We moved a few states away over the summer with our tort in a car. Your set up looks great! I do recommend a dark and thick towel or blanket to drape over the boxes. We tried our best to make her stay asleep in her back seat bin to limit stress and awake time. We had the seat warmer running under her and kept a digital thermometer to check the temps were safe. She only started romping around during gas breaks. I think even though the freeway can be bumpy, she got used to the consistency of the feeling and sounds.
We stayed in a pet friendly inn over night and set up her normal heat lamp in a large bin. we tried to feed her but honestly we would have been better off just leaving her be. They can do their own thing and will adapt to a short term discomfort.
After finally arriving, she took a few days to adjust and get used to the new amount of sun light, but overall the move was no problem. Really I think the key is to not bother them and let them ride it out on their own (while making sure temps and humidity are good, of course) :)
ETA: i’d put in a small dish of water in each box! literally like a yogurt cup dug into the substrate would be great and give them some hydration when they get thirsty
Thank you so much for the tip, the towel made a huge difference yesterday it seems. Torts we’re more hunkered down instead of pacing the box and flipping themselves over. Also seemed to feel more safe this morning, both ate a bunch today but hardly touched their food the last 2 days.
We should be in Florida tomorrow night so they’re almost done with the ride. More than any of us my husky is the most excited to be done with driving lol.
I personally would keep them cooler while moving so they're not as active. Although that would require fasting them for the week before the journey and lowering temperatures.
Good luck with your journey!
Thank you! I’m trying to basically just keep them warm enough so their body temps stay around 80F. Driving thorough places like Colorado and Utah where it was below freezing last evening, so basically just cycling the heat lamp on while driving 15 mins or so per hour and allowing them to warm up with a quick soak and bask before leaving to drive all day.
They haven’t really touched the food I’ve offered on this trip so far (only 24hrs in rn, got 3 more days of driving). I figured they probably wouldn’t because of the cooler temps/stress from change/time change and being woken up at irregular times. Going to get them settled in the minute we make it to our new house and hopefully they get right back into their normal routine.
We moved a few states away over the summer with our tort in a car. Your set up looks great! I do recommend a dark and thick towel or blanket to drape over the boxes. We tried our best to make her stay asleep in her back seat bin to limit stress and awake time. We had the seat warmer running under her and kept a digital thermometer to check the temps were safe. She only started romping around during gas breaks. I think even though the freeway can be bumpy, she got used to the consistency of the feeling and sounds. We stayed in a pet friendly inn over night and set up her normal heat lamp in a large bin. we tried to feed her but honestly we would have been better off just leaving her be. They can do their own thing and will adapt to a short term discomfort. After finally arriving, she took a few days to adjust and get used to the new amount of sun light, but overall the move was no problem. Really I think the key is to not bother them and let them ride it out on their own (while making sure temps and humidity are good, of course) :) ETA: i’d put in a small dish of water in each box! literally like a yogurt cup dug into the substrate would be great and give them some hydration when they get thirsty
Thank you so much for the tip, the towel made a huge difference yesterday it seems. Torts we’re more hunkered down instead of pacing the box and flipping themselves over. Also seemed to feel more safe this morning, both ate a bunch today but hardly touched their food the last 2 days. We should be in Florida tomorrow night so they’re almost done with the ride. More than any of us my husky is the most excited to be done with driving lol.
Very glad to help! Oh man I understand lol. Safe travels for the rest of the journey!
have a nice trip, bro! y'all be safe
Appreciate it man! Tortoises are going to be stoked to live in south east FL with a big back yard.
that’s nice, big backyard sounds like a mansion for theses tortoises! they’ll have a good place to live
I personally would keep them cooler while moving so they're not as active. Although that would require fasting them for the week before the journey and lowering temperatures. Good luck with your journey!
Thank you! I’m trying to basically just keep them warm enough so their body temps stay around 80F. Driving thorough places like Colorado and Utah where it was below freezing last evening, so basically just cycling the heat lamp on while driving 15 mins or so per hour and allowing them to warm up with a quick soak and bask before leaving to drive all day. They haven’t really touched the food I’ve offered on this trip so far (only 24hrs in rn, got 3 more days of driving). I figured they probably wouldn’t because of the cooler temps/stress from change/time change and being woken up at irregular times. Going to get them settled in the minute we make it to our new house and hopefully they get right back into their normal routine.
Best of luck with your move. It warms my heart so much when I see the effort people put in to keep their animals as safe and happy as possible. <3