Sulcata near the ocean?

[daniellaggner]

Hi everyone!

I'm a first time sulcata owner and Tortoise forum poster!

I'm really excited to have adopted a 3 year old sulcata from the California Turtle and Tortoise Club (CTTC). I've only had her for about a week now, but she is great company!

I live in Santa Cruz, CA and my question and concern is regarding the climate here. The temperature ranges seem to be great for her (75F (shade) - 115F (sun) in the day and 56-58F at night). My concern is the humidity at night though. This can be up to 85% regularly (until the sun comes out at 10 or 11 am).

I have a cinderblock burrow for her now, but am considering converting a dog house with insulation and thermostat with heater.

She seems like she isn't eating a lot. She is eating though. She'll eat nasturtium and dandelion flowers any time and she loved some zucchini I fed her yesterday, but she isn't grazing. She might also be a little shocked from the recent relocation.

Thoughts??

 

[Tort-Rex]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[DeanS]

That humidity is great...until night temps kick in! With sulcata, high humidity dictates a minimum temp of 80ºF at night...your temps are acceptable IF humidity is lower. you should really consider bringing your tort in at night...and WELCOME!

 

[tortadise]

Welcome

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome If you look up some of Toms threads, for "night box", you will see what he does for his Sullies for the colder nights. Here is one of them, I think he has two others too. http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-night-box-thread.88966/#post-889960

 

[Tom]

They must have heat at night. They are a tropical species and there is no "cold" where they come from, so they need warm temps year round.

Here is how I solved the problem:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-best-night-box-design-yet.66867/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-effective-night-box.86632/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-night-box-thread.88966/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/daisys-new-enclosure.28662/

Here are a couple of other threads that should be helpful:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

Your tortoise may not be used to grazing. Some tortoises are fed veggies and they get used to that quick stomach fill, while grazing takes a lot more time and effort on the tortoise's part. Of course he'd rather have the quick fix. I'm assuming that you have a nice, green lawn for her to graze on?? If this is the case, don't feed the veggies every day. Hold off for a day or two. Hopefully she will graze a bit when she realizes the veggies aren't forthcoming.

 

[daniellaggner]

Thank you all! This is very helpful! I'll be reading all of Tom's posts and the other shared threads and will get right on getting my Hazel warm at night.

 

[Tank'sMom]

Welcome! I also live near the ocean, on the Gulf Coast. Some of the people here have to deal with snow and constant cold! I don't know how they do it. Of course, the trade off is that we have to deal with extreme heat. Make sure she also has shade and cool areas in that 110 degree weather. And water available all the time even though you may not see her drink it much.
I have a close friend with several sully's he adopted who were older and set in their ways. They wouldn't touch grass! It's been a few years now, one will graze a bit, but the other will have nothing to do with it. He does what Yvonne suggested, hold off the "treats" and see if she will.
Got any pics??? We'd love to see her!

 

[daniellaggner]

They must have heat at night. They are a tropical species and there is no "cold" where they come from, so they need warm temps year round.

Here is how I solved the problem:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-best-night-box-design-yet.66867/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-effective-night-box.86632/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-night-box-thread.88966/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/daisys-new-enclosure.28662/

Here are a couple of other threads that should be helpful:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

Thank you Tom. Your work and expertise is admirable. I'm trying to find a good thermostat for my setup (heat pad plus ceramic warming bulb). Any recommendations?

 

[daniellaggner]

Thanks again for everyones assistance. I have a heating element installed and will be building here a proper house in the next few days. For now she has 80F in her burrow. Here she is in all her beauty!

 

[Tom]

Be careful using ceramic heating elements for larger tortoises outside. They work well indoors for raising the ambient temperature in a relatively small enclosure (small compared to a large outdoor enclosure), but outdoors, especially somewhere with cold nights, they don't work as well. The problem is that they concentrate the heat in one small spot. In order to get the area warm enough for the tortoise, you end up having to drop the fixture ever lower and what happens is that for it to be warm enough for the bottom of a large tortoise, the top of the tortoise gets too hot and the carapace can be damaged through slow cooking. The heating elements used in my threads above work much better and do not damage the carapace on the larger sulcatas.

Here is the type of thermostats that I use:
http://www.lllreptile.com/store/cat...ers/-/zilla-1000-watt-temperature-controller/

 

[daniellaggner]

Be careful using ceramic heating elements for larger tortoises outside. They work well indoors for raising the ambient temperature in a relatively small enclosure (small compared to a large outdoor enclosure), but outdoors, especially somewhere with cold nights, they don't work as well. The problem is that they concentrate the heat in one small spot. In order to get the area warm enough for the tortoise, you end up having to drop the fixture ever lower and what happens is that for it to be warm enough for the bottom of a large tortoise, the top of the tortoise gets too hot and the carapace can be damaged through slow cooking. The heating elements used in my threads above work much better and do not damage the carapace on the larger sulcatas.

Here is the type of thermostats that I use:
http://www.lllreptile.com/store/cat...ers/-/zilla-1000-watt-temperature-controller/

Excellent information Tom. Thank you kindly. I'll end up using a pad and just use the ceramic for ambient heat.

I will let you know how it unfolds...