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I hope I dont bore everyone with the same old questions you must all get but I am sitting here really worried as my two tortoises are still outside and are going to camp out over night for the first time. I know I have to take this step but I worry that they might get too cold. Does it get easier ?????[/size][/font]
(06-02-2011 09:08 PM)Kathryn231 Wrote: [ -> ]I hope I dont bore everyone with the same old questions you must all get but I am sitting here really worried as my two tortoises are still outside and are going to camp out over night for the first time. I know I have to take this step but I worry that they might get too cold. Does it get easier ?????[/size][/font]

Hi Katherine
Will it help if I tell you that when we were tort watching in Turkey years ago, it was so cold overnight (in an unfinished house) that we had to get extra blankets, so much colder than here right now. The following day the torts were nesting in the sunshine. All you have to remember is that they are reptiles, not mammals so the temp does not matter to them so long as they have somewhere to warm up in the morning. It will not be too cold for them now, all of mine have been outdoors for well over a month and I will not think of changing things now, until September. I think my vet has forgotten who I am lol so must be doing something right Wink
(06-02-2011 09:51 PM)wizzasmum Wrote: [ -> ]
(06-02-2011 09:08 PM)Kathryn231 Wrote: [ -> ]I hope I dont bore everyone with the same old questions you must all get but I am sitting here really worried as my two tortoises are still outside and are going to camp out over night for the first time. I know I have to take this step but I worry that they might get too cold. Does it get easier ?????[/size][/font]

Hi Katherine
Will it help if I tell you that when we were tort watching in Turkey years ago, it was so cold overnight (in an unfinished house) that we had to get extra blankets, so much colder than here right now. The following day the torts were nesting in the sunshine. All you have to remember is that they are reptiles, not mammals so the temp does not matter to them so long as they have somewhere to warm up in the morning. It will not be too cold for them now, all of mine have been outdoors for well over a month and I will not think of changing things now, until September. I think my vet has forgotten who I am lol so must be doing something right Wink

Thanks so much for this it really does help. Their run is over thirty foot long and I am nagging my poor husband to extend by another eight foot this weekend so that it reaches the shed. Hopefully he will give up a few feet of room in there ,so that they can then go in and out, via a flap, as they want to. Would it be best to have a lamp rigged up in there for them ? So grateful for any assistance. Thanks
Thanks so much for this it really does help. Their run is over thirty foot long and I am nagging my poor husband to extend by another eight foot this weekend so that it reaches the shed. Hopefully he will give up a few feet of room in there ,so that they can then go in and out, via a flap, as they want to. Would it be best to have a lamp rigged up in there for them ? So grateful for any assistance. Thanks
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Yes, they definitely need somewhere to warm up if we have prolonged poor weather. I use lamps to warm them in the morning but only use them all day if weather is really bad for a long time. If it's sunny outdoors, even on a cool day, they will soon warm up, this is how they differ from mammals. I've heard people say that if the weather is warm enough for us to go out in a tee-shirt it is OK for them, this is of course incorrect as they use different means of warming up to us mammals. I have a tortoise that went out in the snow on a sunny day. She did not stay out long but she was warm when she came in Smile
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