How hot is too hot

Daveypryme

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Hello, I put my leopard tortoise outside in the morning and bring him in at night. The last few weeks it has been very hot,today is 98 f feels like 110 f. He is about 12 inches and about 9 lbs. He has a lot of shade. Will he be ok in temps like this or should he be inside?
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Kasia

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That's too hot. They will eventually overheat..I would keep them inside with an AC on.
Are they actually active or do they just keep low and avoid sun?
 

Daveypryme

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He is active in the morning when I first put him out. When it starts getting real hot he just stays in his house the rest of the day.
He is inside now. What would be the safest high temp to have him outside in?
 

Tom

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The danger is when it starts getting over 100. In that enclosure with all that heavy shade, temps in the 90s are fine. If you are worried about it run a sprinkler in there for a minute or two several times a day. This can cool things 10-15 degrees easily. Or hook up misters to run during the heat of the day.
 

Tom

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The danger is when it starts getting over 100. In that enclosure with all that heavy shade, temps in the 90s are fine. If you are worried about it run a sprinkler in there for a minute or two several times a day. This can cool things 10-15 degrees easily. Or hook up misters to run during the heat of the day.

All of my adult tortoises live outside. It was 112 here a couple of weeks ago and its regularly over 100 all summer long. Sprinklers, shade, and misters. Underground retreats can work well for fossorial species like russians, DTs and sulcatas.
 

Robber

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Mine seem most active outside when it's right around 90...above 95 they generally seek out shade and park it for a while. There are always exceptions, though - some days it will be close to 100 and they are walking around grazing like crazy, and some 88-92 days they will sit under a bush all day.

But I would say a typical summer day is:
~6:30AM-8:00 AM warm up(upper 70s/lower 80s),
~ 8:00 - 11:30 activity/eat like hell(upper 80s/low 90s),
~11:30 - 4:00 rest during hottest part of day(upper 90s)
~4:00 -7:00 walk around some more, graze some more
~7:00 Find shelter for the night
 

Neal

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I suppose my experience coping with heat is a lot different than many others, so to me, your temperatures sound ideal for leopard tortoises. I would definitely recommend keeping him outdoors as much as you can allow.

No matter what the temperature is, every tortoise enclosure should have some sort of retreat where the tortoise can get out of the direct sunlight. It looks like you have a container as a hide. Have you measured the temperatures inside of there? I imagine that sort of hide would work well enough in your temperatures and it might work even better to spray some water in there regularly. If I were you, I would consider adding a second shade source that has open sides to allow for more airflow.

Last month we had several days in a row that were at or near 120 degrees, and until about a week or two ago our temperatures were constantly above 110. I would never argue that those temperatures were ideal, but mine are well acclimated to this type of environment and handle the heat very well with very little additional effort on my part. I always make sure they have easy access to freshwater and on the 110+ days I will usually spray them down with the garden hose.
 
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