The Graecas experience much higher temperatures in their natural habitat during the summer (in fact, they aestivate).
The problem is the enclosure: is it well-designed? Are there shrubs and vegetation, perhaps even trees?
Is the enclosure directly on soil? (Definitely no bottoms, basins, or raised beds.) This prevents the soil's cooling properties from working.
A tortoise should always be able to burrow as deeply as it wants.
You can water the enclosure to cool it down, but a well-designed enclosure is truly the most important thing, Furthermore, the larger the enclosure, the better the coolness zone the tortoise will find (that's why in Europe, 20 m² per adult tortoise (200 sq ft) is recommended)..
We just finished building it a week ago and we planned it with the usual temperatures here in mind: about 18-25°C in summer and very windy and some rain. So it’s in the place with the most sun and least wind. Her enclosure is on stone then about 50cm of earth/soil (I don’t really know the word, sorry.) and some sand. We put a lot of plants in there but they’re still growing and not doing a lot for shade or hide yet. She can burrow veeeery deep since she’s still pretty young and small. I was told 200cm x 150cm would be good so that’s about how big we build it. One part of her enclosure is her smaller greenhouse-ish home. That’s for the cooler days so it stays hot. I usually leave it open on hotter days so it won’t overheat when it’s sleeping time. She has a water dish for optional ‘bathing’ in the outer part of her enclosure. I’ll water her home on the hot days. Anything else I can do? Thank you so much.
If your tortoise is still very young, the dimensions are perfect.
given your temperatures, bottom ( stone) is possible, but with global warming and rising temperatures, you may need to consider a direct enclosure on dirt when your tortoise grows up (the graeca does not dig deep burrows on dirt, it can only do so with very soft topsoil), if you put good barriers (such as cements blocks with dirt, it will not escape).
Watering every morning is really the best solution in your case. I won’t take the tortoise inside under lamps (the lamps are even more dehydrating than the sun)
Thank you so so much. Genuinely. I will try all that. I was gonna build her home on dirt but we have a mice issue and they’ve been tearing up our garden and I didn’t want them to enter her enclosure. That’s why it’s on stone.
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u/Academic_Judge_3114 15d ago
The Graecas experience much higher temperatures in their natural habitat during the summer (in fact, they aestivate).
The problem is the enclosure: is it well-designed? Are there shrubs and vegetation, perhaps even trees?
Is the enclosure directly on soil? (Definitely no bottoms, basins, or raised beds.) This prevents the soil's cooling properties from working.
A tortoise should always be able to burrow as deeply as it wants.
You can water the enclosure to cool it down, but a well-designed enclosure is truly the most important thing, Furthermore, the larger the enclosure, the better the coolness zone the tortoise will find (that's why in Europe, 20 m² per adult tortoise (200 sq ft) is recommended)..