Need advice on opening for tortoise enclosure.

[Desertreed]

I have 2 adult sulcatas that i recently adopted. I have no experience with this breed. I have built a 8 x 8 insulated winter wooden structure and live in Tucson, Arizona. Do i need to build a door that was restrict their movement (keep them in the enclosure) on wet and cooler days? I can have winter days with the low in the 30s and high in the 50s. If i allow them to move freely inside and outside the box, will they instinctively go back inside the box for shelter on adverse days or should i restrict their movements? I have heavy plastic vinyl strips on the doorway so they can go in and out now, but can add a wooden door to limit their movements. Thank you for the advice.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

No
Most tortoises will not instinctively go inside a warm night box. Some do. Some dont.
I place my RF group into their heated night houses and place cinder blocks in front of the door flaps to keep them inside until morning.
I believe with Sulcata, a very sturdy door. Maybe with some sort of lever or lock would be required.
And keeping two in such a small area might present it's own issues.
They're very solitary in nature.
If you haven't had issues yet. You probably will very soon.

 

[Markw84]

I have never had a door for sulcatas. Once big enough to be outdoors full time, I have never had one fail to use the night box every night on their own. I do have doors for my Burmese Stars, as on occasion, one may not go in at night, and I want to be sure they are in all night, especially in winter. ON the sulcata house - I do have a triple layer of freezer barrier for the doorway so it is pretty well insulated. Sulcatas will treat a night box like their burrow. When new - within one or two nights they will learn to always go inside themselves and stay the night. I have days here in winter that get to 30° at night and may only reach the 40°s in the day. The sulcatas will go out and graze but then go back to warm up fairly soon when it is that cool.

 

[Tom]

Once big enough to be outdoors full time, I have never had one fail to use the night box every night on their own.

I have. Many of them. My Sudan female has to be put away almost every night, and all of them will come out in a cold rain day or night.

I have 2 adult sulcatas that i recently adopted. I have no experience with this breed. I have built a 8 x 8 insulated winter wooden structure and live in Tucson, Arizona. Do i need to build a door that was restrict their movement (keep them in the enclosure) on wet and cooler days? I can have winter days with the low in the 30s and high in the 50s. If i allow them to move freely inside and outside the box, will they instinctively go back inside the box for shelter on adverse days or should i restrict their movements? I have heavy plastic vinyl strips on the doorway so they can go in and out now, but can add a wooden door to limit their movements. Thank you for the advice.

First and foremost, you need to separate them ASAP. They should never live as pairs. Sexes don't matter. How long they've been living together doesn't matter.

I open the doors every morning, even in winter, and latch them in every night. If they are not in their boxes already, then I put them in. In summer I let them burrow and live underground, but I catch them above ground in fall and make them use their night boxes.

Here is an example of a night box and heating strategy that will work for both of them:

Double Door Night Box

As the years have gone by and I build more of these boxes, I learn more and more each time. This one is the latest and I incorporated everything I've learned over the years. I also tried to take lots of pics so I can explain in more detail some of what is going on. It will take multiple posts to...

tortoiseforum.org

Here is the 4x8 rendering of Tom's Night Box. With Exploded view.

This is a rendering I did based off of @Tom 's heated night box enclosure. Its probably not a 100% accurate. Door is offset to one side for my personal needs but can easily be moved. Let me know if you see any issues with it. Feed back appreciated. High res renderings can be downloaded here...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Desertreed]

No
Most tortoises will not instinctively go inside a warm night box. Some do. Some dont.
I place my RF group into their heated night houses and place cinder blocks in front of the door flaps to keep them inside until morning.
I believe with Sulcata, a very sturdy door. Maybe with some sort of lever or lock would be required.
And keeping two in such a small area might present it's own issues.
They're very solitary in nature.
If you haven't had issues yet. You probably will very soon.

Thank you for your advice. I have a male and female who get along fine. In fact, the male usually follows the female around as he has copulation in mind. I will put in a sturdy door to keep them in place on cold wet days.