Sunlight - Outdoor Enclosures

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Masteryoda

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I'm genuinely curious, for torts that are kept outdoors, does the sunlight have to be direct or indirect? Can the tort enclosure be positioned under a shady area (doesn't get direct sunlight but is still bright) for example?
 

nate.mann

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UV rays bounce around, so they would still get what they needed, but tortoises like to and should have an area to bask and warm up in direct sunlight. someone else will step in and either correct me, or second me, which will then give you your for sure answer as im not 100%, more like 75%. haha
 

TigsMom

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Others will chime in soon. Here, all of my outdoor enclosures have both, partial shade and full sun. And yes, they'll bask in the Spring and Fall months in full sun. Summer sun is just too hot here in Arizona for them to truly spend much time in the full sun. I also plant the enclosures with foods that they eat, those plants need full sun as well to help them grow full and strong for my Desert Tortoises.

Your climate and the type of tortoise you have will dictate how much full sun your tortoise will need. What state do you live in? What type of tortoise do you have?
 

Tom

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Nate has it right. They need sun and shade. An enclosure built entirely in the shade is better than nothing, but it will need to be a pretty hot day for that to be usable, unless you are keeping a forest tortoise in there.

What species do you want to put in there?
 

Masteryoda

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Our torts are 1 Sulcata, 2 RFs, 2 Indian Stars, 1 YF, and 1 Elongata. We have a Radiated incoming by end of the month.

We live in the Philippines where the weather is generally warm. The temps are between 28 degrees celcius to 34 degrees celcius barring a few months of rains which the temps are still anyway in the mid 20s at the minimum.

All our torts are housed outdoors via separate tort tables.
 

Terry Allan Hall

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nate.mann said:
UV rays bounce around, so they would still get what they needed, but tortoises like to and should have an area to bask and warm up in direct sunlight. someone else will step in and either correct me, or second me, which will then give you your for sure answer as im not 100%, more like 75%. haha

Absolutely correct! :cool:

I like to position my enclosures so that my torts have areas of direct sunlight and areas in shade at any given moment (as well as a home-made cave for total darkness), so that my torts can choose for themselves where they prefer to be.
 

nate.mann

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awright. haha. mine are outdoors, and have access to shade in their hide and in the thick bermuda grass, im in the process of adding more shade, should end up with about half of each.


0.1.0 Russian tortoise
0.1.0 Sonoran Desert Tortoise
1.0.0 Bluenose Pit/American Bulldog
 
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