tortoise going camping

[bulbasaurthetort]

hello!
Next week i’m going camping and i don’t wanna leave my tortoise home alone as he has the tendency to run around a lot and could get into some trouble as a hatchling would. it’s only for two days the ride up there is about an hour, i bought a carrier so he can be good during the car ride there and i’m going to bring a box that is similar size to his enclosure, also it’s not like hardcore camping there will be water and electricity and it’s a public grounds so no animals to get near us and he will be in our tent which is very big as it’s a 20 person ten t, i’ll bring his lamps ofc and also i’m buying a heat pad that’ll go under his substrate so that at night he can stay warm ( tho i doubt the nighttime will be an issue we it will stay in the 80s at night ). is there anything i should think about also getting for him? I know it’s not ideal to change location but I cannot do anything about this circumstance. Any advice is welcome

 

[TeamZissou]

What species do you have?

Two days is not a long time; it would be better just to leave him in his enclosure. Its extremely stressful to move them into a new enclosure, and compounding that with a trip would add to it.

Heat mats also should not be used at all because they cause burns.

 

[Maro2Bear]

My advice. Spend the next few days this week setting up a proper enclosure for your tort. Lights on timer....etc. Taking your tortoise camping just sounds like so many problems from A to Z.

Btw, what kind of tortoise? How old?

Set things up properly at home, then enjoy a few days camping. Two days “left alone” in a good home enclosure is MUCH easier.

 

[TeamZissou]

I just found your other thread with the species and enclosure info:

tortoise flips over and now is inactive

hello! my eastern hermanns hatchling constantly loved climbing the walls of his enclosure and occasionally flips over bc of it ( no matter what i do he still does it ) but he did it yesterday and now he’s been kinda sluggish, only really staying in the same spot unless he’s hungry, he was moving...

tortoiseforum.org

Did you add more cover to the enclosure, or is it still fairly wide open like in the photos in your other post. Adding cover and visual barriers, even with fake plants from Hobby Lobby helps calm them down a lot and combats climbing and flipping.

 

[bulbasaurthetort]

What species do you have?

Two days is not a long time; it would be better just to leave him in his enclosure. Its extremely stressful to move them into a new enclosure, and compounding that with a trip would add to it.

Heat mats also should not be used at all because they cause burns.

 

[bulbasaurthetort]

i have a hatchling hermanns tortoise and lately he has been tending to run around a lot and jump off of his hides and i just don’t want him to flip while we are gone, it’s too much of a risk especially with him, he does stuff that will put him in danger quite often so i usually stay around to watch him. and the gear mat won’t be anywhere close to his actual body, it’ll be under blankets that’ll go under his actual enclosure for the trip. He usually does well with a change of enclosure as during the winter i often had to do so when the power would go out and so i had to move him to an enclosure by the fireplace so he could keep warm

 

[wellington]

Do not put a heat mat under the substrate. A Hermanns can stand 60 at night. Tortoises heat themselves from above. They can get burned or over heated on a mat that doesnt have a heat light hanging above it.

 

[bulbasaurthetort]

I just found your other thread with the species and enclosure info:

tortoise flips over and now is inactive

hello! my eastern hermanns hatchling constantly loved climbing the walls of his enclosure and occasionally flips over bc of it ( no matter what i do he still does it ) but he did it yesterday and now he’s been kinda sluggish, only really staying in the same spot unless he’s hungry, he was moving...

tortoiseforum.org

Did you add more cover to the enclosure, or is it still fairly wide open like in the photos in your other post. Adding cover and visual barriers, even with fake plants from Hobby Lobby helps calm them down a lot and combats climbing and flipping.

he’s a very interesting little guy so i added new hides and i tried plastic plants but he tries to eat them bc he jus tries to eat everything? even goes after food he shouldn’t try to eat. but he just like to walk around and always has a lot to energy, i figured camping would be fine as i saw many other people take their tortoise camping and they seemed to be fine, if it does not turn out we this year i will leave him home next time no big deal and i’m going to try and adjust him to what he will be in for the two days because leaving him home just isn’t a choice or a gamble i want to make i want him in my sight so if he does act weird or needs help i can go bring him to a special vet

 

[bulbasaurthetort]

Do not put a heat mat under the substrate. A Hermanns can stand 60 at night. Tortoises heat themselves from above. They can get burned or over heated on a mat that doesnt have a heat light hanging above it.

not even one that i can control it the temp? i’m not planning on keeping it on that high, and only if it’s too cold i was gonna use it which i doubt, he usually does fine on hot surfaces tho? he actually sometimes sleeps under his food plate which gets pretty warm lol

 

[Maggie3fan]

Everybody will tell you it's a bad idea...'cept me. Keep him in the dark and quiet on the ride. Set him up first thing after getting there. Pick a spot that is quiet and if it's sunny, make sure he has shade. Care for him the same way and time as home. Don't be picking him up and showing him off. and remember...his care and he are your most important things. Make sure he is safe all the time, and nobody else picking him up but you. Have fun.

 

[ZenHerper]

not even one that i can control it the temp? i’m not planning on keeping it on that high, and only if it’s too cold i was gonna use it which i doubt, he usually does fine on hot surfaces tho? he actually sometimes sleeps under his food plate which gets pretty warm lol

Tortoises evolved to seek heat that comes from above them.

When a tortoise is too hot, it digs down into the ground to get cool.

When a tortoise sitting on a heat mat gets too warm, it digs down. Closer to the heat source. The tortoise warms up more. It digs down more. It gets too hot. It digs down more and gets burned, or at the least: badly dehydrated.

You won't need overnight heat if you are comfortable with the temperature yourself.

 

[bulbasaurthetort]

Everybody will tell you it's a bad idea...'cept me. Keep him in the dark and quiet on the ride. Set him up first thing after getting there. Pick a spot that is quiet and if it's sunny, make sure he has shade. Care for him the same way and time as home. Don't be picking him up and showing him off. and remember...his care and he are your most important things. Make sure he is safe all the time, and nobody else picking him up but you. Have fun.

yea i planned on keeping his temp enclosure as close to the one he is in now including painting it to match the color of the one he is in lol, i’m very protective over him so i didn’t plan on letting people touch him anyways, and i’m going to bring his heat lamp and all that so nothing really changes for him, just a slight change in size which is probably won’t notice. for the ride there he will most likely be sleeping because that’s all he likes to do in early mornings anyways !

 

[wellington]

not even one that i can control it the temp? i’m not planning on keeping it on that high, and only if it’s too cold i was gonna use it which i doubt, he usually does fine on hot surfaces tho? he actually sometimes sleeps under his food plate which gets pretty warm lol

No, not even any time.
Read ZenHerper post again.

 

[Tom]

What was the point of asking? Everyone except Maggie has told you its a bad idea and you should leave him home, but you are going to do it any way.

 

[Maggie3fan]

What was the point of asking? Everyone except Maggie has told you its a bad idea and you should leave him home, but you are going to do it any way.

I understand his fear of the small tortoise flipping over since I've been given this damn redfoot who flips over daily. However, @bulbasaurthetort, I will support you in taking the tort with you...but you need to realize I am the only one saying it's alright. Think about that...I have almost 20 years involved with turtles and tortoises...so I would take him without thinking about it...NO FREAKIN HEAT MAT...but you are a newbie and that's a problem. Instead of making it easy, you are making it harder...you are only being gone for 2 days? Leave him home in the dark and he will sleep almost the whole time you are gone. For some reason I thought you were gonna be gone a week.

 

[mark1]

in my opinon , from what i've seen a heat mat in one area of the enclosure is not a bad idea , a heat mat is not a heating pad , they can't possibly burn themselves on a heat mat made for animals , i've used them for newborn puppies , forever ..... as long as they can get off it ,they figure it out ........healthy reptiles use the sun , the ground , rocks , and water to thermoregulate themselves , they use their total environment ......... they do use the ground as a heat source , to cool off and heat up , at least it's been my observation ........ i have a heated box for the r.p. manni i keep , the rear of the box is dirt in the box turtle pen , the warm dirt at the rear of the manni heated box is warmer than any other ground in the pen , it does attract box turtles when it's cool , night and cool days ....... in the fall they hang out there until i turn the heated box off ...... i don't believe heat confuses them no matter where it is , i think they can see it ...... the box my r.p.manni go in when it's cold, has spots in it that if they sat there for long periods of time it would probably kill them , i've not had one cook itself ever , decades .......as for moving your tortoise , i'd figure out a way to safely leave him alone at home for a couple days , he won't starve or dehydrate in 2 days , be careful with the heat source , make sure he's got choices of temperatures .......

 

[queen koopa]

I understand his fear of the small tortoise flipping over since I've been given this damn redfoot who flips over daily. However, @bulbasaurthetort, I will support you in taking the tort with you...but you need to realize I am the only one saying it's alright. Think about that...I have almost 20 years involved with turtles and tortoises...so I would take him without thinking about it...NO FREAKIN HEAT MAT...but you are a newbie and that's a problem. Instead of making it easy, you are making it harder...you are only being gone for 2 days? Leave him home in the dark and he will sleep almost the whole time you are gone. For some reason I thought you were gonna be gone a week.

I would live in a world of stress if I had a tortoise that flipped over often!!! Jeez!! And would not enjoy that trip thinking the tort could be on its back !! My sister and I have many animals together, so when I leave (like maybe 3 weekends a year!) they are in good hands. Maybe you could have someone check on him 2 times a day? Man I don’t know… if you do take him, most likely don’t need the heat mat.

 

[Prize007]

I understand his fear of the small tortoise flipping over since I've been given this damn redfoot who flips over daily. However, @bulbasaurthetort, I will support you in taking the tort with you...but you need to realize I am the only one saying it's alright. Think about that...I have almost 20 years involved with turtles and tortoises...so I would take him without thinking about it...NO FREAKIN HEAT MAT...but you are a newbie and that's a problem. Instead of making it easy, you are making it harder...you are only being gone for 2 days? Leave him home in the dark and he will sleep almost the whole time you are gone. For some reason I thought you were gonna be gone a week.

Mind blown. Is this a common thing? We can just leave the lights off and they will be less active for those days? My lil guy has flipped a few times so I worry. Guessing this might be less stressful than me relocating his whole enclosure to a friend's house?
Thanks!

 

[jsheffield - In Memoriam]

As a rule, you shouldn't ask for advice if you already have an answer in mind... especially if you're a novice and are asking significantly more experienced keepers.

I bet at this point, you wish you hadn't asked, since you were going to do it the way you were going to do it from the beginning anyway....

Fingers crossed it works out ok for your tort.

Jamie

 

[Maggie3fan]

Mind blown. Is this a common thing? We can just leave the lights off and they will be less active for those days? My lil guy has flipped a few times so I worry. Guessing this might be less stressful than me relocating his whole enclosure to a friend's house?
Thanks!

If I leave the lights off, my turtles stay sleeping. I'm sure most turtles act like this. It's nothing unusual. I'm just not sure about this "less stressful" stuff. How do we know that whatever is "stressing out a turtle". How does a stressed out turtle act? I don't know that statement is true. Does a stressed out turtle pace and cry? Just how does a stressed out turtle act? I am not talking about a glass aquarium. I mean a wooden tort table. What does a stressed out turtle do? Don't bother replying...I have defended my position on taking a tort on a road trip many times, we have been here before. I kinda think because Tom says it, it must be true.(sorry Tom)
Experienced long term keepers parrot what certain keepers say, and I don't necessarily all of it is fact. I have defended my position on this subject before, and people simply believe certain things 'stress out the turtle" because somebody says it's so. I do not believe certain things 'stress' out a turtle. I think chelonia are much more mellow than is believed. I have traveled extensively with tortoises or turtles in the car. I have wooden boxes with lids, put the tort in a dark warm box, and they sleep, no trouble at all.