Hi all,

I need some help and advice please. Daisy (3 year old russian) has been outside for about 5-6 weeks as it has been lovely weather and she has a nice new outdoor tortoise table that I had specially made for her. She loves being outside and only comes in for her bath.

The last couple of nights though it has been getteing really windy and rainy and a bit colder (still about 14/15 degrees) and I am worried that Daisy would be cold, last night I had to go out with the torch at 11pm and find her. She does have a nice coldframe set up in the enclosure that keeps the rain and wind out.

The point of this message is that when I bring her in she just wont settle, I put her outside this morning about 11 and brought her in at 5pm, I have just had to put her back outside (9pm) as she wont settle she is constantly pacing up and down and trying to climb the bars and im worried that she will hurt her self and stress herself out.

what should I do? can I just leave her outside and start the wind down process prior to hibernation  (this will be our first one or will it be too early? Will she get too cold and what temp is really too cold? We are still getting day temps of 18-21 and night temps of 10-15.

Please help  

Hi,

As Daisy is only 3 years old i  assume she must be quite small still? I think you should start bringing her in at night, even with a coldframe this is not 100% waterproof and if the conditions are damp she will not benefit from this as russians are susceptable to respiratory problems if they are left in these conditions, also the smaller the tortoise the quicker they lose body heat. We have had some harsh weather the past few nights so my advice to you is get her in now. Some tortoises do pace but she will settle, she will have to learn to :-) try placing more soil/sand in the table top you have and let her dig right down. The main thing is she will be safe and dry, dont let her get her own way :-)

Ali

Hi Daisy
Not sure if this will help because mine little one is a THB but I have an area where I put her when I bring her in at night and cover her over with shredded paper, abit like tucking her in, every time she came out I put her back in, now she just settles down right away and seems to know its sleep time, and that is where she stays until I put her light on to wake her up in the mornings. You will be suprised how quick they learn.
Jane

Hiya,

Personally I wouldn't leave her out during the night. Because she is much smaller, and so her body mass less than an adult, any drop in temperature will affect her quicker than an adult.

Personally I always return all of mine to either the greenhouse or tortoise house at night (even the adults) - largely due concerns about predators.

HTH
Darren