Question for "snow-state" people

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IowaGuy28

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I'm in Iowa and my Tilley won't be allowed outside for probably at least another 2 months, I've been dealing with -4 to 26 degree days since Novermber. Where do you other cold-winter people put your beloved torts? Currently, Tilley is in my room but he's still growing and I want to build an enclosure during the cold months that will last him a couple years
 

cemmons12

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I keep both of mine in the house, Im in Indiana. My Russian is full grown but my Sulcata is 23 months old and 23lbs, so he is in an enclosure a little bit during the day and then he will be in the living room laying in his heating blanket. So building a nice size enclosure for your tort would be a good idea.
 

IowaGuy28

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RE: Question for "snow-state" people

I've been meaning to put my sulcata (tilley) on free roam in my room while I'm here but I'm afraid I'll wake up to "messes" if/when I accidentally fall asleep.
 

Yvonne G

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If Tilley is small enough, you can use one of those plastic kiddie pools. Or buy a really big horse/cattle/goat trough. Once he gets too big for that, he'll need some sort of heated shed outside.
 

CtTortoiseMom

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How old/big is Tilly? I keep a 47 pound sulcata in an enclosure in my basement. I actually have three different tortoises in three different inside enclosures. They are all inside from Oct/Nov-March.
 

IowaGuy28

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RE: Question for "snow-state" people

Tilley is 17 months and roughly 7inches (Max)
 

Tony the tank

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In my basement i built one large room 20x20 and sectioned them off into three pens.. I Insulated it and used two oil filled radiators for heat.... All lights were on a timer.. It even had a rain system....

I used it 365 days a yr.. During the summer I would open the door leading to the yard and They would come in and out as they pleased.. By dusk they would all be in there individual hides and I would close the door.. In the winter they were fed produce and Mazuri and on special days hey were aloud to go out and play in the snow if they wanted;)...And all my sulcatas are adults..

If you do build something inside.. Frame well and use plywood on the walls( sheet rock will be destroyed...

Good luck
 

argus333

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how big is each pen? im looking to do something similar but with melemine.
 

wellington

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Almost two year old leopard. Lives in Chicago, and winters in the tropics of my home, also in Chicago:p:D
 

Tony the tank

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RE: Question for "snow-state" people

argus333 said:
how big is each pen? im looking to do something similar but with melemine.

At the end they where 6'x20' .. But they never used the full length of the pens... My guys seemed to sense the weather and slowed down quite a bit no matter how steady I kept the temp and and lighting....
 

Hustler

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I live in canada, Its -28 today where Im at and snow is here for 6 months......
I keep my tortoise enclosures in the basement and I have a few really big aquariums with fish down there with them. It keeps my room temp at 73-76 and humidity at around 50%-60%
I build all my enclosures out of plywood and line them, lid them with coroplast to hold in heat/humidity and its worked for years and years with no issues. The trick is to give them lots of space and keep em entertained with items that change or move in there enclosures.
 

MasterOogway

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RE: Question for "snow-state" people

Thanks. What are some things that keep your tortoise entertained? I love snow. Canada sounds wonderful :)
 

Hustler

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Driftwood or larger rocks is always fun or move there hides around. I put different food on clips hanging from different areas that seems to get them going


If you have a large enough basement and you dont mind giving it to your tortoises its very possible to give them the square footage they may get in someones garden or cinder-block pen and with the added bonus of never freezing.
This is just one wall in my basement, the small enclosure on the bottom is 5 foot by 3 foot and the larger one next to it is 8 foot by 16 foot.
012-4.jpg
 

argus333

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lets see some pics of the 20 ft pens !!! im about to build something similar in my basement like to see what u guys did.
 

Tony the tank

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I'm sorry no recent pics.(I had to,dismantle it when I sold the house). And since I moved down south recently (they now stay out 24/7....) I don't think I will be building another..


But basically what I did was build a big room in my basement 20x20 and used a glass storm door as access..I then created three pens using 2x12 and 2x6 laid the long way ( to create roughly 18" of height ). So I could step from pen to pen but the big guys couldn't climb over.. I used 2x4 laid the long way secured to the floor to create a channel for the 2x12 to sit in and not fall over... This setup gave me The ability to pull them up to change the size of the pens ... I had do some wiring due to all the lighting and heaters tripping the breaker.. I used timers to bring up the ambient lighting slowly..

For the rain system I installed a mistking system.. Using a 5 gallon bucket and quite a few misting heads.. Set on a timer that ran the heads for a minute 2-3 times a day.. Since the room was always in the mid to high 80*f the water would evaporate quickly..no need for drain and the mist was so fine it wouldn't damage the lighting

You can also install a cheap camera and run it through your tv set..so you can check on them without having to go up and down the stairs...(if your lazy like me)

Good luck
 

mhbgirl

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RE: Question for "snow-state" people

emysemys said:
If Tilley is small enough, you can use one of those plastic kiddie pools. Or buy a really big horse/cattle/goat trough. Once he gets too big for that, he'll need some sort of heated shed outside.

I agree with the pool idea. One of those round pools would be the perfect indoor enclosure for a tortoise. It would be easy to clean, light weight, and resistant to water damage.
 
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