Sleeping out side.

[Angi]

For those of you in San Diego with out side CDT, are you giving them a heated hide at night? I am in La Mesa. We are tired of bring the torts in at night so built them an enclosure that has heat and can be closed up at night.....but in the summer do they need the heat? It is pretty warm here and I am afraid of them getting too warm.....or is it good for them to cool off at night in the summer?

Lots of advice and opinions please!

 

[thatrebecca]

How old are your torts? I'm in LA, inland. I think our climates are pretty similar. Nighttime lows this time of year are high 60s for me. My 3 and 5 year-old CDTs started sleeping outside the last week in June and have been thriving. They have no heat source out there, just some cozy burrows. I have thermometers in the burrows and they usually stay a few degrees warmer than the night air. Not sure why. If you have hatchlings you probably still want to bring them in, but I'd wait for a more experienced keeper on that one.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

What about using a thermostat for the heat source? Then it will stay off on warm summer nights but click on during cooler nights.

Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app

 

[Angi]

My torts are four years old. A thermostat is a good idea, but what should a night time temp be? should they cool off at night?

 

[thatrebecca]

Yes they should cool down at night a little. The temp in my burrows at night so far has been 68-73 without a heat source. The torts wake up when the morning sun hits the burrow and warms it up.