Sulcata..Space?

[Tony the tank]

Wondering if anyone here keeps a lg sulcata inside during the winter month...My large female has a 12x24 size indoor enclosure for the winter...But she never walks to the farthest side.. 6 days ago..I placed a thin piece of nylon line across the last 6ft of he enclosure and secured it to the sides with tape...and it's still there...

Seems she doesn't use much of her enclosure at all..I see her leave her hide. ,Go to her basking site (3ft from hide) and walk to her food... She never uses the other half of her enclosure...Temp is fine its the cool side and temp is 82*F... She seems to be content with very little movement...is this odd?

 

[Zamric]

WalkingRock does very little duing the Winter. When he's in the house he MIGHT walk around the dinningroom but more than likely, he will find a nice corner and make it home.

 

[Tony the tank]

Tiny is the same way... Uses about a 3rd of his enclosure... Never venturing far from his hide or basking site...Tony on the other hand...walks every square inch of his enclosure...

Is it a personality thing with them??

Thoughts?

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Bob is in a 12'x20' heated and insulated shed and he paces and climbs the walls and rams the walls and doors so loud I can hear him clear in the house. the first 3 feet up the walls are all marked from Bob's throwing poop and climbing the walls. This is with his doggie door open. That's how he entertains himself.

 

[Tony the tank]

Bob is in a 12'x20' heated and insulated shed and he paces and climbs the walls and rams the walls and doors so loud I can hear him clear in the house. the first 3 feet up the walls are all marked from Bob's throwing poop and climbing the walls. This is with his doggie door open. That's how he entertains himself.

Tony is like that...always pacing and climbing the walls... The other two Tiny and Tina..are always chillaxin..( slang for chilling and relaxing)

 

[Baoh]

My adults are not especially active right now. They only move around a ~4'x~6' portion of their available space and pretty much huddle much of the time whether eating or sleeping.

My juvenile is more active. While tending to settle in one portion of its enclosure, she does explore all of her available space. She tends to stomp around more when outside, too. I think she will be a terror when bigger.

 

[jensgotfaith]

WalkingRock does very little duing the Winter. When he's in the house he MIGHT walk around the dinningroom but more than likely, he will find a nice corner and make it home.

Holy cow- I can't imagine what Tex would do if I let him inside the house. Talk about a mess! I shudder just thinking about it!

 

[Tony the tank]

My adults are not especially active right now. They only move around a ~4'x~6' portion of their available space and pretty much huddle much of the time whether eating or sleeping.

My juvenile is more active. While tending to settle in one portion of its enclosure, she does explore all of her available space. She tends to stomp around more when outside, too. I think she will be a terror when bigger.

So do you believe it's seasonal behavior or more a personality thing??

 

[Zamric]

Our "Dinning Room" is accually a Sunroom add-on, with its own heat and he only CAME inside when temps drop below freezing for a long period of time... BUT now that he has a great heater for his house, he may never come inside again!

 

[Yvonne G]

My Dudley knocks down is door if I don't get out there early enough in the morning (a piece of plywood with a leaning cinderblock). Even on the coldest day he goes outside. If its too cold and the sun isn't shining, he won't stay out very long. On those days he is content to sit quietly in one corner of his house.

 

[Baoh]

My adults are not especially active right now. They only move around a ~4'x~6' portion of their available space and pretty much huddle much of the time whether eating or sleeping.

My juvenile is more active. While tending to settle in one portion of its enclosure, she does explore all of her available space. She tends to stomp around more when outside, too. I think she will be a terror when bigger.

So do you believe it's seasonal behavior or more a personality thing??

For mine, it seems like both aspects are at play. I thought it might be temperature-based at first, but this ended up not being a factor in these instances when I checked. My male is extremely docile for an adult male sulcata and my het females are extremely tolerant of...pretty much any creatures they encounter. The juvie pushes tortoises significantly larger than herself aside to get to food, though. I give her her own food dish when I do group feedings so that her pushiness does not disturb the feeding volume of others. Photoperiods could also be a factor for the adults.

 

[Tony the tank]

See I thought it was temp related also as Tony shuts down if temps hit above 88*F
So I lowered the temps to 83 warm side... But that didn't change anything..They just laid under the basking light.. So now I leave the warm side around 87.. Tony is back to running laps and the other two only seem to move to eat...

They don't even move when I'm cleaning there enclosure.. I need to pick them up to get them out of the way

 

[tortiechik]

My sulcata (he is 7 yrs old and 21 pounds) lives in the yard all summer here in northern new mexico but I have him in a 6 foot wooden box this winter (he outgrew the fancy diggs I had built for him last year). He does not pace around or seem upset about being confined. He lays on his pigpad or under the basking bulbs, eats, then buries himself in hay. That is the entire extent of his winter activities. I am anxious to see how the winters will go as he gets bigger. I do let him do some laps around the house after his soak once in a while but he rarely walks very far before finding a corner and going to sleep. I am researching into the idea of using a greenhouse for him during the winters.

 

[Zamric]

This Summer when it got so hot for so long here in Texas, Walkingrock shutdown at about 98-100deg but when the sun went down and the temp dropped below 95ish he would start walking...ALL NIGHT LONG!

 

[StudentoftheReptile]

the first 3 feet up the walls are all marked from Bob's throwing poop and climbing the walls. This is with his doggie door open. That's how he entertains himself.

Whoa whoa whoa..."throwing poop?" How does a tortoise throw its poop?! I thought that was just a primate and hippo thing!

Sorry, that phrase caught my eye and I was thinking "Great! Another wonderful aspect of sulcata keeping to look forward to!"

 

[Zamric]

ever notice how they throw dirt when they dig.... wellllll......

 

[StudentoftheReptile]

ever notice how they throw dirt when they dig.... wellllll......

Aaahh....well, he's only 5" right now and he does dig much (thankfully), although he does have the opportunity. I guess I shouldn't worry much since he will be going outdoors in the next year or two anyway.