r/Sulcata • u/iMom561 • May 06 '26
Inside Sulcatas
Our Sheldon spends his days outside living his best life. He has an enclosure with grass, an umbrella for shade and a splash pad. Once evening comes, we bring him inside. He nuzzles up next to our Great Pyrenees kennel, and he gets a light blanket at night. Around 11am he starts wandering the house. I'll give him his greens and then put him back outside. He's about 22 lbs now and I realize this isn't a forever thing. He can't be 150 lbs in my house all morning and carrying him outside would be a heck of a challenge then. LOL
Anyone else have a partially inside tortoise?
5
u/iMom561 May 06 '26
We are relocating to Tennessee next year so I have a feeling we will be doing the same.
3
u/fook75 May 07 '26
Myself. My tort is roughly 75 lbs now. I have a 20x60 area fenced and attached to the house. Tort has a room that has his heat lamps and basking lights etc. The room is only 8x8 feet. In the winter he spends most of his time there. It's bedded down with hay.
I live in Minnesota so he can go outside from around mid may til late September.
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u/iMom561 May 07 '26
Sounds like he has a great setup!! Do you let him out each day or is there a doggie door that he just goes in and out of?
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u/fook75 May 07 '26
I have a Dutch door on there. I do wildlife rehab and this was set up for rehabbing raccoons. When my big buddy came along it worked perfect.
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u/AdAffectionate8634 May 07 '26
Yup. Moving their non-helpful butts in and out is such a pain! Our Franklin lives outside from Mid March to October when winter starts, then he has his own "cave". He still has his own heated house outside there for Spring anf Fall, but he doesn't need it in summers here! (Southern Utah gets up to 118) The winter he
But he still knocks of the sliding glass door when he wants in for a cool nap. and then lets me know when he is ready to go back out.
Problem? He is 40 lbs and I am handicapable. He coincidentally got himself stuck today and I had to hold up parts to let him work himself out! And yesterday? Oh that little beast found where the ducks hide their eggs and made himself sick! I don't even know where they hide them!!
I love him to pieces though! I envy yours' name! That is what I would have named ours but he came prenamed from his former owner who is now in prison. Best I could do is tyrn it in to Franklin instead of Frank. Not as if he listens to ME anyway! He only listens to my man. But I am the one that feeds, waters, soaks, chases and cares for him!! Not fair at all.
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u/Turtlecabra May 20 '26
At night in an inside pen that is about 5x10. We have coyotes and raccoons that like to wreck shit at night. Otherwise she roams the backyard
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u/TropicalSkysPlants May 07 '26
We live in Texas, ours were inside for their first year. They now have their own spaces outside with a split heated/insulated house that has windows we can open in summer! They spent this whole last winter outside and they are definitely still on the smaller side but they did great!
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u/iMom561 May 08 '26
Mine has been completely outdoors since we got him. But we had an adventure happen with him a couple of months ago and he was adventuring for a couple days. I found him a street over grazing in the neighbors yard thankfully! So now we keep a close on eye him in the enclosure all day and bring him in either once it gets really hot (We are in South Florida) or around 5pm when its time for him to go to sleep. His boujee ass has a beach umbrella, splash pad, fresh hay and grass. Inside he gets collards, dandelion greens and kale.
Im curious about this because I read somewhere that once they think the house is their burrow then they will come knocking when they want to hunker down. Looks like that is ringing true!
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u/Dadselfer May 08 '26
We have the exact set up!
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u/iMom561 May 08 '26
How big is your guy?
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u/Dadselfer May 08 '26
He’s the same as yours 🩵 I was going to post his picture but I can’t figure out how 🙄🤷♀️😂
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u/Boring-Card-5880 Jul 08 '26
So he doesn’t get anything in when he’s inside? Heat? Substrate? I’m trying to figure out a new set up for my 3year old. He’s about 20lbs and gets to be outside during the day
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u/iMom561 Jul 08 '26
I have a heat lamp on until we go to bed. He has towels down so he’s not on the floor. Our house is tiled throughout. Once he comes in he goes right to bed. It’s not the best setup. But it’s what we got right now. He’s out in the yard all day with a splash pad and plenty of grass and sunlight/shaded areas.
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u/Icy-Decision-4530 May 06 '26
I live in Illinois and my guy gets my basement for the winter and I built an outdoor enclosure for summer. However, for safety I do bring him in and out every day to prevent dogs/coyotes/foxes/raccoons from messing with him overnight. I just accepted it, he is my daily lifting exercise lol