No enclosure..? Educate me..

[JLSchmittou]

Met a woman randomly today who also owned a sully. She said he was about 5-10 years old and estimates his weight at 40-50 lbs. the tort cruises around her backyard and the only question I really asked was what type of enclosure she had for him (because I see all these neat pics of the forums enclosures).. And I was taken aback when she said there was no enclosure for him in the back. I left it alone, since I've got a whole 6 weeks worth of experience with torts. I double checked the low for tonight and it's gonna be 49 tonight, and there are times in the deep winter where it will freeze a few nights (here in Arizona). So here's the question: is it really common to have no enclosure, even for your adult tort, outdoors?? Am I weird for thinking this is weird??? Let's take note that I have NO idea if the tort burrows, or if they bring him in at night (although unlikely, as I would assume that would be disclosed at the time?)

 

[lynnedit]

I don't own Sulcatas, but from the info on this forum, that is not normal and she is lucky her tort has survived. Poor guy. Hopefully she has a protected tort house for him to go inside when it is cooler, maybe she just meant he was free range....

 

[ascott]

My first hope would be the tortoise likely has an awesome dug burrow.....after all where they come from they dig gigantanormous burrows to survive the weather.....so possibly the reason.....and my other thought was...the word enclosure to me would mean a yard set up for him...perhaps he just has full cruise of their property with no real "enclosure" you know?

But in all reality I suppose we will never know.....you should have been more mosey...I would not have been able to stop myself.....LOLLOLLOL

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Lol....sorry using my dumb smart phone it is always changing random words...the word I meant was "nosey" not "mosey".....

 

[Tom]

A lot of people in AZ do this. Most of these bigger size torts burrow there and go deep underground on those occasional cold nights. They all seem to do fine. I think if they were stuck above ground with consistently cold temps and no way to warm up during the day then they might start to have a problem. I don't know if anyone could get away with this for very long anywhere else in the country.

 

[JLSchmittou]

A lot of people in AZ do this. Most of these bigger size torts burrow there and go deep underground on those occasional cold nights. They all seem to do fine. I think if they were stuck above ground with consistently cold temps and no way to warm up during the day then they might start to have a problem. I don't know if anyone could get away with this for very long anywhere else in the country.

Right, but even during the days it's not getting all that warm, I'm wearing jeans for goodness sakes!! I think today it only got to 69... Which isn't all that warm... Especially for the desert, where this past August we had something like 21 days of 110+ degrees day in a row...

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My first hope would be the tortoise likely has an awesome dug burrow.....after all where they come from they dig gigantanormous burrows to survive the weather.....so possibly the reason.....and my other thought was...the word enclosure to me would mean a yard set up for him...perhaps he just has full cruise of their property with no real "enclosure" you know?

But in all reality I suppose we will never know.....you should have been more mosey...I would not have been able to stop myself.....LOLLOLLOL

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Lol....sorry using my dumb smart phone it is always changing random words...the word I meant was "nosey" not "mosey".....

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Nosey, I agree... But, honestly, my immediate thought was "I wonder how sick your poor tort is dealing..?". So I said nothing and changed the subject because i didn't want to interject my opinion (which could very well be wrong) upon her... Another reason why I didn't ask what she was feeding him.... Or anything else related to the tort.

 

[Yvonne G]

Jacki:

There might have been a mis-communication. The word "enclosure" denotes where the tortoise actually lives...the whole space, not just his hide or sleeping quarters. So the lady's whole back yard is the tortoise's enclosure.

I took in a big male sulcata this summer and the people didn't provide him with any supplemental heat during the winter. The tortoise had a burrow (probably to China). He stayed in the burrow, only coming out on warm, sunny days. Our winters here average 45 to 50 degree days and 30 to 35 degree nights, with the occasional foray down into the 20's. The tortoise was quite large, and so spent many, many winters in this fashion.

 

[Tom]

Find a rock that has been sitting in the sun on one of your 69 degree days and hit it with the temp gun. I've seen it as high as 105 under those conditions here.

The adults can withstand much lower temps than the babies without getting sick. It is debatable whether or not it is necessarily the best thing for them, but they can survive it.

 

[JLSchmittou]

Find a rock that has been sitting in the sun on one of your 69 degree days and hit it with the temp gun. I've seen it as high as 105 under those conditions here.

The adults can withstand much lower temps than the babies without getting sick. It is debatable whether or not it is necessarily the best thing for them, but they can survive it.

Fair enough.

 

[Greg T]

My adult Leo's don't have a specific enclosure but do have my entire backyard to live in. They stay outdoors a majority of the year and they choose their house. One likes the upside down tub in the corner, one likes to stay behind the wheelbarrow and one likes to try out different locations throuought the yard. When it gets colder I will bring them into the garage where I built a big enclosure with lights and stuff. It is pretty cool when you look into the backyard and see them walking around.