Question regarding heating

[HappyKauaian]

Hello Tortoise Forum!

I have a 3 year old Sulcata tortoise that is 40 pounds and lives on Kauai, Hawaii. He currently goes outside during the day and is brought back into the house at night. My question is, should I get a heating pad for his house if he stays outside overnight. The nighttime temps here usually go down to the low 70s and can go into the 60s during winter months. Thank you for your help. Here’s a pic of my tortoise.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Greetings..

I definitely would. Does your Sully have a house of his own to overnight in? If so, I would definitely add a Kane pet mat on the floor and possibly a Radiant Heat Panel in the ceiling all connected to a proper thermostat set at about 80-85.

The Mat - https://kanemfg.com/products/pets/pet-heat-mats/
The RHP - http://www.reptilebasics.com/rbi-radiant-heat-panels
The Thermostat - https://www.lllreptile.com/products/13883-zilla-1000-watt-temperature-controller

Good luck. Happy Torting.

 

[Tom]

Beautiful tortoise!

I would add the heating elements, controlled by a thermostat, to the night house. Your tortoise might survive without it, but it will be better if he has it. During the Summer months you could always unplug it, but during those colder "winter" nights, your tortoise could use the supplemental warmth.

 

[Markw84]

I would strongly suggest making a good night box for your tortoise and leaving it outside full time. In your area, it would not require as much insulation to hold good heat, and the heater would actually never even kick on most days throughout the year. If you look at this link https://tortoiseforum.org/posts/828952 you will see the type that works best. I prefer the small oil radiator heaters with a small computer (muffin) fan to heat the box. In Hawaii, you will not need a heat mat. Set the thermostat to hold it at 80°. With a night box like this, it will rare kick the heat on at all! IN fact, I would recommend placing the night box in an area that is shaded through mid day as it could overheat! A top painted white will help a lot for that.

Soon your tortoise will be too big to carry inside! At that size now, a sulcata would already have a burrow of its own. Having it get used to using the night box as its burrow makes things much easier... and more natural for the tortoise. It also will minimize the urge to burrow elsewhere in your yard. Although the type of soil you have is the biggest factor in stimulating a sulcata to burrow or not, having a night box it already feels is its burrow with help greatly.

Make the night box and the door large enough, and you will have a nice setup for your sulcata that will last for years to come!

 

[HappyKauaian]

Thank you so much for the info. My tortoise does have a house outside with no heating elements at the moment. I’ll research the options that were suggested and see what would work best for him. And yes he is getting too big to carry back into the house, didn’t expect him to go from hatchling to 40 pounds in 3 years but he’s adorable....lol