Temp Probe Placement for Heated Tortoise House

[sstephenson]

Hello all. I live about 20 miles from San Diego, CA in an inland valley. You might not think it gets very cold here, but nighttime temps in the winter can drop well below freezing with daytime temps in the '50s. I'm setting up a heated tortoise house for a pair of young leopard tortoises, and I'm concerned about placement of the thermostat probe.

A brief description of the house: I've converted a doghouse by adding a layer of insulation to the inside (all four sides plus top and bottom) sandwiched between a double plywood wall. I have two heat sources, a Helix 11" x 30" radiant heat panel (seen suspended about 18" above the floor of the house in one photo) and an 18" x 18" ZooMed Habitat Heater on the floor in one corner (also seen in the same photo). My plan is to have the Habitat Heater uncontrolled (it gets to about 95 deg F when plugged in - no thermostat), and use a Herpstat thermostat to control the temp of the radiant heat panel. My question is, where can I place the thermostat probe so that the tortoises don't destroy it or move it away from the heater? Imbed it in the floor board? By the way, I plan to put a plastic curtain over the door to help contain the heat in the house. Hopefully the tortoises will get the hang of pushing it out of the way!

 

[Levi the Leopard]

I hang all my temp probes flush against the wall with the tip about 6" from the floor. They don't mess with any of them.

 

[Dizisdalife]

Mine is the same, against the wall. In my 1st house it was on the wall opposite the heater. In the new house it is about half way between the heater and the sleeping area.

You tortoises should have no trouble learning to go in and out of the door.

 

[mike taylor]

I would put them both on a thermostat. 95 and the other heat source may get a little hot . I have my thermocouple mounted about a foot off the floor .

 

[Tom]

I put all my electrical cords and "stuff" in plastic shoe boxes that I mount to the wall. I then hang the probe out the bottom. Usually the probe is about 10-12" from the floor and near the back wall, but not touching it.

I would use a solid door for winter nights and not just vinyl flaps. The flaps are good during the day, but a solid door will keep a lot more heat in and protect them form dogs or other predators. Plus it will keep them from wandering out on a freezing night. My sulcatas would all run outside on cold rainy nights before I had a solid door.

 

[sstephenson]

Thanks all for your input. I really appreciate it.

I hadn't thought about just allowing the probe to dangle from the thermostat. For my snake enclosures I'm used to anchoring the probe over the source of belly heat so that it doesn't get too warm for them. I plan on mounting the thermostat in a plastic enclosure inside the house, so dangling the probe from the wall mounted box would probably work just fine.

The reason that I hadn't considered plugging both heat sources into the thermostat is that I'm not sure how well that arrangement would work. I'm using a proportional thermostat (Herpstat 700 watt). Would one heating device get much warmer than the other with the probe reading an average temp somewhere between the two devices? Would I be better off using only one thermostatically controlled device (either the radiant heat panel or the floor heater)? My original thought was that using the radiant heat panel controlled by the thermostat would provide a consistent source of heat while the uncontrolled floor heater would allow them to move on and off as needed (supposedly it has a 119 deg F automatic shut-off if it gets too hot). Is this a bad idea? Should the floor heater be wall mounted instead?

Do your solid doors remain closed or can the tortoises open them somehow? My retrofitted dog house would probably get pretty hot on a sunny day, and I'd be afraid that the tortoises might get too hot with no opening to the outside and no way to get out.