Reptile & Amphibian Forums

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

I saw your question yesterday which prompted me to finally get outside & take some photos.
I'm in the southwest in an area that's said to be very similar to sulcata natural habitat but yes in late Dec.- Feb. it can get very very cold here. We had an ice storm just a couple of weeks ago. It actually snowed one day but it melted later that same day.
Husband built a home for ours with cinder block & concrete, so the floor is very cold in winter. I line it with newspaper with old towels on top. In summer the concrete floor is cool so she likes that, I leave her to sit on that with out any cover on it.
She has a Kane heat pad on one side of her home, in one corner is a 250watt ceramic heat emitter.. then the other side with the paper & towels has no heat.
She uses all three options depending on the temperature.
Her home is 3 feet tall, I forget how many feet wide it is 4-5 I think.
Here's the pics I took yesterday

-----
PHRatz

Here's one more pic.. this one is of the corner that's heated but has no heat from above.

-----
PHRatz

Hello Ratz

Thanks for the response. How big is your enclosure? Where about do you live? I live in Colorado and we have somwwhat long winters,at least a lot of cold day's. I would need to keep them inside for several week's to month's at a time.
Bosco

The reason why he built her home of concrete & cinder block is because it was a whole lot less $ than wood, it won't rot, the wind won't blow it down. (we have some killer dust storms here in the spring).
It's just so sturdy & even though it's not easy to clean when she won't move out of the way, when she does it's very easy.
Just soap/water with some bleach, hose it down then squeegee it out & it air dries very quickly.

We tried hay as a substrate when it was first built.. that made a horrible stinky mess. I couldn't get the odor out without bleach.
-----
PHRatz

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
website

-----
CDieter
'Reason, observation, and experience; the holy trinity of science.'

>> 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.

I have only the one & I was just blown away the day I saw her walk out to graze while quite a bit of snow was still on the ground, although it had melted in several areas so it wasn't solid snow. She looked at it like what is this? She grazed until she got cold then went back in.
-----
PHRatz

Hello C Dieter
Thanks for the response. I live in Colorado and we usually have several months of winter. Most of that time there is some snow on the ground. How big is your indoor enclosure? I would need to keep them inside for several weeks to months at a time. Not sure if that would be possible unless I had a good sizes enclosure???
Bosco

Your situation there would be different than mine here. You have a much longer and more intense winter. Our winter typically goes cold snap for 2-3 days then back to 60-70 degrees with this cycle occurring several times.

I wouldn't call our sulcatta shelter indoor. It is out in their enclosure. They go in and out as they please. I think it is 10 x 15.

At you location they will need to be indoors for several months.
-----
CDieter
'Reason, observation, and experience; the holy trinity of science.'