sulcata greenhouse and heated shed. on a budget

[bouaboua]

It's gotten warmer here outside latley temps in the 60s with a 76 day!!!!! Greenhouse was 94 that day and mid 80s on cooler days. It gets really humid in there it jus sweats, humity is 70 to 97%!!!! Shed is a constant 84 to 98 under light and 80 at night. I'd like it to be a little cooler in there at night but it's to hard to adjust heater everynight. Temps dropping here again so well see again how it goes. If your in a cooler area if the country I highly recommend building one of these it's great and sulcatas seem to love it...

Thank you for the update.

 

[Len B]

To help keep a more steady and constant temp in the shed, try putting vents at the highest points possible on opposite sides. I did this to Walkers (adult sulcata) house and and made flexible fiberglass pads to regulate the correct air flow out the vents to maintain good temps for him. I have a small fan at the back vent just in case I need more air circulation. I also have an unheated 16x24 ft enclosure that I turn into a greenhouse for the local turtles spend the winter in, your greenhouse stays a lot warmer than mine, I did some ground temp checks in different areas today and they were all in the low 50s even after the the warm spell that had some box turtles, and russian tortoises waking up to poke their heads out hoping it was spring. I am a little south of you on the Virginia side of the Potomac River.

 

[argus333]

i put some tick hay/straw on the floor helped raise temps alot and it gets sun almost all day long and i have a 100watt che in there to heat it up on cold mornings. i was thinking of getting small fan for shed. do the vents let in outside air though? wont that cool it down to much?

 

[tobpainting]

Argus great job that enclosure is sweet.

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Vents add circulation it should be vented like house

 

[argus333]

ya im trying

 

[Jlant85]

Green house looks bad a**!!!!

 

[argus333]

Well we got 10 inches of snow last night and had winds around 30 to 40 mph. Everything held together strong as could be, brushed snow off before bed last night woke up brushed off the rest. Today for the 1st time I did not open door to greenhouse left them in the house wich was 75 to 86, and then warmed up to 103 under light before I went to work. Outside temp was 16. Tonight temps in the signal digets to 0... I will leave them in shed. Coldest night here since 2009.

 

[Jacqui]

That should be a nice test. Will temps warm up tomorrow?

 

[argus333]

Still freezing here left them in she'd again today, tomorrow 40's so wil be back out to play then.

 

[J_W]

That is an awesome design. I live in Colorado and the temps get about the same as yours in the winter, but less snow. I will definitely be building one of these when my baby is old enough to keep outside year round.

 

[argus333]

ya works really well. this has been a heavy snow and cold winter here, tues will 11 for the high!!!!

 

[argus333]

It was 2 degrees this am. 86 to 88 in shed left torts locked in there today. 10 outside rt now but 29 in greenhouse actually.

 

[Yvonne G]

Many, many years ago I wanted to make a structure similar to yours out of PVC and sheet plastic. I couldn't figure out how to fasten the plastic to the PVC. The wind would shake the plastic (I was going to make it big enough for me to stand up inside) and rip whatever I used to attach. So I never did make it with the plastic. I ended up putting shade cloth over the PVC for a rain forest effect for summer, but never did have a good structure for winter.

 

[argus333]

all i did was pvc pipe poles attached to a 2.8 then i put hardware cloth over the top to make it more ridged i attached this with zip ties then a warped the whole thing in 6mm plastic twice. i attached it at the bottom with a 2x2 then i put 8 screws in half way sticking out along the 2 x 6 and used rope in a zig zag patters along the top. u can see in this pic along bottom edge. stapled in front to wood door frame. its solid winds up to 50 mph + and 10 inches of snow so far.