Important To Note For All Tortoise Owners:

   During this season of prolonged excessive heat, it is important that ALL TORTOISES, no matter their breed, have access to plenty of shade and drinking water during the day, especially if you cannot be around all day to monitor them. It is also very important that you physically put your shelled pet in a bowl of fresh water that they can soak in, on a regular basis- at least every 3 days but more often if possible, (do not put them in chilled water though, the sudden temperature change could send them into shock and kill them.) Just because you have given them water access, in their pen, does not mean they will automatically drink it, so, it is important that they are put into appropriate sized water too soak and rehydrate, for as long as they want but that they are able to easily and safely get back out again when they have had enough. Soaking also encourages them to regularly go to the toilet, a dehydrated tortoise will suffer from constipation, due to fluid evaporating from their body and this can also lead to both kidney issues and upsetting their stomach enzyme levels which will make them less likely to eat, causing more health issues.

  The smaller the tortoise the easier it is for them to dehydrate and endanger their health during very hot weather. Dehydration is one of the major causes of death for Aldabra, and other tortoises, in the wild. 

  As reptiles, tortoises need heat to encourage them to move around and be active, however, excessive temperatures can be overwhelming for them and they need shade to be able to cool down. The temperature of their indoor accommodation should also be closely monitored as it can quickly become overwhelming and you may need to add fans, water misters, or something, to help to cool it down and circulate the air to a more acceptable temperature for your tortoise. The good news is that you can turn off their electrical heating during the day and save yourself some money! A well insulated tortoise house will hold the daytime heat level, well into the night, so, it would be beneficial to have your heating connected to a temperature sensor, so, that overnight, background, heating only comes on if it is required, when the temperature in the room drop below a certain level.

   It is also advisable to consider leaving the door to your tortoise accommodation open over night, so that they can either return to bed later on, or get up earlier to move around, and feed, in the cooler weather of early morning or late evening, without you having to get up extra early, at dawn, to let them out. This of course does depend on the security of their surroundings from predator threat, either human or animal. Sadly, being in their closed up house overnight, during a heatwave, is not always the safest place for them to be,  no matter your best intentions, if there are no cool spots in there and you are delayed letting them back outside, in the morning, you could very well open the door to find the tortoise has died during the night. 

Also:

   Prolonged drought conditions are also excessively drying out vegetation in tortoise pens, making a greater fire risk. It is advisable that you pre-emptively consider how you would evacuate your tortoise/ tortoises in case of such an emergency. Also, do you have water nearby to help dowse a fire, before it can take hold and spread, this would happen very quickly in the current garden conditions that a lot of people in the country are experiencing. You need to be ready, dithering around trying to decide what to do and where to get water or something to combat a fire could make all the difference between safely getting in under control or it being able to quickly spread to other areas of your property, home and neighbourhood. Have some buckets of water, refilled large bottles of water, or bags of sand close to hand so that you can act swiftly if necessary, to put it out, (important to remember to leave a knife, scissors, or something with it, to open the bags of sand, as well). Filling a bucket from a garden tap, and transporting it, when you need it, will take longer than you expect.

   Alternatively, fire blankets can be purchased relatively cheaply on the internet and are easy to conveniently site, use and they don't evaporate or take up floor space. They can also be used by anyone to cover and protect your tortoise, giving you potentially vital seconds to put the fire out first before you have to struggle to move your heavy Aldabra to somewhere safer and more suitable, especially if you are on your own at the time, or you have multiple animals to consider.

   If you have a group of smaller tortoises leave something at hand that you could safely, and immediately, move them in and also temporarily contain them in. You are limited to the number of tortoise that you could safely carry in one go, in you hands and arms, and running just one or two, per trip, back to your house, for safety, will take valuable time. Just letting them roam outside of your burning pen will cause potential problems with them hiding in unfamiliar surroundings, being squished in the chaos, or just escaping, and causing even more issues for you.

    You will probably never need these items but if they are there they can be quickly used to put out an initial ignition source and drastically reduce the threat to your pets life. Dumping a few buckets, or large bottles, of water on a small fire is much easier, and safer, than trying to move your 13 stone plus Aldabra, away from danger, when you cannot immediately pick it up, with a fire raging around you. It will probably be more effective than using a hose as well. Water companies seemed to have turned down the water pressure slightly to save water in this time of drought, which is understandable, but lack of pressure will make it harder to control fire, with a garden hose, hence dumping buckets,  and a substantial amount on the source being a more successful, initial, action. You can fill these buckets or large empty mineral water bottles with grey water to be more environmentally responsible - e.g use the excess run off of water, such as when you are waiting for the hot water to come through when you are about to do the washing up, rather than it just going unused down the drain. If you are on a metered water supply you are already paying for it, so, it might as well be put to good use.

   Although a number of areas in the country are currently under a hosepipe ban, this does not apply to necessary water used for animals welfare. It could be advisable to spray areas of the tortoise pen, in the evening, when water is less likely to immediately evaporate, and thus be more effective,  in order to prevent it from becoming tinder dry. This does not mean that we are encouraging you to leave the sprinkler on for 3 hours! Just squirt water lightly over the area, for a couple of minutes, per night, to damp it down, and reduce the risk of combustion, it will also have the effect of encouraging grass and weeds to grow to feed your tortoise, which is a bonus. Again, you could use grey water sources to avoid potential issues with your neighbours seeing you use a hose. Using a garden spray bottle makes the water easily, collectable, portable, and sprayable.