Hi Bosco,

We live in the Houston area and maintain a large group of sulcata's. Alot of people are under the impression that these tortoises need constant high temperatures. This is simply false. In many parts of the sulcata's natural range temperatures will drop below freezing. Not to mention the fact that arid climates have wide variance often daily.

We treat them very simply. We have a large shelter that has a solar roof and a sand bottom. During cold times we fill the shelter with hay for insulation. And animals that have a burrow away from the shelter are covered by lots of hay. Using this simple method we have had zero problems through the years. I have been amazed to see us have a hard frost only to have the tortoises emerge and breed the very next day. It blows me away.

There is some thought out there that a temp drop is actually important to their health. We haven't seen anything that would contradict this idea.



>>Hello all,
>>I just wanted to see if there are any of you out there that have a big sulcata in the western states or any state that gets really cold in the winter? If so, what do you do with him/her since they cannot be outside? I would like to have a large sulcata but not sure what I would do with it in the winter months. Thanks for your input, Bosco
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CDieter
'Reason, observation, and experience; the holy trinity of science.'

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