No. I did not bury a lizard... a heated box, silly.
I took this box that I originally built a year ago and made a few modifications to it.
I reinforced the sides, built a little tunnel on the front and put it in a great big hole in the ground.
Here you can see the 2x4 reinforcements, the 1.5" foil backed insulation on the lid (held in place by silicone and more 2x4s), and my "electrical box" that houses the thermostat and keeps Big Boy from messin' with any of the connections.
Since this box is buried so shallow (its basically AT the surface, instead of 1 foot UNDER the surface , like my other boxes), I only needed a relatively short tunnel to connect it to the surface. About 30" compared to 96" for my tortoise box.
Here's the backside of the above ground chamber/rain cover, before burial.
Here is Big Boy himself, enjoying his box. I popped open the lid and he was like, "Hey, I'm trying to rest here...!"
Here he is playing "King of the Hill" on top of hid new dirt mound covering his above ground chamber.
Here is the whole thing all done. The big lid is hinged and the sun beats down on it all day. The rest of the box is underground. I made the front of the above ground chamber with slots in it, like a guillotine, so that in the winter I can make sure he put himself away and then slide a piece of plywood in there to lock him up for the night.
Because the tunnel was so short and the lid was at the surface, I had to make a little "retaining wall" so that I could pile lots of dirt on top of the above ground chamber for insulation, but not bury or interfere with the lid.
Here is one last shot of Big Boy lounging in the above ground portion of his new multi-level condo. You can see the tunnel that leads to the underground portion behind him.
The temps in this box are understandably NOT as stable as the boxes that are fully buried 3' feet down, but the temps are still pretty stable. For the last couple of weeks temps have ranged from 50-108, but inside the underground portion of his box it has only gone from 73-83. He'll have a much warmer and safer winter, and the electric bill will be a LOT lower.
I took this box that I originally built a year ago and made a few modifications to it.
I reinforced the sides, built a little tunnel on the front and put it in a great big hole in the ground.
Here you can see the 2x4 reinforcements, the 1.5" foil backed insulation on the lid (held in place by silicone and more 2x4s), and my "electrical box" that houses the thermostat and keeps Big Boy from messin' with any of the connections.
Since this box is buried so shallow (its basically AT the surface, instead of 1 foot UNDER the surface , like my other boxes), I only needed a relatively short tunnel to connect it to the surface. About 30" compared to 96" for my tortoise box.
Here's the backside of the above ground chamber/rain cover, before burial.
Here is Big Boy himself, enjoying his box. I popped open the lid and he was like, "Hey, I'm trying to rest here...!"
Here he is playing "King of the Hill" on top of hid new dirt mound covering his above ground chamber.
Here is the whole thing all done. The big lid is hinged and the sun beats down on it all day. The rest of the box is underground. I made the front of the above ground chamber with slots in it, like a guillotine, so that in the winter I can make sure he put himself away and then slide a piece of plywood in there to lock him up for the night.
Because the tunnel was so short and the lid was at the surface, I had to make a little "retaining wall" so that I could pile lots of dirt on top of the above ground chamber for insulation, but not bury or interfere with the lid.
Here is one last shot of Big Boy lounging in the above ground portion of his new multi-level condo. You can see the tunnel that leads to the underground portion behind him.
The temps in this box are understandably NOT as stable as the boxes that are fully buried 3' feet down, but the temps are still pretty stable. For the last couple of weeks temps have ranged from 50-108, but inside the underground portion of his box it has only gone from 73-83. He'll have a much warmer and safer winter, and the electric bill will be a LOT lower.
