Sulcata returning to warmth when outside in uk

[Beanmiester]

Hi
Does your sulcata tortoise know where to go if they get cold when they are outside in the winter? Do any of yours know to go back to their shed/house when they get cold?

 

[Tom]

Hi
Does your sulcata tortoise know where to go if they get cold when they are outside in the winter? Do any of yours know to go back to their shed/house when they get cold?

Sometimes. Most of them learn this in time, but they don't always do it, and some of them are stubborn about it.

Almost all of my tortoises come out to eat and sun in our cooler winter weather, and then retreat back to their heated boxes every night and also on colder days. But most of our "winter" days are still relatively warm and sunny.

 

[Beanmiester]

Sometimes. Most of them learn this in time, but they don't always do it, and some of them are stubborn about it.

Almost all of my tortoises come out to eat and sun in our cooler winter weather, and then retreat back to their heated boxes every night and also on colder days. But most of our "winter" days are still relatively warm and sunny.

Do you check them at night to make sure they have gone back into their warm sheds? I’m going to make a insulated house with heating and let her free roam my garden which is huge but worry she will be stuck out in our 14F winters which we get and not knowing where to go back to the heat. Especially during the day when I’m at work.

 

[Lyn W]

Hi and welcome,
How old is your tort?
I have a leopard and he lives indoors all year around with access to the garden only when ground temps warm up to 70F, I think our climate is too cold and wet most of the year for sullies and leopards to live outdoors all year. In his adapted room my tort has an insulated dog kennel to use as a heated hide but it certainly wouldn't be warm enough outside for our winters, especially if we get more like this year with prolonged below freezing temps. Tom has some great designs for heated nightboxes. If your tort has to live outdoors could you possibly put the nightbox in a heated and insulated shed, so he has a warm space to wander in?

 

[Lyn W]

You'll find these up to date threads and care information useful to make sure you provide the right temps etc

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

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and

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

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[Beanmiester]

Hi and welcome,
How old is your tort?
I have a leopard and he lives indoors all year around with access to the garden only when ground temps warm up to 70F, I think our climate is too cold and wet most of the year for sullies and leopards to live outdoors all year. In his adapted room my tort has an insulated dog kennel to use as a heated hide but it certainly wouldn't be warm enough outside for our winters, especially if we get more like this year with prolonged below freezing temps. Tom has some great designs for heated nightboxes. If your tort has to live outdoors could you possibly put the nightbox in a heated and insulated shed, so he has a warm space to wander in?

Hi Lyn
Thanks for your reply, she’s 2 months lol I’m planning ahead for the future as it won’t be long till she’s big enough to live outside , I do have a medium sized garage not small by any means , but ideally as she gets big I want her to have the choice of going out in winter and being able to be in if it’s bad, we are in the moors and it gets windy and cold so any ideas for heated accommodation would be great.

 

[Yvonne G]

Not all of my leopards go back into their insulated, heated shed after roaming around outside. I have to go hunt them up each night and put them away, closing and locking the door.

 

[Len B]

Hi
Does your sulcata tortoise know where to go if they get cold when they are outside in the winter? Do any of yours know to go back to their shed/house when they get cold?

I live near Washington DC and we sometimes get very cold weather. I have 5 sulcatas that live outside all year. They each have it's own heated house and I personally have never had a problem with them not going back in to get out of the cold. They range in age from 3 to 26 years old. Yes I do check every night to make sure that they have put themselves to bed. When first putting them outside I only give them a small enclosure area and increase it's size as they get used to going in and out of it's heated house on their own.

 

[Beanmiester]

Not all of my leopards go back into their insulated, heated shed after roaming around outside. I have to go hunt them up each night and put them away, closing and locking the door.

View attachment 354158View attachment 354159View attachment 354160View attachment 354161

Beautiful tortoises, is that a leopard? They are bigger then I thought, great setup thanks for sharing your photos gives me more ideas of what I can do

 

[Beanmiester]

I live near Washington DC and we sometimes get very cold weather. I have 5 sulcatas that live outside all year. They each have it's own heated house and I personally have never had a problem with them not going back in to get out of the cold. They range in age from 3 to 26 years old. Yes I do check every night to make sure that they have put themselves to bed. When first putting them outside I only give them a small enclosure area and increase its size as they get used to going in and out of it's heated house on their own.

That’s a fantastic idea about making the pen smaller until they know where to go to get warm, I will definitely try that. What do you use to heat the ambient air temperature in there sheds?

 

[Len B]

That’s a fantastic idea about making the pen smaller until they know where to go to get warm, I will definitely try that. What do you use to heat the ambient air temperature in there sheds?

I use Stanfield heat mats, electric oil filled radiator type heaters, chicken brooder heaters from Tractor Supply. And CHEs on lamp dimmers as backup heat if needed. I just started using the brooder heaters a few years ago and really like how they work and are very safe to use. With the cold temps you can get it's very important to insulate the house you build properly so it holds the heat in and cold out for some time just in case you ever loose power. I also have generators for backup electricity.

 

[Beanmiester]

I use Stanfield heat mats, electric oil filled radiator type heaters, chicken brooder heaters from Tractor Supply. And CHEs on lamp dimmers as backup heat if needed. I just started using the brooder heaters a few years ago and really like how they work and are very safe to use. With the cold temps you can get it's very important to insulate the house you build properly so it holds the heat in and cold out for some time just in case you ever loose power. I also have generators for backup electricity.

Thanks for your reply, this is very useful info ta, are the stanfield heat mats like the Kane pig blanket types? Unfortunately they don’t sell them in the UK if anything our tortoise shed will be over insulated lol I will use the chicken brooder lamps to we’ve used them for our farm animals for years and our piglets . If we ever loose power then Winnie (my sullie) will be coming indoor infront of our fire no matter what size she is lol so your torts do stay out all year even in freezing conditions and they fare well in your cold climate?

 

[Len B]

Thanks for your reply, this is very useful info ta, are the stanfield heat mats like the Kane pig blanket types? Unfortunately they don’t sell them in the UK if anything our tortoise shed will be over insulated lol I will use the chicken brooder lamps to we’ve used them for our farm animals for years and our piglets . If we ever loose power then Winnie (my sullie) will be coming indoor infront of our fire no matter what size she is lol so your torts do stay out all year even in freezing conditions and they fare well in your cold climate?

Yes the mats are the same. You should check out the brooder heater from TS it's a more gentle heat than what you get from a lamp. It looks like a turned off flat screen tv even when turned on. Yes they all do great and usually come out of their houses everyday no matter what the outside temps are. If you can find my threads take a look.

 

[Beanmiester]

Yes the mats are the same. You should check out the brooder heater from TS it's a more gentle heat than what you get from a lamp. It looks like a turned off flat screen tv even when turned on. Yes they all do great and usually come out of their houses everyday no matter what the outside temps are. If you can find my threads take a look.

Ah I see sorry thought you meant large heating lamps like we use for some of our farm animals lol ah I see I’ve looked everywhere here in the UK for those types of heat mat/pads, they don’t do any that will stand up for a large heavy tortoise, I’ve only just used this site for a couple hours so I will search for your threads thank you for all your info it’s very useful

 

[Beanmiester]

Yes the mats are the same. You should check out the brooder heater from TS it's a more gentle heat than what you get from a lamp. It looks like a turned off flat screen tv even when turned on. Yes they all do great and usually come out of their houses everyday no matter what the outside temps are. If you can find my threads take a look.

Could you send me a picture of this brooder heater? And do they sit on top of it or do you bolt it to the wall?

 

[Len B]

Could you send me a picture of this brooder heater? And do they sit on top of it or do you bolt it to the wall?

I tagged you in an older thread that has pics. The brooder can hung on the wall or from the ceiling. Even comes with legs to stand on the floor.

 

[Tom]

Do you check them at night to make sure they have gone back into their warm sheds? I’m going to make a insulated house with heating and let her free roam my garden which is huge but worry she will be stuck out in our 14F winters which we get and not knowing where to go back to the heat. Especially during the day when I’m at work.

Yes. Every single night. 365 days a year. Each and every tortoise box is opened, the tortoises all counted, and then they are latched closed for the night. Each morning we open the doors and the tortoises can come out when they want. During our cold winter spells, I will sometimes leave the doors closed until 10 or 11am if its not sunny.

Our nights rarely drop into the high 20s, but most of our winter days are sunny and in the 60s. I would not have a tortoise living outside where it gets down to 14F, or anywhere that the days aren't typically warm and sunny. Even on ugly rainy days, my tortoises will still come out, do a lap or two, grab a bite, and then go back in the warm shelter. I would not allow that when temps are below 50 degrees. I'd have them indoors for the winter in an area like that. This is simply not practical with a giant tropical tortoise in a climate like yours, and that is the primary reason I would not own one if I lived there, but I wouldn't live there because I couldn't keep giant tortoises...

 

[Big Charlie]

Charlie is a 24 year old sulcata, way over 100 pounds. He has a heated house on the porch. Most of the time he goes into it but once or twice every winter he makes the mistake of staying out in the garden. When he does this, he usually goes in a corner somewhere and then we have a herculean task of moving him back to his house. After that he is usually very good at remembering.

Currently I have his thermostat set to 84F. I know he is warm enough when he comes out nearly every day, even for just a little while. He doesn't usually come out if it is overcast or rainy.

I close him in every night for extra warmth. During the summer, he stays out. He has a summer house that provides shelter but no heat. This is one of the reasons he has trouble getting back into the routine of coming to his house every night but I can't think of a good reason for him to be in his house when it is so hot outside, and it would be hard to convince him.

I live north of Tom so it gets a little colder here but not much.

 

[Beanmiester]

Yes. Every single night. 365 days a year. Each and every tortoise box is opened, the tortoises all counted, and then they are latched closed for the night. Each morning we open the doors and the tortoises can come out when they want. During our cold winter spells, I will sometimes leave the doors closed until 10 or 11am if its not sunny.

Our nights rarely drop into the high 20s, but most of our winter days are sunny and in the 60s. I would not have a tortoise living outside where it gets down to 14F, or anywhere that the days aren't typically warm and sunny. Even on ugly rainy days, my tortoises will still come out, do a lap or two, grab a bite, and then go back in the warm shelter. I would not allow that when temps are below 50 degrees. I'd have them indoors for the winter in an area like that. This is simply not practical with a giant tropical tortoise in a climate like yours, and that is the primary reason I would not own one if I lived there, but I wouldn't live there because I couldn't keep giant tortoises...

This is why I am debating on converting my whole garage for her during the very cold times of year and the rest of the year out as normal. My garage is big and has large windows in it so I think that would be suitable when those cold times are present. On rare occasions it can get down to 14 but most of the time it’s between 41-50. I’m planning for those “colder” days when it’s bad, we rarely get snow so that’s not an issue. I want her to be out as much as possible.

 

[Lyn W]

This is why I am debating on converting my whole garage for her during the very cold times of year and the rest of the year out as normal. My garage is big and has large windows in it so I think that would be suitable when those cold times are present. On rare occasions it can get down to 14 but most of the time it’s between 41-50. I’m planning for those “colder” days when it’s bad, we rarely get snow so that’s not an issue. I want her to be out as much as possible.

That sounds like a much better and safer idea to me, but would probably still need insulating and the use of thick tubber mats. Ideally she'd have her own warm space rather than sharing with you which is full of hazards - not to mention that a large tort can pee and poop the same amount as a small pony!!

Moorlands can be pretty exposed with wind chills reducing the temps further and if torts get cold they may not be able to get back to their hide. It's not something I would risk in South Wales with my leopard. Plus if she is left out for any length of time without checking on her, you have the added worry of making sure moorland predators can't get at her - foxes, stoats, weasels feral cats etc even rats can chew a smaller torts legs off and birds go for eyes. Maybe not so much of a problem when fully grown but still things to consider.

Sounds like you have a few years to sort things out before she's big enough to be outside unsupervised though.