If he's outside in a large pen with a heated night box and he goes in and out of the night box on his own, you can let him decide when to be in or out in your climate.
Thanks Tom, he won't come out of his heated box. So I decided to put some dandelion and a small terracotta dish of mazuri. He ate some dandelion and when I put the mazuri in. I saw him go right to it. My wife came to me and said Opo was trying to remove the mazuri. Sure enough he was trying to pick it up by the edge of the dish but couldn't get it over the raised edge of the Kane mat. I removed but he hasn't come out. This morning he stuck his head out for awhile and went back in. Hopefully he will be smart enough to come in from the cold.
I am hoping Opo will be one of the smart ones to determine when its cold. He is just sitting in the heated box looking out today. It is about 60°with no sun.
They use their heated boxes much like a burrow. In the wild they go into their burrows to avoid temperature extremes. They spend most of every day in the burrow and sleep there all night every night. Its a good sign that he's peeking out, but staying in. Just check on him several times a day whenever you can. If you see him parked under a bush or in a corner sleeping outside on a cold day, then put him in the box. Every day at dusk, put him in the box and shut the door for the night. Every morning, open up the door and he can choose if he wants to come out.
Thanks Tom, Opo never came out. We are going to be cold and cloudy for 4 days. Is no UVB for that period of time ok?
Yes. They can go weeks with no UV. We used to have a moderator here that kept her tortoises outside all summer in Cadilac MI, and indoors with no UV all winter. Her tortoises did well and showed no sign of any MBD. You can add some D3 to the diet if you want. Mazuri has D3 in it too.
Ok thanks, Cadillac Michigan that is my old stomping grounds. Opo gets mazuri. I didn't add UVB to Opo's box because there was less than 10 days last winter that I couldn't get him in the sun.
My torts go all winter without uvb.
I worked most of the summer getting Ghost acquainted with his outdoor enclosure. It started off slow getting him to go in and out on his own. By the end of the season, he had come to expect that his ramp would be available at all times to go in or out of his house. Ever see a tort have a hissy when their expectations aren't met? lol
will help.
Right now he's in his indoor enclosure. Still too small to be kept outside 24x7.What do you have set up for next Winter? (Nov-Apr) or so? Climate Change!
Oh...sorry....misunderstood you. I have his heated house all ready to go for next winter. I tested it last week during our 10 degree weather and maintained an ambient temp of 82 throughout the house. Automatic generator tested fine as well as my battery backups for the security system and other components. I think he'll be just fine.
