Arrrr Enn
New Member
Hi everyone! I've been lurking on the site for awhile, and it's been a great resource for information on how best to care for my Sulcata. Thanks to all that contribute! I recently adopted/rescued a 10 year old male Sulcata, and we've named him Oogway.
I had a custom tortoise night box built for him based roughly on Tom's design. The house is 6'x4'x3'6" and has a sloped and hinged roof that is shingled. The bottom is pressure treated wood with a layer of plywood on top, then 2" of foam block insulation and another layer of plywood. The walls and roof are plywood layers with the same foam block insulation. I placed 3/4" rubber horse mat on the floor. I installed a 36"x27" Kane heat mat, and a Wi-Fi thermometer/hygrometer to keep tabs on temp and humidity. Through the cold and rain and hail and outdoor temps in the lower 40's the enclosure stayed around 80 degrees ambient temp just from the Kane heat mat.
I built an enclosure that is 18'x24' made of cinderblock stacked three high. I got a 26" plastic water heater pan to use as a water bowl he can drink and soak in. I've been feeding him Bermuda grass, and giving him fresh greens like organic mustard greens, dandelions, and red leaf lettuce. He was grumpy the first few weeks but he has warmed up to me and likes when I hand feed him and pet his shell.
I ran into a nearly catastrophic issue that I wanted to warn about. I had put in a decent amount of Bermuda grass in the night box for Oogway to munch on. Today he was out and around in the enclosure and my daughter smelled smoke. We went outside and smoke was billowing out of his night box. Apparently he had pushed the Bermuda Grass onto the Kane heat mat, and it started to smolder. The heat mat is destroyed. Luckily there was not a fire. I removed the heat mat and all the Bermuda grass from his night box. If this had happened in the middle of the night it would've been likely we would have woken to a cooked tortoise since we keep the night box door closed with the low temperatures at night.. I'm horrified at that possibility! I'm so grateful it happened during the day and we were around to catch it quickly.
I made this post as a warning. If you buy a Kane heat mat and mount it to the floor, please do not put anything close by that could end up on top of the heat mat! I will try to attach photos of the enclosure, Oogway, and the damaged heat mat.
I had a custom tortoise night box built for him based roughly on Tom's design. The house is 6'x4'x3'6" and has a sloped and hinged roof that is shingled. The bottom is pressure treated wood with a layer of plywood on top, then 2" of foam block insulation and another layer of plywood. The walls and roof are plywood layers with the same foam block insulation. I placed 3/4" rubber horse mat on the floor. I installed a 36"x27" Kane heat mat, and a Wi-Fi thermometer/hygrometer to keep tabs on temp and humidity. Through the cold and rain and hail and outdoor temps in the lower 40's the enclosure stayed around 80 degrees ambient temp just from the Kane heat mat.
I built an enclosure that is 18'x24' made of cinderblock stacked three high. I got a 26" plastic water heater pan to use as a water bowl he can drink and soak in. I've been feeding him Bermuda grass, and giving him fresh greens like organic mustard greens, dandelions, and red leaf lettuce. He was grumpy the first few weeks but he has warmed up to me and likes when I hand feed him and pet his shell.
I ran into a nearly catastrophic issue that I wanted to warn about. I had put in a decent amount of Bermuda grass in the night box for Oogway to munch on. Today he was out and around in the enclosure and my daughter smelled smoke. We went outside and smoke was billowing out of his night box. Apparently he had pushed the Bermuda Grass onto the Kane heat mat, and it started to smolder. The heat mat is destroyed. Luckily there was not a fire. I removed the heat mat and all the Bermuda grass from his night box. If this had happened in the middle of the night it would've been likely we would have woken to a cooked tortoise since we keep the night box door closed with the low temperatures at night.. I'm horrified at that possibility! I'm so grateful it happened during the day and we were around to catch it quickly.
I made this post as a warning. If you buy a Kane heat mat and mount it to the floor, please do not put anything close by that could end up on top of the heat mat! I will try to attach photos of the enclosure, Oogway, and the damaged heat mat.