New Tortoise Box

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JohnathanO

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I've been planning on building a new tortoise box for my sulcata for the spring/summer but recent knee surgery forced me to postpone the project, so finally I was able to get it done recently. I used styrofoam insulation in between the walls, and ran electrical for lights or possibly a heater. I also added a pond to his enclosure.

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Tortoise-Luke

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wow, looks really clean cut. Looks like you put a lot of work in there... Is the height of the house a functional, asthetic o convenience issue?
Pics from further away viewing the whole yard would be awesome, great work!
 

JohnathanO

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Thanks, I'll take some more pics tomorrow.

@Tortoise-Luke - The reason I made it that height is because I'm debating putting in a heater and I wanted to keep it away from both the tortoise and the hay thats gonna be at the bottom.
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Johnathon:

I'm sorry, but I can't understand the pictures. I guess I'm a little dense this evening. Are you saying that the last picture is of the inside of the finished product?
 

JohnathanO

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sorry maybe I wrote it wrong, after building the house, I added the pond to the opposite side of his pen.

The house is just for him to sleep in at night.
 

Tom

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Love it. I want more pics too. Have you decided how you want to heat it yet? I'm always looking for new ideas.
 

JohnathanO

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Thanks Tom,

I was thinking about using a room heater, I found one online that is 260 watts, and runs on a thermostat. It heats a room 50-75 sq feet. I figure it will probably only kick in on cool nights so it should be ok.

Do you have any experience with something like that?
 

Tortoise-Luke

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here's an idea for future "house builders" why not make a glass roof which hass two glass panels with space in the middle, free solar heat that would be stored during the day =)
 

Tom

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Yes. The thermostats that come on most heaters are usually not reliable and have much too large and inconsistent of a range. I use "A-Life" 1000 watt thermostats for all sorts of heating devices . I use them with oil heaters, CHE's, heat mats. I use them indoors, outdoors, underground, in the night boxes. They work great for me with any appliance. I have a few that have been in constant use for more than 2 years with no problems.

I have a similar box and I use an oil-filled radiant type heater in it. On low it still uses 600 watts, but it hardly ever comes on. The heated oil in the heater continues to radiate heat out for a long time after the thermostat kicks it off too. I find these to be much more efficient than the kind that have heat coils and little fans. Here's a thread on it:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread...he+mother+of+all+tortoise+boxes#axzz1PhMlVwiE
 

lynnedit

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What are the dimensions of your box?
The oil filled radiant heaters are very nice, reliable and long lasting. You just need to have enough room to fit them in.
If your box is 32 sq feet or less, the item below is working very well for me as it is designed to be outside and has a built in thermostat.
http://www.houndheater.com/index_hound_heater.php
Not sure, yours may be too big for this...
 
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