Why a cold frame with technology is essential for keeping European tortoises
Technology and a high-quality cold frame made of 16 mm multi-wall sheets are essential in our latitudes if we are to keep our tortoises healthy into old age. If they cannot reach their preferred body temperature, or are brumated too cold, they face serious illness and metabolic disorders – up to a slow, painful death from organ failure.
Some tortoises are kept entirely wrongly, without any external heat source and sometimes even without a cold frame. They endure terrible pain from organ damage and gout for decades before they finally die. That they survive for so many years is due solely to their remarkable capacity to endure suffering. It is no proof that keeping them “without technology” works.
My vet likes to say that “probably nobody would keep their tortoises cold if the animals could cry out in pain”. That ought to give every sceptic pause for thought.
We should also remember that, under good husbandry, these animals can live to be 100 years old.
Compared with their natural habitat, our climate is too cold and damp, with too few hours of sunshine. The aim is to create as close a “Mediterranean microclimate” as possible inside the cold frame. This cannot be achieved without technology.
Technology also covers protected brumation.
This means building a brumation pit beneath the cold frame that is protected against frost and predators – tortoises must never be left to brumate unprotected outdoors. In the pit, the right technology (heat mats, fan heaters) keeps brumation temperatures from falling below 4 °C.
If this form of brumation is not feasible, tortoises should undergo controlled brumation in a refrigerator at 4.5–7 °C.
In tortoise welfare, many people volunteer their time to promote species-appropriate husbandry of European tortoises. Sadly, many keepers are unaware of these ectothermic animals’ fundamental need for warmth – or dismiss it as “unnecessary”.
We nevertheless consider it essential to provide a UV basking spot in the cold frame or greenhouse (a warm, bright lamp with a UVB component that reaches 35 °C at shell height) and heating for the background temperature (fan heater).
The whole set-up is easy to run with thermostats and timers, and is monitored with several thermometers at tortoise height.
Beginners who are unable to run electricity to a cold frame are strongly advised not to keep tortoises.
Species-appropriate husbandry of European tortoises is not possible without a cold frame and technology. Every beginner should be aware that it is not a cheap hobby – energy costs are unlikely ever to fall again, and a high-quality cold frame is an investment, above all in the tortoises’ health.
But when it is done properly, keepers can look forward to a lifetime of joy with their tortoises.
Further reading: Alltop Acrylic · The Greenhouse Heater · Technology for the Species-Appropriate Keeping of European Tortoises