Here in Texas it hardly ever, ever rains and that is mainly in the Summer time!!! Today it is supposed to rain most of the day if not all day today, tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday or a very good chance of it until Friday. My question is if it is not raining to hard can a baby sulcata or any other tortoise go outside if it is warm enough? And if it is overcast, warm and not raining would this give enough UV or sunrays. My baby has been out every day since I've had her for at least 30 minutes at a time and sometimes two times a day. Today is going to be in the 70's yet still raining until about 5 p.m. where it is supposed to be a little sunny yet in the high 60's, would this be warm enough to put out into the sun for a little while?
Putting Tortoises out in the rain
- Thread starter randy
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If raining and overcast and only in the 60s I would keep him indoors till the temps are higher....
I would just skip it for a baby if its only in the 60's and its been getting sun every day for a while. A few days won't matter at all as far as UV is concerned. Ordinarily rain and clouds are not a big deal as long as its warm. What I worry about with rain is that it will flood the enclosure.
I would just wait for better weather, of course that might not be until later in the week.
They're perfectly capable of coping with rain and Joe seems to love to be out in thunder storms. However, it doesn't sound like it's warm enough yet to be outside unless there's a reasonable amount of sun.
UV does penetrate cloud. My worst ever sunburn as a teenager was on a very cloudy day in high summer when I disagreed with my mother and didn't apply sun screen... it was a very painful lesson!
As far as temperatures are concerned, Joe will go outside full time when it consistently reaches the high 60s - sun or rain. Round here that won't be until the end of April.
Joe has shelter (a cold frame - like a small green house) and that gets surprisingly warm regardless of the weather. It's in the sunniest spot in our garden. He doesn't always use it in the rain, he seems to enjoy getting wet!
UV does penetrate cloud. My worst ever sunburn as a teenager was on a very cloudy day in high summer when I disagreed with my mother and didn't apply sun screen... it was a very painful lesson!
As far as temperatures are concerned, Joe will go outside full time when it consistently reaches the high 60s - sun or rain. Round here that won't be until the end of April.
Joe has shelter (a cold frame - like a small green house) and that gets surprisingly warm regardless of the weather. It's in the sunniest spot in our garden. He doesn't always use it in the rain, he seems to enjoy getting wet!
dmmj said:
Why, if it is warm enough would you not put a baby out in the rain? In the wild they would be out in the same rain. Just curious.
dmmj said:
That's actually explaining it well enough.
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I wouldn't put a baby out in rain if it was a temperature you wouldn't keep them in indefinitely. Being wet really accelerates heat loss, and a baby doesn't have much body volume to hold onto heat.
70 and above for us with hatchlings, rain or shine. Unless it is a bad storm, etc.
Ya, thought that 70 degrees was minimal just checking. Also if she was taken out I would be outside with her getting wet, I'm a little protective and don't want her out of my site. I will try to let her out as soon as possible rain or shine as soon as the weather outside gets warm enough, I think it might be best on me if it was in the high 70's to put her out in the rain (slight showers, not pouring down)
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