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Sulcata has always been my favorite tortoise species. I'm from PA too. Mine will be 9 years old this month. He's been living outside full time the last few years now. I actually don't think it's as hard as some say. I do have a fenced in yard so that is definitely something you'll need when they need to be housed outside full time and of course a heated night house. Mine does not dig or destroy anything. Worst thing he does he move patio furniture around. He ventures out even in the winter to stretch his legs. Every time it snows he goes right out to plow through it.
Read this for the correct care info:
tortoiseforum.org
This is so bad for your tortoise. Why would you allow this, much less show it off?
Ive seen others on here showing theirs in the snow. Didn't realize it was that harmful? I don't want to lock him up in the winter as he still comes out for a 15-20 walk and then goes back inside even when it's cold out. He's been doing this the last few years. Should I just not allow him outside in the winter?
tortoiseforum.org
tortoiseforum.org
tortoiseforum.org
I've seen it too. Its a really bad idea and I cringe every time I see it. I can't even fathom allowing that. Is it an automatic death sentence? Of course not, but I don't see how anyone is going to make that case that letting a tropical reptile that needs to be in 80 degree heat 24/7 is "good" for it. People tend to compare it to themselves, but that is not a fair comparison. Strip down to a swim suit and go walk around outside barefoot in that snow for 20-30 minutes and then tell me how you feel. Better yet, lay down on your belly and drag yourself around with your chest, legs and belly rubbing the snow, and then go back in your house and tell me how long it takes for you to warm back up. Now imagine that you don't generate your own metabolic heat from within to warm yourself back up? This is not good.
I completely understand what you saying and I get it. I knew it wasn't right in a sense given the the weather and climate they are from but I also would feel bad locking him up if he wanted to take a walk whenever he felt like it. It's usually not long and he goes right back into his house that is 80+ inside. Perhaps there should be sticky on this topic explaining the dangers of it. I learned most of my knowledge on tortoises from this forum and there are plenty of pictures being posted on here of them in the snow. In some of those threads there are long time members and tortoise keepers posting and commenting with nothing negative being said about this. That's he why I thought if he wanted to walk in the snow for a few minutes I figured it wasn't doing any real harm. I do always keep an eye on him whenever he does this and made sure he never had an issue getting back to his house at least. You learn something new everyday.
I get it. This is the reason we sometimes have arguments on this forum. We see something bad and we need to say something. Then the person making the original statement that is wrong, dangerous, or potentially harmful takes offense and tries to defend their actions. I know darn well that a guy like Len knows what he is doing, but then someone with less experience, or possibly less vigilance, or possibly less time on their hands to sit and watch their tortoises and fine tune things as he expertly does comes along and thinks they can do the same thing as him and get the same result. Often they learn too late about some detail of Len's care routine or knowledge. Someone reading our forum sees his pictures and makes the incorrect assumption that its fine to let tortoises walk around in the snow. I don't think it is good for Len to do it either, but if that someone reading and looking at the pictures doesn't have Len's exceptional knowledge, experience and ability, or if they just aren't as attentive as Len always is, there could easily be a frozen tortoise, frostbite damage, or even just harm done to the critical intestinal flora and fauna in the gut due to low temperatures.
I think it might just be a matter of opinion. It doesn't snow here, but it gets damned cold, and my 100+ lb sulcata was allowed to go out as he wanted with no seemingly ill effects. I've not ever seen any scientific proof that an occasional trek through snow is harmful. I think the only harm might be when an uneducated sulcata owner sees your pictures and thinks its ok to allow his sulcata to live in the snow without the required warm up afterwards.
Yea he's done it a handful times throughout the years and he in perfect health. Never had an issue with him. I can the pictures making people think it's okay as I seen pictures on here and thought if he walks through the snow for a few minutes what the worst that can happen. But I did watch him do this and made sure he always retreated back to his heated house in which case he did every time with no issues.
I would suggest waiting for now. Main reason is because of your age. You are going to have many life changes that you may not have control of in the years to come. If you really want a tortoise now I
I wish there was more data on the temperature maintained by this species when it pesters the heck out of the owner to go out when it is cold. I do have some data...
