my leopards

[Yvonne G]

When I first made the shed available to my leopard tortoises, there were 2.4.1 of them. There was an existing shed in their pen, and all I did was to insulate it and put in a floor over the existing cement floor. The step to get into the shed is now about 4". That first year I had to go around the pen every night and pick them up and place them into the shed. Now there are only 0.2.1 of them, and the two larger girls will go in at night on their own, but I always have to find the 4yr old and put her away. I place her in a warm corner, but every morning when I open the door, she's way over in a cold corner. Two days ago she had made a very large "deposit" in her cold corner, so I picked up the deposit and put it into the little hide-a-way that I made especially for her on the warm side of the shed. Well, for the past two nights now, she has stayed in her hide-a-way with her little pile of poop! I'll have to remember that. They like to sleep where their poop is!!

Yvonne

 

[Greg T]

I think you are on to something there. Mine tend to poop in areas where they like to stay, like in hides and corners. I've been trying to figure out if it is because they are marking their territory, or if they are just lazy and poop there instead of moving away.

 

[katesgoey]

Mine do that too - I was cleaning it up every time I found it, then was reminded here on the forum that they poop in their "burrows" to raise humidity so I leave it there now for a few days (against all instincts to "clean up" after my animals) Both Tank and Bump go to their sheds every night and snuggle next to their big steaming "Deposits"...sigh

 

[Greg T]

Yvonne, Sandy and anyone else,

What temps do you try to keep in their outside shelters during the colder periods? I've seen ranges from 60 to 80 degrees. I kept mine inside last year, but since they have grown and now I have a large female also, I'm trying to decide on buildng a pen in the garage or a shelter outside in their pen area. Either way I have to provide heating, so what kind of temps should I shoot for?

Thanks for your input.

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't worry about the ambient temperature inside the shed. I keep the pig blanket surface temperature above 70 and below 85. It fluctuates quite a bit. Then I have night lights and day lights that they can sit under if they get too cold. Since I've built the Manouria shed I've found out that the pig blankets give off quite a bit of heat. I've always thought the heat stayed on the pad, but it doesn't. It adds to warming up the air inside the shed. I DO have a thermometer inside the leopard shed and if I notice that it shows too cold, I'll add a light or a CHE to help, but usually the pig blankets and lights keep it nice and toasty for them.

Yvonne

 

[katesgoey]

For me, I try to keep their insulated sheds at 60+ I have a thermostat in each and digital temp/humidity gauges. I opened their doors in the morning (had to close them yesterday after a while because the wind whipped them around), and close them at night. I used to keep Tank in a greenhouse with his uninsulated shed inside, I worried alot about humidity in the winter even though it had air vents and in the summer I kept the doors open to keep it from overheating. The greenhouse blew apart two winters ago so I reinsulated the rubbermaid sheds with the plywood and foam insulation and believe it is maintaining the temps much better than before. Our winters are mild compared to most, mostly in the 40's or 50's but we do have some mornings that dip into the low 30's, high 20's. For heating, I use a black bulb in each shed along with ceramic heaters I will turn on if the temps dip too low.