Outdoor habitat in the cold

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My Sulcata Tortoise is six years old and lives outdoors. I used to have a dog igloo over a big hole in the dirt with hay in it and a heat lamp. I have since built her a wood house with a ramp to make it more weather proof. So that she could still have her old home I just put the new house over it and raised it up on railroad ties. This way she either go underneath and burrow or go inside the house. My question is this; The house is where I have set up her heat lamp and it is starting to cool off at night so I have been turning it on for her. Up until now she prefers to sleep under the house if she gets to cold will she know to go into the house to get warm or should I be putting her in the house every night to sleep and will she stay in there knowing that it is to cold underneath for her?

 

[Yvonne G]

Sometimes a burrow is warm enough to keep a sulcata ok during the winter. Where are you, and what temp is it down in the burrow?

 

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I live in Arizona. I'm not sure what the temp is in the burrow but it's been in the 60's late night. it's still in the 80's during the day. So what I really wanted to know is if they know to find some place warmer or would they stay where they were even if it meant freezing?

 

[Blakem]

I had to "introduce" my heated house to my sulcata at first, every night. She eventually realize,ed that it was better to be in the heated house on her own. Do you have a heater for night time that doesn't emit light? You don't want your tortoise to have to find out about being freezing...that could arise many health concerns.

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

I actually think @Tom lets his sulcatas stay in their burrows for most of the year! (I also think he's in Arizona!)
They are very smart about their temps, I think if she was cold, she'd try and locate a warmer spot.

 

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She has been outside for two years now and knows what the heat lamp is. I just didn't have two homes for her then, she only had the one. I guess that's what I was asking is if they are smart enough to go to the one with the heater in it if they got cold? I was even thinking maybe I should block off the lower part of her house so she has to sleep in the heated one. The only thing is that she really likes that one during day because she can burrow in her hole she has dug out. I hate to take that away from her. My other problem is that when i built this home with two levels I didn't think about being able to get her out of the lower part under the house, as it is I can't get her out of there unless I move the whole house over to expose the burrow because she too big and heavy. I'm sure there must of been a more practical way of designing this so that I would have easy access to her from either home but I haven't figured that out yet??