Dave Nagy
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2015
- Messages
- 3
Hi there.
I'd love some specific advice about an indoor habitat for our about 2.5-year-old, 11-pound, male Sulcata. His name is "Gamera". I'm thinking about building him a table to use when he's indoors, but I'm wondering if he's now just too big for such things, and I should instead be concentrating on an outdoor enclosure.
It also should be noted that since our indoor floor space is limited, the interior dimensions of the potential table will (might?) only be about three foot square. Perhaps that's just too small to be workable. I'd love some advice.
I'm actually thinking about building the table "around" a shower base like this. Basically for ease of cleaning and moisture resistance.
A little more info on Gamera's current living arrangements: We live in north Georgia. The weather is tortoise-friendly 8 months of the year, but relatively cold and plantless in the winter. (Highs in the 40's, lows in the 20's. No snow, typically.) To date, Gamera has been indoors only. We'll take him outside for an hour or two, but so far he's "lived" indoors, or spent warm weather days out on our screen porch.
Now that's it's cold out, and he's too big for his tank, he currently spends most of his time loose in our bedroom. He has a favorite "den" under our bed where he naps and sometimes sleeps overnight. There's a heating pad down there. He also still has his outgrown 18" by 36" tank with a UV bulb and heat pad thingie. We only put him in there when he needs to "sun" himself for an hour or three, or overnight to sleep, but it's too small and he will generally demand to be let out if it's light out.
He'll often shower with me in the mornings. If he misses the shower, he'll have a warm soak in the bathtub. After that I'll feed him, outdoors if it's sunny. After he's stretched his legs, nibbled a few weeds, pooped and laid in the sun for a while, I'll bring him back indoors and he will typically retire to under the bed again.
This doesn't seem ideal. ; ) He can't bask when he wants to, and he's not getting any extra humidity aside from his daily showers and soaks. I'd like to build him a table where he'll have a warm "sunny" area and a cooler, darker, more humid area. But again, I'm not sure a 3x3 (ish) table will be big enough for those "micro-climates". Is a small table even worth doing at his age? Would a bigger table be worth doing at his age? Or is he big/old enough that a climate controlled outdoor "building" is where we should be focusing all our efforts? (I'm disabled, and enjoy Gamer's company indoors, so I'm not really looking forward to permanently "banishing" him to the back yard. But I know that day is coming.)
If you folks think an indoor table is still worth doing, I have some lighting/heating/covering questions, but I leave those for later.
I'd love some specific advice about an indoor habitat for our about 2.5-year-old, 11-pound, male Sulcata. His name is "Gamera". I'm thinking about building him a table to use when he's indoors, but I'm wondering if he's now just too big for such things, and I should instead be concentrating on an outdoor enclosure.
It also should be noted that since our indoor floor space is limited, the interior dimensions of the potential table will (might?) only be about three foot square. Perhaps that's just too small to be workable. I'd love some advice.
I'm actually thinking about building the table "around" a shower base like this. Basically for ease of cleaning and moisture resistance.
A little more info on Gamera's current living arrangements: We live in north Georgia. The weather is tortoise-friendly 8 months of the year, but relatively cold and plantless in the winter. (Highs in the 40's, lows in the 20's. No snow, typically.) To date, Gamera has been indoors only. We'll take him outside for an hour or two, but so far he's "lived" indoors, or spent warm weather days out on our screen porch.
Now that's it's cold out, and he's too big for his tank, he currently spends most of his time loose in our bedroom. He has a favorite "den" under our bed where he naps and sometimes sleeps overnight. There's a heating pad down there. He also still has his outgrown 18" by 36" tank with a UV bulb and heat pad thingie. We only put him in there when he needs to "sun" himself for an hour or three, or overnight to sleep, but it's too small and he will generally demand to be let out if it's light out.
He'll often shower with me in the mornings. If he misses the shower, he'll have a warm soak in the bathtub. After that I'll feed him, outdoors if it's sunny. After he's stretched his legs, nibbled a few weeds, pooped and laid in the sun for a while, I'll bring him back indoors and he will typically retire to under the bed again.
This doesn't seem ideal. ; ) He can't bask when he wants to, and he's not getting any extra humidity aside from his daily showers and soaks. I'd like to build him a table where he'll have a warm "sunny" area and a cooler, darker, more humid area. But again, I'm not sure a 3x3 (ish) table will be big enough for those "micro-climates". Is a small table even worth doing at his age? Would a bigger table be worth doing at his age? Or is he big/old enough that a climate controlled outdoor "building" is where we should be focusing all our efforts? (I'm disabled, and enjoy Gamer's company indoors, so I'm not really looking forward to permanently "banishing" him to the back yard. But I know that day is coming.)
If you folks think an indoor table is still worth doing, I have some lighting/heating/covering questions, but I leave those for later.