winter!!

[RDJNTX]

New here and Sulcata named Nelly. We have had her for awhile and over the winters we have kept her in the garage with heat. I built her a nice large space, moved my truck out to the driveway and made sure there wasn't any chemicals or anything down where she could get to them. Next thing I know the was in the opposite side of the garage under a bunch of stuff. She seemed to like that better so we left her alone

this past year I decided I want my garage back so I thought we would give the house a try. it was an awesome success. She has been in the house before and roamed between the front of the house and back of the house doing what she wanted. So I moved her inside.

She found herself a corner of the dining room under a chair in the corner of the room and there she shelled up. just found out it is called brumating. Couple weeks later I got up to do something and noticed that she was standing by the back door, since it was a warmer day (upper 60s ) I opened the door to see what she would do. lo and behold she let herself out and proceeded to graze the yard and after an hour or so came back in. (we propped the door open). after that it became a regular thing .. Warm days she wanted to go outside, would stay for awhile and then head back in and go back to sleep in her corner.

Funniest day was when she was by the door so I was opening it, she looked outside, it was upper 50s and she said .. screw that turned right around and went back to her corner. Another time she just wanted to sun herself in the doorway for awhile then she turned around and went back, she takes up the whole doorway so the dogs just had to wait their turn ...

we will be doing it again this year.

 

[wellington]

New here and Sulcata named Nelly. We have had her for awhile and over the winters we have kept her in the garage with heat. I built her a nice large space, moved my truck out to the driveway and made sure there wasn't any chemicals or anything down where she could get to them. Next thing I know the was in the opposite side of the garage under a bunch of stuff. She seemed to like that better so we left her alone

this past year I decided I want my garage back so I thought we would give the house a try. it was an awesome success. She has been in the house before and roamed between the front of the house and back of the house doing what she wanted. So I moved her inside.

She found herself a corner of the dining room under a chair in the corner of the room and there she shelled up. just found out it is called brumating. Couple weeks later I got up to do something and noticed that she was standing by the back door, since it was a warmer day (upper 60s ) I opened the door to see what she would do. lo and behold she let herself out and proceeded to graze the yard and after an hour or so came back in. (we propped the door open). after that it became a regular thing .. Warm days she wanted to go outside, would stay for awhile and then head back in and go back to sleep in her corner.

Funniest day was when she was by the door so I was opening it, she looked outside, it was upper 50s and she said .. screw that turned right around and went back to her corner. Another time she just wanted to sun herself in the doorway for awhile then she turned around and went back, she takes up the whole doorway so the dogs just had to wait their turn ...

we will be doing it again this year.

Sulcata do not brumate. She did what she did because she likely was too cold. They should not roam your house floors, too cold and too dangerous. We have seen many over the years on here get sick or due because people let their tortoises roam the floors of the house. They need a designated area, a room, of their own that is never below 80F with a basking area of 95-100.

 

[Warren]

Welcome to the Forum RDJNTX and Happy Birthday

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[144 Grandpa Turtle]

Welcome to the forum And Happy Birthday

 

[Tom]

New here and Sulcata named Nelly. We have had her for awhile and over the winters we have kept her in the garage with heat. I built her a nice large space, moved my truck out to the driveway and made sure there wasn't any chemicals or anything down where she could get to them. Next thing I know the was in the opposite side of the garage under a bunch of stuff. She seemed to like that better so we left her alone

this past year I decided I want my garage back so I thought we would give the house a try. it was an awesome success. She has been in the house before and roamed between the front of the house and back of the house doing what she wanted. So I moved her inside.

She found herself a corner of the dining room under a chair in the corner of the room and there she shelled up. just found out it is called brumating. Couple weeks later I got up to do something and noticed that she was standing by the back door, since it was a warmer day (upper 60s ) I opened the door to see what she would do. lo and behold she let herself out and proceeded to graze the yard and after an hour or so came back in. (we propped the door open). after that it became a regular thing .. Warm days she wanted to go outside, would stay for awhile and then head back in and go back to sleep in her corner.

Funniest day was when she was by the door so I was opening it, she looked outside, it was upper 50s and she said .. screw that turned right around and went back to her corner. Another time she just wanted to sun herself in the doorway for awhile then she turned around and went back, she takes up the whole doorway so the dogs just had to wait their turn ...

we will be doing it again this year.

I want to welcome you, and I hope you stick around, but we have to tell you that you are lucky your tortoise is still alive. This is entirely the wrong way to house a sulcata. They do not brumate. They come from a tropical area where the day time high is around 100 every day all year long. Your summers, are like every day where they come from in Africa. To escape the scorching heat on the surface, they live 95% of their lives underground in burrows where the ground temps are 80-85 all year long. These are the temperatures they need. Cold temperatures can make them sick and kill them in several ways. Having them laying on a cold floor and then letting them eat, only to return to a cold floor is a recipe for disaster.

Loose on the floor is not safe, and cannot be made safe, and there is a long list of dead tortoises resulting from that practice, for a wide variety of reasons, and every single person thought it was safe, and they supervised closely. Think about it: If they thought that harm would come to their tortoise, they wouldn't have done it. They learned this lesson the hard way, and too late. You don't have to.

You need a large heated area for this tortoise, and it's great to let it out to graze and wander in its enclosure on warmer sunny winter days, but it always needs a warm heated place to return to. Another important detail is that heat lamps and ceramic heating elements are dangerous and also not effective for larger tortoises. They will burn the top of the carapace while still not heating the tortoise's core. With their belly resting on a cold floor, they are losing heat faster than it can be replaced from above with heat lamps. You need different heating strategies for larger tortoises. Mini radiant oil heaters are good for tortoise boxes. Full size radiant oil heaters are efficient and effective at heating whole rooms or sheds. Kane mats are a good way to safely and effectively warm the belly wile they are at rest. Radiant heat panels can provide safe diffused overhead heat for them.

I know this is not what you wanted to hear, but we only have your tortoises health and well being in mind. Our intentions are good, even if the info is upsetting. Please feel free to ask questions. Argue your points. Make me back up these assertions. My goal is for your tortoise to remain healthy, and for you to be a happy tortoise keeper.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

New here and Sulcata named Nelly. We have had her for awhile and over the winters we have kept her in the garage with heat. I built her a nice large space, moved my truck out to the driveway and made sure there wasn't any chemicals or anything down where she could get to them. Next thing I know the was in the opposite side of the garage under a bunch of stuff. She seemed to like that better so we left her alone

this past year I decided I want my garage back so I thought we would give the house a try. it was an awesome success. She has been in the house before and roamed between the front of the house and back of the house doing what she wanted. So I moved her inside.

She found herself a corner of the dining room under a chair in the corner of the room and there she shelled up. just found out it is called brumating. Couple weeks later I got up to do something and noticed that she was standing by the back door, since it was a warmer day (upper 60s ) I opened the door to see what she would do. lo and behold she let herself out and proceeded to graze the yard and after an hour or so came back in. (we propped the door open). after that it became a regular thing .. Warm days she wanted to go outside, would stay for awhile and then head back in and go back to sleep in her corner.

Funniest day was when she was by the door so I was opening it, she looked outside, it was upper 50s and she said .. screw that turned right around and went back to her corner. Another time she just wanted to sun herself in the doorway for awhile then she turned around and went back, she takes up the whole doorway so the dogs just had to wait their turn ...

we will be doing it again this year.

Tom covered all this perfectly above, she’s being kept much too cold and the floor of our homes are simply not suitable habitats. As mentioned, sulcatas do not brumate, if she’s continued to be housed this way, her health is going to deteriorate.

I’m so glad you’ve made your way here!

Perhaps some of the ideas and links in this thread will be of help to you

Large Indoor Sulcata Tortoise Enclosure

Hi all! A bit of background first - I've got young sulcata tortoise who's quickly outgrowing his current enclosure and so plans to build him a new enclosure are underway. Unfortunately, I live in the not so sunny UK so housing a tort outside is a bit more difficult. Whilst Stompy (my tort) has...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[2wgasa]

Well, it's Friday and I haven't seen any new posts from you. I really hope you're just looking over information without the need to reply. It seemed you just wanted to share a fun Nelly story and were immediately corrected (chastised? . Unfortunately you wrote some "triggers" such as brumate, in the house and dogs. Similar happened here long ago with my first post that included an "in the house picture" and reference to dogs. Regardless, I just kept lurking and learned how to better care for the adult tort we acquired (later realized was a rescue after learning about them). Please stick with this site for Nelly even if no compulsion to comment. You'll be very glad you did.

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!