Sulacta burrowing?
- Thread starter Sully718
- Start date
The temperature is what should determine your answer. What is the daytime high and night time low temp above ground?
What is the temperature underground as far as you can reach down the burrow?
What is the temperature underground as far as you can reach down the burrow?
Daytime high today was 95 low tonight is 75. In summer temps go 100+
Temperature underground cant get to because he's in the way. He just dug this up today.
Its hot as hell already here in Florida and we're in May
I'd be comfortable letting him sleep underground in those temps.
They don't dig out. They dig down at a 30-40 degree angle and then just move higher or lower within that burrow. They don't dig down and then back up at another angle.
The burrow is the best way to go for hot weather. In fall, block the burrow entrance and make the tortoise sleep above ground in the heated night box.
If the box is properly insulated and sealed, it will resist temperature change. This means it holds in heat in winter, and keeps heat out in summer. I can't really see how your box is built in the one picture you posted, but it looks like there is insulation visible inside. Best to seal each seam as you build and sandwich the insulation between sheets of plywood.
You also need some clear freezer flaps to hold in the heat on colder days and keep the heat out on hot days.
Only your thermometer can tell you if the box is maintaining the correct temperatures or not.
To encourage a burrow, simply dig a one or two foot deep hole with a nice sloped entrance. They often find the hole on their own, but you can also try placing him in it a few times a day.
I'd be careful about rain in the burrow though - if there could be any risk of him getting down there and you can't remove them if there's a flash flood or something
In florida it can rain pretty heavy
Exactly, that's what I was thinking of...
Might have to not let him dig. When it rains he doesn't go into his box either smh
Being out in the rain is not bad, but being trapped in a burrow when it floods is. That is really the main thing to worry about...
Put a rain/shade cover over the burrow. Easy peasy. It is really beneficial for them to be able to get underground when temps are near or over 100.
Also the way they mound up the dirt around their burrows prevents flooding and rain water collection in the burrow. There is a substantial rainy season over there in Africa, and the wild ones spend 95% of their time underground according to wild studies, and none of them are drowning in their burrows. They also live underground all over Arizona during the summer monsoon season, and in Florida too.
Further, if the burrow does flood, they simply rise up with the water level until they have to come up above ground. The tortoise should only be using the burrow in hot weather, so its not like a desert tortoise brumating at the bottom of a burrow in winter and having it flood when they are lethargic, cold, and in a state of torpor. I have intentionally flooded sulcata burrows with a hose to get them to come above ground when I need them to. Works like a charm. They don't drown.
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I've done it many ways, but the easiest would be to make a 4x8 foot table with legs out of a sheet of plywood and some 2x4s and center it over the burrow entrance. You could also use one of those Easy-Up tents as long as you anchor it secure so the wind doesn't remove it for you in a summer storm.
