jnirvello
Active Member
My sulcata is about 6 months now and I live in Florida. We don’t have much of a winter so I’d like to know what the lowest degrees to let him roam outside would be. It’s 77 out but so sunny! Any thoughts?
Sulcata temps
- Thread starter jnirvello
- Start date
Sulcatas are the hardiest of all tortoise species...at 6 months...in FL...as long as it's sunny...you could drop to 70ºF safely! Anything under that...I'd limit to no more than an hour or two outdoors...as long as it's full sun! On the flipside, fully understanding FL weather...when you have a 112º spring day and it's cloudy and/or pouring out...that's the BEST time for them to be outside! 
jnirvello
Active Member
I’ve also never seen him drink water. I put him for a nice soak after he’s been roaming outside and I want to make sure he gets hydrated again.
Good policy.
With your humidity and dampness level, I think 70 and sunny is a safe cut off.
My general rule of thumb is one hour of sunshine per inch of tortoise.
.......and 77F "outside" could really vary by a lot of things. Humidity, substrate where your sully is crawling around, grass, rocks, concrete, shaded or not, wind speeds, etc. i know for fun i take my point-n-shoot laser thermometer and check various areas. It's very interesting to see...and take note. Full sun rays on various substrates make huge differences! But, 70 and full sun in a protected area seems great, followed by a nice warm soak. Good luck!
If you get a temperature gun, you might find that the ground temperatures are often warmer than the air. There is an interesting thread by @JoesMum in which she shows that blue slate, for example, stays much warmer than other areas of her garden.
