The Mother of All Tortoise Boxes

[Tom]

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This is a project that I've been planning and designing for a long time. The addition of my new girls pushed me over the edge to finally get it done. My old shed was very drafty and used nothing but heat mats to warm my adult sulcatas during the cold winter nights. I was always worried about them. They were always warm enough, but the air in there was cold. They survived the old way for many years, but I see noticeable improvement in just the first few days of using the new box. I keep it around 80, and I just feel a lot better about them at night now. I, and they, will sleep much better on those occasional below freezing nights in the coming winter. I'm also very curious to see what this will do to my breeding success with Delores. Most people get multiple large clutches out of their adult female sulcatas every year. I've been getting just one small clutch out of my young female each year. I wonder if the usual cold winter temps have had anything to do with that. Time will tell.

I tried to keep the pic count down, but still tell the story, so here goes:






A little size reference.


That's one and a half inch thick insulation all the way around.


Here the floor insulation is in, but not covered yet. You can see the wall insulation is now covered/protected.


Here's the heat source on its raised shelf. The wheels sit in cut-outs so it can't move and its screwed to the floor with metal sash chain.



The door being fitted with its overlapping vinyl flaps.


I used foil backed, fire proof insulation for the top since it will rest right over the heater. I glued it in place with plain silicone sealant.


Here's the finished product next to the old one, and then by itself.



Here are all three girls partaking. You can see that Big Bertha has already anointed the new box. She did this within minutes of climbing in. They've been using it for around a week now and its well broken in. You can see the power cord coming in and my thermostat and temp probe hanging against the back wall. I've also installed an inline electricity meter and I'm going to compare the electricity usage of this 600 watt heater that's rarely on verses the three 72 watt heat mats that were almost always on. I've installed the heat mats because that is what they are used to sleeping on and I want them to feel as comfortable in the new box as possible, but they aren't plugged in. As a side benefit, they protect my wood floor from the always destructive sulcata feet and poo.


Here is a pic from tonight, after the sun went down. They are all going in and out on their own. Words cannot express what a relief that is. Try carrying a 66 pound, unhappy, struggling sulcata for 50 yards sometime. Try doing it every night. No fun. For those deciding whether or not to delve into the wonderful world of sulcatas, that's only about three days of sh** on my brand new floor there, just so you know. I'm assuming the loose stuff is from the recent pumpkin influx. Good times.

Some lessons I learned the hard way, so you don't have to:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Begi...z1tFmWpjdi

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Help...z1s7KwW130

2.4.3 Geochelone sulcata
0.0.9 Geochelone pardalis pardalis

[onarock]

tom where do you get your flexwatt?

[Tom]

(11-09-2010 10:51 PM)onarock Wrote:  tom where do you get your flexwatt?

What flexwatt?

[onarock]

(11-09-2010 10:54 PM)Tom Wrote:  

(11-09-2010 10:51 PM)onarock Wrote:  tom where do you get your flexwatt?

What flexwatt?

yeah, was that a roll of flexwatt heat tape on the table in one of those pics?

[Tom]

(11-10-2010 12:29 AM)onarock Wrote:  

(11-09-2010 10:54 PM)Tom Wrote:  

(11-09-2010 10:51 PM)onarock Wrote:  tom where do you get your flexwatt?

What flexwatt?

yeah, was that a roll of flexwatt heat tape on the table in one of those pics?

Oh no. That was a roll of vinyl flap material. Its the same stuff they use in commercial freezers to keep the cold air in. I used it to make overlapping door flaps to hold the heat in and keep the cold out. It works really well. I guess you don't have much need for insulating door flaps over there in HI, huh? I'm sure jealous. I love tropical weather. I got the roll of vinyl from a very nice lady here on the forum. Thank you very nice lady. I'm putting it to good use.

[Sweetness_bug]

This is awsome! I love it. I wish i was that handy. Power tools and me are not friends LOL...Looks great!

[emysemys]

Very nice, Tom. If you mount your heat mats on 2x4's you can add substrate to the floor. The 2x4's raise the mat up a bit and the substrate stays off them. I've had to add substrate to my Aldab's shed because they pee a lot in there and I had no way to get the pee off the floor (a 4x4 blocks the doorway so I can't sweep it out).

So just the girls use the shed? I'm curious why all the torts don't live together.

[J. Ellis]

Very nice Tom! I will be adding this, like the majoirty of your other posts, to my "favorites".

I wonder if you were to use a sealant on the inside of the box if it would make it easier to clean, and possibly able to be preasure washed without the risk of damaging the wood?

[Stephanie Logan]

Wow, that is impressive. Your tortoises are lucky girls indeed.

So did Scooter and company commit some violation of Tom's rules and regulations and get sentenced to inferior quarters? Or is the Boys' Box under construction as we speak?

[Tom]

(11-10-2010 07:38 AM)emysemys Wrote:  Very nice, Tom. If you mount your heat mats on 2x4's you can add substrate to the floor. The 2x4's raise the mat up a bit and the substrate stays off them. I've had to add substrate to my Aldab's shed because they pee a lot in there and I had no way to get the pee off the floor (a 4x4 blocks the doorway so I can't sweep it out).

So just the girls use the shed? I'm curious why all the torts don't live together.

I'm not using the heat mats. They are just in there for them to lay on, so I was actually thinking about throwing some bermuda hay in there.

In the last pic, that's Scooter in the right foreground. Those are his girls now. He just was out carousing the pen when I took that first pic with just the three girls. He's always the first one out in the morning and the last one in at night. I think he doesn't want to miss anything in "his" territory. The last pic was taken at night after everyone had put themselves to bed.

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(11-10-2010 08:12 AM)J. Ellis Wrote:  Very nice Tom! I will be adding this, like the majoirty of your other posts, to my "favorites".

I wonder if you were to use a sealant on the inside of the box if it would make it easier to clean, and possibly able to be preasure washed without the risk of damaging the wood?

I left the wood inside totally untreated. I just hate "chemical" smells and that box is totally sealed all the way around with silicone sealant. Its airtight, except for the doorway flaps and a tiny crack around the top. I'm looking into some thin weather stripping for the top. Wood has an uncanny way of never rotting at my place even in conditions where it ought to.

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(11-10-2010 08:52 AM)Stephanie Logan Wrote:  Wow, that is impressive. Your tortoises are lucky girls indeed.

So did Scooter and company commit some violation of Tom's rules and regulations and get sentenced to inferior quarters? Or is the Boys' Box under construction as we speak?

Hi Stephanie. That's Scooter in with the girls there and Bert lives on the other side of the ranch in his own pen with a private heated 4x4 box. When it was just Delores, I used to swap the boys back and forth, but I've decided not to do that anymore. There doesn't seem to be any benefit and it makes the boys very antsy. I've got everything pretty calm with them all right now, so I don't want to mess with it.

[Balboa]

Well done Tom!
Now that IS a serious house. Add some plumbing a person could live there :-)

[terryo]

Wonderful! Reminds me of the homeless guy we took in for the night, and he told me my bathroom was bigger than his cardboard box.

[franeich]

Why does scooter get 3 lady's and bert is all alone

[Tom]

(11-10-2010 11:25 AM)franeich Wrote:  Why does scooter get 3 lady's and bert is all alone

Because I can't find anyone else willing to give up a girl. They are like gold and no on wants to part with them. I've been trying to find some for years with no luck and then suddenly Chewy and Big Bertha became available. If I could find two or three more, they'd go over to Bert's side.

[ticothetort2]

Really nice Tom, I love the craftsmanship! I'm sure the girls will be very cozy for the cold winter nights.