Sue Ann
Well-Known Member
It usually does not go below 58 in winter. Very hot in summer. But my sully is only 3 mo old so I am preparing for the future. He goes out for an hour or two a day now.
Is 40F degrees too cold for a Sulcata?
- Thread starter ksp9116318
- Start date
It usually does not go below 58 in winter. Very hot in summer. But my sully is only 3 mo old so I am preparing for the future. He goes out for an hour or two a day now.
Bigger sullies can tolerate colder temperatures for longer than small ones. Charlie is over 100 pounds. A few nights ago, it was very hot here and he decided to spend the night in his "summer house," which isn't heated. It got down to around 60F that night. It didn't hurt him because it didn't remain at 60 very long and because he is so big that the cold never penetrated all the way to his core. The next night he was back in his heated nightbox.
A tiny sulcata would become too cold quickly, and temperatures even in the 60s can be fatal. When your sulcata is big enough to live outdoors full time, you must provide him with a heated place he can go to escape the cold.
Hello and welcome Karl.
Some of the initial responses on this thread had some alarmingly bad information in them. Thanks to @EllieMay for bringing that to a halt, and thanks to @Yvonne G for answering all the posts and explaining things better.
To answer your question in my own words: Yes, 40 F is way too cold. Have you ever been to phoenix AZ in summer time? That's what its like all the time where this species comes from. If they didn't burrow, they'd cook on the surface. In my area, we get near 100 degrees every day in summer, and our Sumer nights usually cool into the mid to high 60s and low 70s during hot spells. My summer temps closely simulate the winter temps in sub-saharan Africa where these guys come from. Its hot there. All the time. Every day.
As has been mentioned, this species does NOT hibernate. Larger ones can handle brief forays out into colder temps, but they need a heated shelter to return to when temps are lower than the 70s or not sunny. I don't want to over exaggerate. A 30 pound sulcata isn't going to drop dead the minute it contacts 65 degree air. The problem will come if the tortoise is too cold for too long. How cold is too cold, and how long is too long? No one can say. There are many variables. Some of them somehow survive colder than normal temperatures, but many of them don't. I know lots of people who did things like what the people who first answered this thread were saying and their tortoises are dead and gone. This is NOT a temperate species. It is tropical. They need warm temps year round.
Here are some example of heated night boxes:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-night-box-thread.88966/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-best-night-box-design-yet.66867/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/h...g-of-toms-night-box-with-exploded-view.97697/
We tend to have cool nights here, but warm sunny days year round. What I do is lock the tortoises in their heated shelters every night, and open the doors every morning. The tortoises are free to come and go all day. On a cold rainy winter day when temps are in the 50s, they might not come out at all. Or they might come out, graze for 10 minutes, and then go back in to warm up. On cooler days that are sunny, they all know where to go to bask and warm up in the sun. On hot summer days, I let them dig burrows and hide from the mid day heat under ground. In spring and fall when day time temps are usually in the mid 70s to the 90s, I set my box temps to 80. In summer when its 100 degrees outside every day, I either unplug the boxes or set the thermostat down to 70 and the heat never turns on since the insulated boxes seldom drop below 80 at night when the daytime highs are near 100. In winter, when the days are cold and overcast, and they have no other way to warm up, I set my thermostats to 86 in the boxes.
For a tortoise the size of yours, that knows and is comfortable with its heated shelter, and willingly goes back into the heated shelter, I'd be fine letting the tortoise walk around when temps are in the 50s or 60s. What you have to be careful about is that the tortoise doesn't get cold and then go park in the corner or under a bush to wait for temps to warm up, because that is exactly what they will do when they are new to an enclosure, or not yet familiar with their heated night box. If your tortoise parked in a corner on a day when the temp was 40-50 degrees and stayed there all day, sickness is likely. If this happened too many days in a row, death would be likely.
Feel free to question any of this. Tortoise conversation is welcome.
What are you? 12 years old?
Stop the non-sense, come back here, and let's talk tortoises. No need for anyone to get all huffy and make a dramatic exit speech. For the benefit of your tortoise, get over your "feelings". No one is judging you, but there is definitely something wrong with a sulcata that is only 20 pounds at 14 years old. They should reach that size by two or three years old. Males should be 80-100 pounds at 10 years old. Even the slow growing ones reach this size in that time frame. When you are done being all offended over the mild comments of someone who cares about the well-being of your tortoise and everyone else's tortoises, let's talk and see if we can figure out what is going on there and how to make it better for your tortoise.
And why does your profile say Guam if you are in Vermont?
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Sulcatas do not hibernate. They need winter enclosure, heat, uvb light food and water all year long.
Babies should not drop below 80 degrees.
lizznet15
Member
Really, this is the 1st I heard that. Ever since he started staying out side, he himself would go into the garage. He'd push everything off the bottom of a shelf and not come out till spring The reptile store where my son-in-law got him said that was normal. I never needed heating lamps, justput a blanket around him .
Now that I'm in this forum I've learned so much I would decently not do the same thing.
He's going to be 19 years and doing well and so glad I've been educated. Thank you everyone
I think many people confuse the behavior of a tortoise by interpreting it incorrectly. A tortoise uses the ground for temperature moderation. A sulcata comes from a part of the world where the ground temperature stays in the low 80°s all year. When it is cool - they go into their burrow or shelter under a crevice or big bush as that is a place they can stay warm. When it is too hot, the do the same as the ground stays a very stable temperature. The "know" the secure hiding places are the right temperature.
IN the US we do not have that. They don't know this! IF they are too cool, they instictively seek out a "burrow" type location as that is where they can get shelter from the cold. The problem is that does not work in the parts of the world where most of us keep tortoise. When they go into those dark corners, or and unheated, dark shelter, their slowing metabolism slows even further, and they simply rest waiting for the ground to warm them. But it does not happen here!
Some of the tortoise species have developed the ability to hibernate (brumate) where they live in areas of the world that do not keep warm ground temps in the winter. But they have developed with that the ability to sense the cooler season coming and stop feeding and empty their gut before going dormant. This prevents food from rotting in the gut as metabolism slows and stop and cannot move things along. A tropical species like sulcatas do not have that instinct. If they eat and then experience a cool spell, they can end up in a stupor with food in the gut. If extended, this can rot and lead to enteritis. This kills many sulcatas who in previous years had different and perhaps more subtle temperature changes.
A sulcata "hibernating" is a sulcata that is dying. They are surviving only by their ability to shut down and wait out the inhospitable conditions. They are so resilient and resistant to most diseases that they often can come out of it if warmer temperatures return soon enough and their gut is not too full.
In captivity, we do not have to put a sulcata through that!
lizznet15
Member
Ok, so now, how do I keep him from going in my garage and sleeping for 3 month's. He's been doing this on his own since he out grew all his aquariums and stayed out side.
He stops eating 2-3 days before hybranting, so now I'm thankful for that.
Here in El Paso it can get below 30° to 40°. He come out when weather is in the 60's, by himself. He's about, 120lbs. If I make him change what he's doing, will that be harmful to him?
Thank you so much for all this great information, I've learned so much every day.
Make him a night box and he will soon learn to adopt that as his "burrow" All of mine go in every night on their own. Sulcatas do dig new burrows in the wild and change every so often, so your tortoise will easily learn a new location and adopt a night box easily.
Here is a thread on building a night box. This is by far the best way to keep a sulcata outdoors year-round.
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-best-night-box-design-yet.66867/
Does he have a heated shelter outside? If not, then you need to make one for him. You can even make it in his corner of the garage, if that's where he wants to go. Put down a sheet of plywood so he's not on the cement floor, then maybe some substrate (but not really necessary if you don't want the mess in the garage). You can go to Osborne Industries and buy a pig blanket https://www.osbornepetsupply.com/products/pet-heating-pads/reptile/ Be sure to also buy the controller so you can dial the temperature you want.
But it really would be easier to warm up some sort of smaller structure for him, like a shed or large dog house.
Then, once you've got the shelter, every night you have to put him in it. I get my over 100lb sulcata to walk on by gently tapping the back of his shell above the tail with a pole. If he doesn't go the right way I tap the side I want him to move away from. Or if you have a big strong son or husband, get them to put the tortoise away. It usually only takes a couple nights and then he goes away on his own. Here's my tortoise's shelter:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/dudleys-rebuild.111350/#post-1034676
lizznet15
Member
Thank you so much for all your help. I will get on it right away
Sue Ann
Well-Known Member
Thanks, I was worried I would have to hibernate my baby. Glad I can keep him indoors ( with outdoor visits for an hour or two) till he is about 3. Is that correct?
My strategy is to start groups of brand new hatchlings in something around 2x4 feet or 4x4 feet. As they grow, I reduce the numbers and increase the enclosure size to 4x8'. They also have large outdoor enclosures for short forays to the great outdoors. My general rule of thumb is an hour of outside time per inch of tortoise when the weather is nice. Using these two enclosures is how I keep them until they are large enough to live outside full time with a heated night box.
I move them outside based on size, not age. They grow at wildly varying rates and for a wide variety of reasons. The indoor 4x8' enclosure lasts until they are about 8-10". When they get much bigger than that, they tend to really bash around in there and there just isn't enough room to walk around. At this point, I move them outside into a large enclosure full time. Usually 30x30' or 50x50', or something similar. Here is an example of the heated shelter I keep mentioning: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-night-box-thread.88966/ Here where I live, they can be outside 24/7 all year long as long as they have that heated shelter to hang out in on cold night or cooler "winter" days. I don't know what to do with an active giant tortoise in a colder climate once they reach this size. I suppose they'd need a room sized enclosure with heated floors?
So how long does it take them to reach that size? Slow growers that were started dry and are living in dry conditions might take 3 years or more. If they are started properly, kept hydrated and live in warm, humid, monsoon conditions, they will reach 8-10" in their first year. I've seen them do it in 8 months. I feed mine mostly grass and weeds and keep the protein levels low, so mine usually reach 8-10" in about 14-16 months. By 3 years old, they are usually around 30 pounds.
Here is a good illustration of growth rate for a healthy, well started baby that is housed and fed correctly: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/ever-wonder-how-fast-a-sulcata-can-grow.150013/
I keep watch on several cities in Africa that are near pockets of wild sulcata populations. Temps in Bamako for the next week range from a daily high of 101-108 F and an over night low of 81-84 F...
Yes. 40 is too low. Unless we are talking Celsius...
Yes. 40 is too low. Unless we are talking Celsius...
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