Looking for ideas...

[DAC8671]

We live in military housing so we can't do anything permanent as far as an enclosure goes. Currently we have a 15 ft long by 6 ft wide garden fence enclosure with wood panels around the bottom perimeter so Ralph can't hurt himself trying to get out. Attached is a 2ft by 2ft wood frame on the cement, as he likes to sleep on the cement and not the grass. During the day when we are home, he has free roam of the backyard (we learned quickly that we need to keep the garage door closed, as he is VERY curious). When we leave for a few hours we put him in the enclosure to keep him safe.

I would LOVE to build him a larger enclosure with a "door" type opening so he can come/go as he pleases and we can close it when we aren't home.

Right now we bring him inside at night so he can have his heat lamp. One of our problems with putting a heat lamp outside is we have no control over our sprinker system, it's controlled through the housing office. And in order to keep him dry we bring him in, even though part of his enclosure is on cement...it still gets moist.

We thought about making the part of the enclosure that sits on cement larger and running an extension cord to his heat lamp, but what about when it rains (rarely in San Diego, but it does happen).

Any suggestions on this?

 

[Jacqui]

If the heat lamp was under a simple covered housing and you used electrical cord made for outside it should be fine. Of course, hang the cord out of the tort's reach, plus so it would drip water away from the light itself. Best if there is a little side protection so no rain can reach the bulb and break it. I might consider using a heat emitter instead of heat bulb. Some folks use dog houses in this way for their torts.

What kind is the tort?

 

[DAC8671]

When Ralph gets a little bigger and we have an idea on how/what we want to do with his heating and his home, we were going to get a dogloo.

Ralph is a 4 yr old sulcata.

If the heat lamp was under a simple covered housing and you used electrical cord made for outside it should be fine. Of course, hang the cord out of the tort's reach, plus so it would drip water away from the light itself. Best if there is a little side protection so no rain can reach the bulb and break it. I might consider using a heat emitter instead of heat bulb. Some folks use dog houses in this way for their torts.

What kind is the tort?

 

[Jentortmom]

I'm sure he probably enjoys the moisture from the sprinklers, I know mine enjoy the fake sprinklers. As for heat, how cold is it at night?? do you have a house that he goes into and that is where a light is going to be?? I live in AZ and I use some outdoor lamps, and I have never had a problem, and they are not covered.

 

[DAC8671]

We bought an XL dogloo yesterday (gotta love craigslist....$25!!!!). We fitted the heat lamp inside, off to one side. I put timothy hay on one side (the heated side) and reptile carpet on the cold side. He did pretty well last night. I don't know if he knows what to do with it. It took him until almost noon to wake up and come out. Once we get the rest of the enclosure done, I'll post some pics.

We screwed a piece of wood (about 3x3inches) into the upper inside of the house. We are using a clamp lamp for heat. Then we just taped the cord to come out the door and plug into an extension cord to plug in. Instead of buying a dogloo brand cover for the door, we cut up a shower curtain liner and tripled the strips. Seemed to work for last night. So we'll see.