Outdoor Heated Tortoise House (Oregon style)

[Levi the Leopard]

Heather- I am getting ready to get a night box built and am intrigued with your design of the door as I live in New Orleans, La. and also worried about the rain aspect.
You state it looks ugly but if it is functional...then it may work for those that live in rainy climates.

I do have a question. Did you attach any 2 x 4 's underneath the box to keep it slightly elevated off the ground?

By the way....you did a fantastic job on this project!!

Here is the underside. It only elevates it slightly.
When I took apart the old house, the 2x4 legs (attached in the same way) were fine. So I figured this design will continue to work for me.


I think the door is ugly from the side because I see the thick insulated part. But oh well....
I'll be trimming it tonight and adding the lock.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Forgot the photo...

 

[Levi the Leopard]

@Markw84 THANK YOU!!! The baby powder rubbed into the weather stripping worked wonderfully!



I added coconut coir last night.
**ignore the temperatures, I had just plugged everything in**

 

[Levi the Leopard]

I placed Levi inside the house for a size comparison photo




Now that it's plugged in, he'll get his first night in the new house

I still have to change out the light bulb and add the door's night lock. But now that my weather stripping issue is fixed I feel a HUGE weight lifted. Who knows, maybe the ugly door will even start to grow on me lol

Time to order my "beware of attack tortoise sign" to place over his door

 

[Levi the Leopard]

I peeked on him tonight before bed. Snapped a quick photo of him sleeping in his new house, yay!

77°F and 78%RH

**disregard the 24hr highs and lows. It's hasn't been in the house for a full 24hr period yet**

 

[MPRC]

That looks great! Let me know when you're ready to start work on mine. ;-) - Really though, I need to do that so my Reds can have more outdoor time up here in Eugene.

 

[Harley99]

Looks great need to start on my outdoor one soon

 

[Momof4]

Love it Heather!! I need to build one this fall for one of my torts and I love all your step by steps! Thank you!!

 

[Len B]

If you really don't like the way it looks you could build a removable panel to slip in place between the door insulation and the house using the door insulation to hold the panel in place at the top This would change the looks because the door insulation would'nt stand out as much. Doing this you could also add more vinyl flaps for those cold winter days. Even though Walkers insulated door is hingded at the bottom I did this and have one screw at top that keeps the top in place and the raised insulation holds the bottom locked tight to the house. If you want I could post pics of Walkers door so you can see what I'm talking about.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

If you really don't like the way it looks you could build a removable panel to slip in place between the door insulation and the house using the door insulation to hold the panel in place at the top This would change the looks because the door insulation would'nt stand out as much. Doing this you could also add more vinyl flaps for those cold winter days. Even though Walkers insulated door is hingded at the bottom I did this and have one screw at top that keeps the top in place and the raised insulation holds the bottom locked tight to the house. If you want I could post pics of Walkers door so you can see what I'm talking about.

Yes please, I'd like to see a photo of what you did. It sounds interesting but I'm having difficulty picturing it.

 

[Len B]

Yes please, I'd like to see a photo of what you did. It sounds interesting but I'm having difficulty picturing it.

The first pic is with the door closed, this doesn't happen very often. Only when the weather is really bad The second pic is the summer wide open door. This pic is the easy to remove insulated panel that is used when the temps are cool to very cold. have a 90 degree angle bracket on the top using one screw to hold in place and it locks in at the bottom using the raised insulation on the door - ramp. It takes less than 15 seconds to remove this panel, a little longer to replace, need to line up the screw hole. Hope this helps and gives you ideas.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Thank you for the visual

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Update on the new house..

I seem to have a brown condensation dripping down the interior walls. This is the first time I've painted the interior so I don't know if this is a new thing or not. You guys have thoughts/ideas?





Also, my chain links keep opening up from the weight of the door and I have had to replace it with a new chain already. Once I use up the current chain I have, ill have to buy a heavy duty chain.



Good news is the house maintains heat and humidity very well.


*the current temp reading of 71° was due to the open lid for these photos and cleaning..etc*

So ya, anyone know what's up with the ugly brown drips?

 

[Levi the Leopard]

And here are some more photos of the house..



I use the LED light during the colder days so he doesn't have to stay in a dark box.

 

[MPRC]

My iguana cage used to get that brown condensation. I used to wipe it off, but after a while i started leaving it. Our water was terrible and I attributed it to that.

 

[Zackius]

I have seen brown discoloration bleed through on painted wood knots on plywood. That's due to the oils and resins bleeding through but not sure in your case. Another forum member may be able to shed some light on this...........

 

[LoutheRussian]

I used to live in Oregon and our water had a lot of iron in it. If we didn't run it through our softener it would often times come out of the faucet a reddish brown color. When it did it would leave a similar discoloration on the bathtub or sink.

 

[Markw84]

The area where the weather-stripping separates the outside cold air from the inside warm, humid air is going to be a location where you get a lot of condensation. Dust, especially with the substrate in the night box, will also tend to accumulate there and the condensation will then drip down stained water. Simply a cosmetic problem made more apparent by your white paint.

 

[Redfool]

Get welded link chain,it won't open up

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Get welded link chain,it won't open up

Thanks! Hopefully it comes in black