rubber floor, humid hides for leopard

SusannahJoy

New Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2016
Messages
10
Hello! I'm finally getting ready to build the enclosure for my adult leopard tortoise that I should be getting soon (he's been staying with family). I just want to verify that what I'm planning is ok. I'll be turning a chicken coop into a night box, I have studied Tom's thread, I was just wondering about the floor. Right now it's a thick rubber mat, can I leave that there or should I cover it with plywood? It provides great insulation which is important here in Colorado, so I don't want to take it out completely, but it has been used for chickens, so im a little concerned about germs (i will clean it to the best of my ability however). Also, it's pretty dry here, will bowls of water in the night box be enough to keep humidity up, or will I have to mist the hay/grass in there as well? Other than putting in a couple humid hides and watering the plants regularly, is there anything else I should be doing outside? Lastly, how should I keep temps up outside? Right now it's 60 degrees, would a large outdoor heat lamp be ok? I know this was super long, thanks for the help!!
 

Gillian M

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Hello! I'm finally getting ready to build the enclosure for my adult leopard tortoise that I should be getting soon (he's been staying with family). I just want to verify that what I'm planning is ok. I'll be turning a chicken coop into a night box, I have studied Tom's thread, I was just wondering about the floor. Right now it's a thick rubber mat, can I leave that there or should I cover it with plywood? It provides great insulation which is important here in Colorado, so I don't want to take it out completely, but it has been used for chickens, so im a little concerned about germs (i will clean it to the best of my ability however). Also, it's pretty dry here, will bowls of water in the night box be enough to keep humidity up, or will I have to mist the hay/grass in there as well? Other than putting in a couple humid hides and watering the plants regularly, is there anything else I should be doing outside? Lastly, how should I keep temps up outside? Right now it's 60 degrees, would a large outdoor heat lamp be ok? I know this was super long, thanks for the help!!
Avery warm welcome to the forum.
 

ZEROPILOT

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Hello! I'm finally getting ready to build the enclosure for my adult leopard tortoise that I should be getting soon (he's been staying with family). I just want to verify that what I'm planning is ok. I'll be turning a chicken coop into a night box, I have studied Tom's thread, I was just wondering about the floor. Right now it's a thick rubber mat, can I leave that there or should I cover it with plywood? It provides great insulation which is important here in Colorado, so I don't want to take it out completely, but it has been used for chickens, so im a little concerned about germs (i will clean it to the best of my ability however). Also, it's pretty dry here, will bowls of water in the night box be enough to keep humidity up, or will I have to mist the hay/grass in there as well? Other than putting in a couple humid hides and watering the plants regularly, is there anything else I should be doing outside? Lastly, how should I keep temps up outside? Right now it's 60 degrees, would a large outdoor heat lamp be ok? I know this was super long, thanks for the help!!
Can you hang a heat lamp inside your coop?
Our winters are very mild. I have two doghouse type buildings attached to my outdoors pen and each has a simple 60 watt black heat lamp suspended from the top. They do exactly what I need from them. A little extra heat with very little draft.
 

SusannahJoy

New Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2016
Messages
10
Yeah I'm not worried about the inside of the coop being too cold, that will be heated and insulated, I'm just worried that even during the middle of the day in the summer, it's still not always warm enough outside. I'd hate to have to keep him indoors all year round.
 

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