Prairie Mom
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2014
- Messages
- 4,339
My tips for long distance car travel:
This is especially intended for cold rides.
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Before you leave:
---Buy "Hot hands" or other brand handwarmers. If you can't find them in your local sporting goods department, you can order them on Amazon year round. You MUST have these in case of an emergency.
---Assemble your travel setup as early as possible to monitor the temperature and sort out any issues.
---Make your tortoise spend time in the travel set up as often as possible before you travel. A little time over several days will really help your tortoise feel more comfortable and safe when it's time to hit the road.
---Focus on Hydration and soak your tortoise a lot the week before you travel. If your tortoise is severely stressed he may not eat and drink as he should. Soak often and mist your tortoise's food with water leading up to the trip to make sure you he is as healthy as possible.
What to pack for your tortoise:
---Handwarmers!!! We always pack tons of these. If your heating cuts out for any reason, you can place the handwarmers in towels around the inside of your container.
---Small temp gun
---Extra aluminum foil and tape
---Extra CHE is a good idea
---Water (we keep emergency water and a few snacks in our car for people and pets too)
---Food for a few days (you can always buy greens at your destination, but keep some with you too)
---Dried food like Mazuri is a good idea
---A wad of bags to grab out soiled substrate
---Your soaking tub. (Our soaker tub has always been large, so we use this to store all the packed supplies)
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The Travel Setup
We picked up the largest Tupperware type storage bin we could get, kept the lid, and cut a large hole in the lid for a light and a Ceramic Heat Emitter.
Wrap the edges of your cut-out hole in Aluminum foil just in case your heating elements bump into the plastic.
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Here's a few peeks at how the inside is set up...
We use towels just to keep everything a bit tighter and more snug. Our tortoise is comfortable enough that she does move around, eat, and drink. The towels are also a good idea to bring along, because you can wrap the hand-warmers in them in case of an emergency. Our Sulcata has never tried to eat the towels, but you know your tortoise best. We've also never had problems using a plastic water and food dish when we travel.-So far so good!
If you're afraid your tortoise will try to eat the plastic, use something else.
Hide:
Our hide is simply a buried cat litter container. She's starting to outgrow this and next trip, we'll probably just make a tarp "curtain" over the back half of the container.
Travel Lights are not for every tort:
Notice the simple battery powered push-light inside. When we first travelled with our tortoise, we kept it completely dark hoping this would help her feel safe. *Dark is probably a good idea for a really scared tortoise.* Eventually, our tortoise got used to it and obviously felt so safe that we added in some light to help her snack and move around better on trips.
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Heat and Electronics:
We use the very basics. We only bring a Mercury Vapor Bulb if we know we'll be gone on a longer trip and there won't be much outside time.
---We use a ceramic heat emmiter plugged into the simplest reptile thermostat
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---The lamp hangs from a separately purchased lamp stand:
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---Make sure the lamp is securely attached to the lamp stand. Mine is attached in 3 different places:
***Also do yourself a favor and scotch tape the "On/off" switch in the "on" positition. Once, it took me an embarrassingly long while to figure out the switch had been bumped "off".
---I bought a cheap outdoor wireless thermometer and set the view screen in a cup holder at the front of the car.
---We use an inexpensive car power converter (I've seen them called "inverters" too) that can convert "house" power to a plug adapter that fits in your car's lighter. THESE ARE AWESOME and easily available everywhere!
Our lamp is plugged into the reptile thermostat and the thermostat is plugged into the car power converter.
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Then cover the open lid hole and lampstand so no heat can escape!
I like to tape together a double layered "aluminum blanket" (tape only on the side opposite of heat fixture)
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After I've tested the set up and prepared my tortoise for a few days, it's OFF TO THE CAR!
Obviously, heat up the car nice and toasty and remember to have your travel container preheated before you carry it out as well.
Our van's automakers saw us coming and thought to put a cigarrette lighter in the trunk.
Previously, we've used a basic home extension cord and plugged it into the converter in the front of the car. It was twist-tied with the cords to the kids' dvd player.
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Now, let's see how the freezing cold trip went:
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Burgers, cartoons, comfy dog, and didn't use the throw up kit, so all's well
Renewable energy at work! It's very windy where I live and you'll sometimes see acres full of these.
Speed reduced. CHECK!
Outside it's: -15'F. Inside parts of the car are: 77'F & 69'F.
BUT MAVIS IS A COMFY...
and she's doing just fine...
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