Train to sleep later?

[Tom]

I hope I don't sound stupid right now...

thermal gradient, the difference between the highest temp in his house and the lowest, right? how would I know this if he is outdoors?

Yes. You've got the right idea. They need a warm end and cool end so they can move back and forth to regulate their body temperature and keep it where they want it.

Outdoors, the thermal gradient occurs with shade and sunny patches. They can also dig into root balls, or some species dig burrows, or russians just dig into the dirt, to thermoregulate.

 

[Tom]

I just recommended the once a day because I figured her tortoise would get used to the time of day and be "ready to eat."

I think this is a matter of personal preference. I don't like a routine for most animals. I find that at some point, especially with my crazy job and life, the routine is going to have to be deviated from and this can be stressful for an animal that is used to a routine. Instead, I prefer to have no routine ever, and they eat when they eat. For most of my tortoises, I just like to have food available all the time, so they can graze freely anytime they want.

Not a right or wrong thing here. Just opinions.

 

[AnimalLady]

Lol..it would be difficult to know an entire day cycle of thermal gradient until moments after it has happened..you could I suppose use tools to measure the rate of temperature change with distance from point a to b but for practical reasons you would likely just need to know the ambient temp of the tort yard taking into account spots with sun exposure to further allow for increased body temp opportunity...basically a nice warm day outside over 80 + degrees for at least a couple of hours to allow the tort ample time to charge up....eat...walk about and bask...then poop...then repeat..lol

Thank you very much~! lol

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

I have food available for Tidgy at all times.
if it's ever all gone, it means I haven't left her enough.
She doesn't overeat and will leave food when she's content.

 

[AnimalLady]

What MacGyver has started doing is saving a good amount of his dinner for breakfast. As long as he's happy, I'm happy and it helps me in the morning since its not another thing to do on my list!