Temperature for sulcata tortoise

[Lisa Grace]

Hi everyone, my name is Lisa and I have a 2 year old sulcata tortoise named Paisley that I've had since she was a baby. I got all of my information about raising a sulcata by googling info and talking to the one person I knew who had owned one! Paisley is housed indoors because the winter gets too cold for her to be outside in a shed! Paisley seems to stay as far away from her heat lamps as possible and would prefer to be on the other side of the room where it's probably around 68° is this normal for a sulcata to chose cooler spaces in the house rather than to stay in her warm enclosure? Thanks in advance

 

[Tom]

There are many possible reasons why they choose to sit where they sit. Where they evolved, there is no place that is too cold for them. They don't get it.

What size is your two year old? Heat lamps aren't effective or suitable for larger tortoises. Are you using a UV bulb? What type?

No part of the enclosure should be lower than 80. There shouldn't be a 68 degree area reachable by the tortoise.

 

[Ray--Opo]

Welcome to you and Paisley.
Pics would help so we can give you some suggestions.

 

[Lisa Grace]

There are many possible reasons why they choose to sit where they sit. Where they evolved, there is no place that is too cold for them. They don't get it.

What size is your two year old? Heat lamps aren't effective or suitable for larger tortoises. Are you using a UV bulb? What type?

No part of the enclosure should be lower than 80. There shouldn't be a 68 degree area reachable by the tortoise.

She is about 5lbs 10 inches. Should I not be using heat lamps for her? She has an open enclosure with a gate around it! Her enclosure is 6 ft long with her heat lamps and uv light and then she has access to another 6 feet of space outside of her enclosure. We are in NH so she is indoors!! She chooses to hang out not in the enclosure a lot of the time! Are you saying she doesn't know the difference of whether she's hot or cold?? First time tortoise owner here lol

 

[Tom]

She is about 5lbs 10 inches. Should I not be using heat lamps for her? She has an open enclosure with a gate around it! Her enclosure is 6 ft long with her heat lamps and uv light and then she has access to another 6 feet of space outside of her enclosure. We are in NH so she is indoors!! She chooses to hang out not in the enclosure a lot of the time! Are you saying she doesn't know the difference of whether she's hot or cold?? First time tortoise owner here lol

She's approaching the size where heat lamps become ineffective due to her size and mass, and at the same time, because the heat lamps can't get her warm enough, they will lay under them far too long and the top of the carapace will get "slow-burned". Time for another heating strategy. I recommend a heated box with a Kane mat and a radiant heat panel over head, all controlled by a thermostat.

I'm not saying the tortoise doesn't know if its hot or cold. I'm saying they don't understand the concept of some areas being too cool and that they need to move to a warmer area. In the wild, if ever temps get cool, they just park under the nearest convenient bush and wait for the heat and sun of the next day because every day is hot over there. There are no cool areas that stay cool for long periods of time like our houses in North America. Your tortoise doesn't think to itself that it feels cool on your floor, so it should move to its heated area. Sometimes they will habituate to a heated night box or "sunny" area, but I wouldn't count on that, as you've seen.