spud's_mum
Well-Known Member
Wow.
Now that's way you call an enclosure!
Now that's way you call an enclosure!
Yeah, their favorite is 'wet wet wet'.Just read all of this, it's stunning! What are the 4 black boxes on the walls we can see in pictures - 3 on back wall one above window, yellow and white wires going in/out? At first I thought they were speakers, do your tortoises like to DJ in the evenings?
Power wise, I don't know yet. But I have 1880watts in there at the moment. This won't be on permanently, they are all on proportional stats which means instead of on or off they drip feed electric. Supposedly keeps a more ambient accuracy and results in cheaper to run.Oooh I bet there are loads of songs they would love, got me thinking now!
Is 24 about the right level for the ambient temperature? What sort of heaters are you having to use to achieve that with minus 3 outside? And what sort of power does it take to achieve that temperature?
I'm thinking way ahead and coming up with ideas, I'm interested in the concept of heating a large volume of water in a tank (insulated, not a glass aquarium) and possibly using solar energy to generate some of the heat, then pumping the warm (ideally very warm) water through the soil, so a little like an underfloor heating system. The other idea is somehow heating a large volume of heavy material that holds heat well, maybe earth, maybe clay, so that it releases the heat overnight.
No idea if it can work, just having fun coming up with ideas really!
Please keep posting pics and updates, it's a great read and you should be very proud. When do you hope to get the tortoises in?
I agree on your aspect with hot water as a background heat then topped up with heaters. If you can heat water with gas it's cheaper still.I don't think it would be practical to take the pipes out of the house connected to central heating, as you said very costly and would need a big boiler. I'm looking at warm water through pipes as a way of getting the base temperature up, so instead of needing aor heaters to take the temperature from near zero it's heating from a higher level, reducing costs and less strain on the heaters. No idea how practical it is as I said.
Under 2k is much lower than I thought you would say, and if it's not all on at once that's not going to cost a fortune to run. I saw how well you insulated the roof, and obviously having the large amount of soil in is going to help retain heat. The brick built hides should hold a lot of heat too.
Are you planning any comfy seating I there so you can sit and enjoy the tortoises? Not very 'natural environment' but I think I'd be out here all the time!
Look at this thread. Let me tell you, cleaning 2500 bricks is no fun.Should have made the pond into more of a pool, then you could have enjoyed a swim in there too! Did you have to build the structure from scratch too or have you converted something? You've probably said somewhere in the thread but don't remember seeing it.
Wow!!!Not much new to see with the eye.
Got all soil in.
I seeded almost everything with grass, white clover, red clover, crimson clover(in patches) dandilions,broad plantain,narrow leaf plantain and 5 types of edible wild flowers.
Put a few plalms in. One white and one red grape vine (hoping these grow along the cave fronts). One hibiscus in the middle, and a type of fig tree that should, hopefully grow up the wall.
I'll keep adding plants as we go.
Going to have window boxes on the walls to to grow stuff.
Next I need to finish of waterfall and wier area. Also need to some how put some grip on that ramp.
Still a bit to do yet. But thought I could let it start growing for now.
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Look at this thread. Let me tell you, cleaning 2500 bricks is no fun.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-new-tortoise-site.111412/
Room is 4x6m. Went for longer than wider to get a better heat gradient hopefully. With the upper tier on caves I've managed to get about 300sq ft.Just been reading this again, I can't see if you said how big the room is - what size is it?
And he heat panels, I've found them ranging from around £60 to £150 each, what sort of price did you pay? I always worry with electrical stuff, such a risk of buying something that doesn't work, if something is too cheap I wonder if it's not up to the job, but not sure what sort of price these should be.
My UVB not in yet. It's the last thing I'm putting in. I need to know where plants establish and where the torts go the most for best uvb position. I'm going to use 160watt mega Ray. These project uv for up to 8ft. I will have them on a timer from 10am to 2pm.Apologies if I missed it, but are you using any UV lighting in there? Not sure I have the time to read it all again just for that, it's easier to ask!!
My UVB not in yet. It's the last thing I'm putting in. I need to know where plants establish and where the torts go the most for best uvb position. I'm going to use 160watt mega Ray. These project uv for up to 8ft. I will have them on a timer from 10am to 2pm.Apologies if I missed it, but are you using any UV lighting in there? Not sure I have the time to read it all again just for that, it's easier to ask!!
160watt Mega Ray ZOO is the 8ft projection. Normal 160watt Mega Ray does 3ft.Ahh yes I remember you mentioning the Mega Ray - anything that sounds like a space gun must be good!