Heating outdoor hide

mini_max

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For our russian's night hide we have built a hill covered in layers of dirt and sod. We will be putting a small igloo type plastic hut in the hill. He's only going to use this enclosure in summer so it will never get that cold...maybe high 50s on some unusually cold nights at the very worst. I am thinking of suspending one of those heated cables they sell for reptiles from the roof of the hut. Kind of make a heating element like in an oven. We would put it on a thermostat.

Thoughts?
 

leigti

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Put a bunch of dirt in the igloo type container so that he can dig in it and Burrow down. Otherwise he may just borrow beside it. I keep my Russian outside at night in the high 50s if it's not wet out and if it gets in the 80s during the day. No heating element or anything else for artificial heat.
 

mini_max

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Hmm, no heat eh? The only way into the burrow/cave would be via the entrance to the igloo. It is a small one made for large rodents, so it doesn't have a bottom, so he can burrow to his heart's content.
 

leigti

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I bet it's very similar to what I actually have also. A plastic igloo type thing I got from Petco. I did the same thing, buried in dirt and then filled it with dirt for my tortoise to dig into.
 

mini_max

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I bet it's very similar to what I actually have also. A plastic igloo type thing I got from Petco. I did the same thing, buried in dirt and then filled it with dirt for my tortoise to dig into.
Do you find that it maintains a more consistent temp?
 

leigti

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Do you find that it maintains a more consistent temp?
I haven't really checked the temperature. I can check it tonight, but it's only going to get down to 64°. It's going to be 90° this afternoon I'll check it then also.
 

leigti

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Okay, here are the daytime radiance. Remember my enclosure is only a foot deep so there's only a couple inches of dirt on top of the igloo. And lots of dirt in it. If yours is deeper you were going to have a little bit different temperatures. Yours will probably be less variable than mine.
Right now, air temperature is 88°, ground temperature next to The hide is 101°, temperature inside the hide 86°. I will record the nighttime or early morning temps tomorrow and post them for you. I hope this gives you a little bit of useful information.
 

mini_max

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Wow, so outside in 50s, inside in 60s. I may not put the heat in right away then. I really appreciate you measuring that for me. I had no sense of what sort of insulation to expect from an outdoor hide, in my kind of climate. Thanks again!
 
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