Warning XXX I'm talking about bigger tortoises here. You cannot keep a small or very young tortoise in this set up.
Most of you have seen my tort shed so move on. I took a few new photos because I've gotten several questions on how I keep tortoises in the PNW.
So Bob's shed is 20'x12' heated and insulated, containing...
an oil filled radiator type for ambient heat. No matter what the outside temps are, the shed stays 85-90 degrees
Here's an inside shot, Mary decided to pee for the pictures. Against the far wall is an open tort table that holds my cactus thru the winter. The shed is cut in half with a tort on each side. You can also see the 'sleeping box', built for Bob, and makes safe warm sleeping, there's a pig blanket operated by a rheostat inside the box. The other side has a cave for sleeping made out of cinder block. I don't use any substrate. It makes for easier clean up. Normally I keep 1/2 a bale of hay in there, but due to Covid, hay in 1/2 bales are disappearing.
each side has either an incandescent bulb for basking or a 100 watt flood. Both tortoises have a doggie door and the freedom to come and go all day but they are locked in at night.
Here you can see the sleeping box, a hanging CHE, a cooling fan, and a simple humidifier. I don't need UVB bulbs as they go outside regularly.
Here's Mary inside the sleeping box, she is not on the pig blanket. She sure looks small in there
So I guess that's it. I make my tortoise keeping simple, easy for me, and decent for the animals. It has rained so much already that the main Sulcata pen grass is covered with that bright green moss, that means no grass for grazing and I think I'm gonna have to do something major as it's killing the grass and I need it for food.
Most of you have seen my tort shed so move on. I took a few new photos because I've gotten several questions on how I keep tortoises in the PNW.
So Bob's shed is 20'x12' heated and insulated, containing...
an oil filled radiator type for ambient heat. No matter what the outside temps are, the shed stays 85-90 degrees
Here's an inside shot, Mary decided to pee for the pictures. Against the far wall is an open tort table that holds my cactus thru the winter. The shed is cut in half with a tort on each side. You can also see the 'sleeping box', built for Bob, and makes safe warm sleeping, there's a pig blanket operated by a rheostat inside the box. The other side has a cave for sleeping made out of cinder block. I don't use any substrate. It makes for easier clean up. Normally I keep 1/2 a bale of hay in there, but due to Covid, hay in 1/2 bales are disappearing.
each side has either an incandescent bulb for basking or a 100 watt flood. Both tortoises have a doggie door and the freedom to come and go all day but they are locked in at night.
Here you can see the sleeping box, a hanging CHE, a cooling fan, and a simple humidifier. I don't need UVB bulbs as they go outside regularly.
Here's Mary inside the sleeping box, she is not on the pig blanket. She sure looks small in there
So I guess that's it. I make my tortoise keeping simple, easy for me, and decent for the animals. It has rained so much already that the main Sulcata pen grass is covered with that bright green moss, that means no grass for grazing and I think I'm gonna have to do something major as it's killing the grass and I need it for food.
