Dave CH
Member
Morning from Switzerland,
We would appreciate your help with planning an indoor enclosure for two 5 year old Hermann's.
I know that I could probably get everything I need by trawling the forums and piecing information together, but (unfortunately) time's tight, and any concrete advice we can get by posting would help us.
We've two 5 year old Hermann's, both born in Switzerland. They spend their days out in a pen; their nights in a terrarium. (Incidentally, we've also two older Hermann's, a male and a female, who we hibernate in the wine cellar; she is around 80+ years old, he a little younger. All four torts are "inherited"/saved.)
We hibernate the youngsters at 6 to 8 Celsius (they're due to come out of hibernation in around 5 weeks' time), but as we're at around 800 m above sea level, this means that there are several weeks between them coming out of hibernation and being able to spend any length of time outside (all weather dependent). The same in autumn: the outside temperature makes spending any length of time outside problematic, which means that they have to spend more time in the terrarium.
We would like to build them a bigger inside enclosure.
We've a table in a light cellar (the cellars are half underground, half overground, so have windows); the table is 180 cm by 90 cm (so, 70 by 35 inches).
We think this would take an enclosure.
The cellars are mouse-free, but our cats are sometimes down there, so we'd need to cat proof the enclosure (especially the roof and any heating/lighting elements).
Our questions:
How to build an enclosure for the cellar table (so, what features).
What heat, light, basking? (We have them at 22 Celsius when they first come up into the terrarium, plus a basking area.) (The cellar is at a stable 14 Celsius or so.)
What air circulation needs?
A family member's good with wood, and it willing to lend a hand.
Any help, advice, or links to other forum threads would be very welcome.
We're, of course, happy to answer any additional questions.
All the best -
Dave CH
We would appreciate your help with planning an indoor enclosure for two 5 year old Hermann's.
I know that I could probably get everything I need by trawling the forums and piecing information together, but (unfortunately) time's tight, and any concrete advice we can get by posting would help us.
We've two 5 year old Hermann's, both born in Switzerland. They spend their days out in a pen; their nights in a terrarium. (Incidentally, we've also two older Hermann's, a male and a female, who we hibernate in the wine cellar; she is around 80+ years old, he a little younger. All four torts are "inherited"/saved.)
We hibernate the youngsters at 6 to 8 Celsius (they're due to come out of hibernation in around 5 weeks' time), but as we're at around 800 m above sea level, this means that there are several weeks between them coming out of hibernation and being able to spend any length of time outside (all weather dependent). The same in autumn: the outside temperature makes spending any length of time outside problematic, which means that they have to spend more time in the terrarium.
We would like to build them a bigger inside enclosure.
We've a table in a light cellar (the cellars are half underground, half overground, so have windows); the table is 180 cm by 90 cm (so, 70 by 35 inches).
We think this would take an enclosure.
The cellars are mouse-free, but our cats are sometimes down there, so we'd need to cat proof the enclosure (especially the roof and any heating/lighting elements).
Our questions:
How to build an enclosure for the cellar table (so, what features).
What heat, light, basking? (We have them at 22 Celsius when they first come up into the terrarium, plus a basking area.) (The cellar is at a stable 14 Celsius or so.)
What air circulation needs?
A family member's good with wood, and it willing to lend a hand.
Any help, advice, or links to other forum threads would be very welcome.
We're, of course, happy to answer any additional questions.
All the best -
Dave CH