Sulcatas are native to very hot and dry areas. What your sulcata is experiencing is likely very similar to what it experiences in the wild. Keep in mind though, in the wild they don't spend much time at all in the sun. They are burrowers by nature. They will spend most of their time in burrows deep beneath the earth's surface where it is humid and cooler. They will dig to thermoregulate so that they do not have to bask in direct sunlight to heat up. In the wild they usually avoid direct sunlight most of the time because there is a great chance of being attacked/eaten if in plain sight. They do experience some direct sunlight basking when grazing, but they usually will not sit in the open just for the purpose of basking unless they are given no other choice.



That being said, there's a few ways to give the tortoise what he/she wants. Probably the best way (for the tortoise) is just to let it build its own burrow. However, once the tortoise is very large, this might become a little difficult as they will dig down and out far enough that they could end up far outside of their bounds, or underneath structures or the foundation of your house (which is obviously not an ideal situation. Another option that some choose to utilize is to build a temperature-controlled tortoise house. This seems to work to a degree. The only thing I don't like about it is that it takes away a lot of the choice for the tortoise. Often if given a decent tort house (many people use sheds furnished specifically for their tortoises) the tortoise will choose not to burrow, however there is always a chance that they will just go and dig their own house anyways.



There's some awesome pictures of sulcata houses and burrows on africantortoise.com (I think that's what it is).



Good luck.

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