Double Door Night Box

[Megatron's Mom]

Hi Tom, I am working on this double door enclosure. Then it hit me. How heavy is this sucker going to be? I'm thinking the hubby and my older boy are going to need to help me move this.

 

[Megatron's Mom]

Oh also for those just getting supplies. Well here in AR it seems dang near impossible to get 1 1/2 rigid foam insulation. I had to buy 1" and 1/2 inch boards.

 

[Tom]

Oh also for those just getting supplies. Well here in AR it seems dang near impossible to get 1 1/2 rigid foam insulation. I had to buy 1" and 1/2 inch boards.

That happened to me when I built a box for some friends in GA. I had to buy three sheets of 1/2 inch rigid foam. Tripled the amount of foam cuts I had to make!

 

[Megatron's Mom]

That happened to me when I built a box for some friends in GA. I had to buy three sheets of 1/2 inch rigid foam. Tripled the amount of foam cuts I had to make!

Crazy, I guess it just doesn't sell as often as the other sizes. It would have saved me money if they had it. That tacked on another 15 bucks. My husband just rolled his eyes and paid the bill

 

[Maeve785]

Have you thought about using a standard ceiling fan? By putting it on a dimmer switch, you can slow it down to lower speeds than its lowest setting. Switching it from summer to winter mode is also helpful for cooling. Additionally, there are ceiling heater fans available that distribute heat downward more evenly. Some of the higher-end models, if not all, allow you to use them with or without heat. Personally, I use a regular ceiling fan along with an oil-filled portable heater, and it works really well for my 20x8 shed. While computer fans might be suitable for smaller spaces, they might be too small for a room-sized area.

 

[Tom]

Have you thought about using a standard ceiling fan? By putting it on a dimmer switch, you can slow it down to lower speeds than its lowest setting. Switching it from summer to winter mode is also helpful for cooling. Additionally, there are ceiling heater fans available that distribute heat downward more evenly. Some of the higher-end models, if not all, allow you to use them with or without heat. Personally, I use a regular ceiling fan along with an oil-filled portable heater, and it works really well for my 20x8 shed. While computer fans might be suitable for smaller spaces, they might be too small for a room-sized area.

A ceiling fan will not fit in these night boxes. They are too narrow and there is not enough height inside.

Also, fans cool us because moisture evaporates form our skin. Fans don't cool reptiles because they are dry and don't lose moisture through their skin. A fan in a hot tortoise box in a North American summer is just going to blow hot air around. It will not cool them, unless you are somehow pulling cooler air into the box.

 

[Renee_H]

Radiant heat panel. You can see it here:

Single Tortoise Night Box

I like my larger tortoises to live outside full time. My climate permits this year round with a little help. For people who live where it snows all winter, this type of box is still good for warmer weather, getting them out earlier in Spring, and keeping them out a bit later into fall. You'll...

tortoiseforum.org

This box is 4x4. The RHP and Kane mat are able to maintain 80 degrees when outside night temps are in the high 20s.

Tom, for the single tort night box which is more energy efficient? This combo or the oil filled mini radiator? I’m draw to the mat and rhp because it won’t take away floor space. But energy efficiency is a goal for me.

 

[Tom]

Tom, for the single tort night box which is more energy efficient? This combo or the oil filled mini radiator? I’m draw to the mat and rhp because it won’t take away floor space. But energy efficiency is a goal for me.

The radiant oil heaters are by far the most efficient way I have found. This is because the energy used to heat them up keeps on giving off heat for a long time after the heater is "off", because of the "heat reservoir" of all that oil.

 

[Megatron's Mom]

@Tom Do the doors fit inside the cut outs or flush with the outside wall?

 

[Tom]

@Tom Do the doors fit inside the cut outs or flush with the outside wall?

This is a weird one. The first boxes I made were not insulated. When I cut out the doors, I simply used the piece that I just cut out as the door by putting hinges on it.

Once colder weather hit, I saw that the heaters couldn't keep the box warm enough, so I added insulation inside, and covered the insulation with plywood. I called this a retro fit, and its essentially the same thing I did with other tortoise houses that I built.

Once the insulation was added, the box maintained temperature just fine, but I had not insulated the door. I decided to make things better and more efficient by insulting the door. Putting the insulation inside would have made a 2 inch lip for the tortoises to get up and over to go out, and it just didn't "feel" right, so I framed the outside of the door, added the insulation, and covered it with more plywood. This worked fine for me.

What's the point of the whole story I just told? The inside of the door is the cut out of the plywood that makes up the outside front of the box, so it fits like a glove. I build about a quarter inch lip with the 2x4s that frame the doorway, so the inside of the door can't protrude into the box and sits perfectly flush with the plywood it was cut from. This looks kinda weird, but it works, its easy for me to build, and it does insulate well.

 

[Megatron's Mom]

This is a weird one. The first boxes I made were not insulated. When I cut out the doors, I simply used the piece that I just cut out as the door by putting hinges on it.

Once colder weather hit, I saw that the heaters couldn't keep the box warm enough, so I added insulation inside, and covered the insulation with plywood. I called this a retro fit, and its essentially the same thing I did with other tortoise houses that I built.

Once the insulation was added, the box maintained temperature just fine, but I had not insulated the door. I decided to make things better and more efficient by insulting the door. Putting the insulation inside would have made a 2 inch lip for the tortoises to get up and over to go out, and it just didn't "feel" right, so I framed the outside of the door, added the insulation, and covered it with more plywood. This worked fine for me.

What's the point of the whole story I just told? The inside of the door is the cut out of the plywood that makes up the outside front of the box, so it fits like a glove. I build about a quarter inch lip with the 2x4s that frame the doorway, so the inside of the door can't protrude into the box and sits perfectly flush with the plywood it was cut from. This looks kinda weird, but it works, its easy for me to build, and it does insulate well.

Thanks, from the pictures I was thinking it didn't go inside.