao Senpai]

Greeks don't really mind the night temps getting too low. As long as the day temps go up to the 80-90's it's fine. For a while our house was getting down to 50's and they didn't seem to mind at all. They just slow down a bit that's all.

 

[GBtortoises]

I agree with Mao. Northern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Greeks are fine with cooler night time temperatures and really should have a temperature differential of 15-20 degrees from day to night time. This is what they would normally be accustomed to in the wild and outdoors in captivity. As long as the daytime temperatures reach normal activity levels in the 70's and low 80's and the tortoise has a basking area that is 95-110 degrees cold night time temperartures are irrelevant. Northern Meditterranean Greeks are fine with temperatures as low as the low 50's at night. Middle Eastern Greeks around 60 degrees and up. The only caution would be in the case of excessively damp substrate conditions or extremely high (above 80%) ambient air humidity levels. Prolonged exposure to cold and damp conditions are not a good mix for any tortoise species.

 

[bikerchicspain]

I have Testudo Greaca Greaca and they all live together happily.

As GB said they are social creatures, but they are tolerant of other torts..

Here in spain where it is the natural habitat of the Greaca Greaca the temps go dow to about 45ºf (7ºc) at night with day temps being about 55ºf (11ºc). This is when they hibernate,

They will hibernate from October, end of November being the latest, and then they will come out of hibernation end of march, begining of April.

Depending on the weather, Our winter this year has been very mild and the day temps are already reaching 80ºf (25ºc) and nighttemps being at the lowest 45ºf (11ºc),
For this reason many torts have come out of hibernation quite early this year, Many torts that came out of hibernation early are in a semi state of estivation and end up getting quite ill, as they are not eating, The temps at night are to cold for them to be awake,but day temps are telling them that they should be awake.

In my experience temps are crucial, although they will with stand low temps, i would not recommend the temps dropping to much, i would recommend that night temps should not drop below the 60s,

I have had experience of torts coming to me that are left out at night in the 50s and not eating because they are not warm enough, It happens without fail every winter..