M
Maggie Cummings
Guest
As you all know winter is just around the corner. I know there are novice keepers out there in colder climates who are trying to figure out how to keep their bigger tortoises warm this winter, so here is what I do for Bob my 70 pound Sulcata.
I was fortunate to already have a shed on my property. It is 20' X 10'. I had a carpenter come in and totally insulate the inside and cover it all with plywood. It may not be pretty but it is warm and functionable...a Sulcata will just ruin anything fancy anyway.
This is the shed with the people door and the tortoise door...
You can see Bob's sleeping box with the heater on top and Queenie's tort table is next to that with the humidifier on top of that. Under her tort table is a pile of hay that Bob eats and rolls around in...
The heater has separate controls and because it works so good I set it on the most energy saving and it keeps the shed really warm ...
Inside his sleeping box is whats called a pig blanket. It's a hard rubber mat with wire inside that makes it warm. His is on a thermostat control so I can make it warmer or cooler and Bob sleeps on it every night and has for the almost 4 years we've lived in Oregon.
Queenie has a CHE Ceramic heat emitter that is on 24/7 but it's circle of heat is narrow so she also has a black light bulb on at night. I always recommend that you not use a pig blanket for any tort under 20 pounds so that is why Queenie has the CHE and black light.
Bob has a 250 watt Trex heat/UVB bulb for basking under during the cold weather. It is very hot and last year the wire holding it broke and it crashed down and burned Bob who evidently kept trying to get under it as it was laying on the wood floor and it had started to burn the wood. So if you use a bulb that hot make darned sure it is hanging tough.
We don't want our tortoises to have hard or gritty urates so they need to stay well hydrated all winter long. So in Bob's case he drinks from a dog water dish that he can't tip over. But he did get high centered on it last year and I laughed at him...
So I guess that's all I can think of. Bob being larger can go outside in colder weather than should a smaller tort because his core temperature will stay warm longer than a smaller tort. As an example I wouldn't let Queenie out iif the temp drops below 70 degrees, but last year Bob came out and played in the snow. So that's it please ask any questions you might have and you know we all will try to help...Here's a picture of Bob in case you haven't seen his previous threads. He loves squash and so he always has some on his face...
I was fortunate to already have a shed on my property. It is 20' X 10'. I had a carpenter come in and totally insulate the inside and cover it all with plywood. It may not be pretty but it is warm and functionable...a Sulcata will just ruin anything fancy anyway.
This is the shed with the people door and the tortoise door...
You can see Bob's sleeping box with the heater on top and Queenie's tort table is next to that with the humidifier on top of that. Under her tort table is a pile of hay that Bob eats and rolls around in...
The heater has separate controls and because it works so good I set it on the most energy saving and it keeps the shed really warm ...
Inside his sleeping box is whats called a pig blanket. It's a hard rubber mat with wire inside that makes it warm. His is on a thermostat control so I can make it warmer or cooler and Bob sleeps on it every night and has for the almost 4 years we've lived in Oregon.
Queenie has a CHE Ceramic heat emitter that is on 24/7 but it's circle of heat is narrow so she also has a black light bulb on at night. I always recommend that you not use a pig blanket for any tort under 20 pounds so that is why Queenie has the CHE and black light.
Bob has a 250 watt Trex heat/UVB bulb for basking under during the cold weather. It is very hot and last year the wire holding it broke and it crashed down and burned Bob who evidently kept trying to get under it as it was laying on the wood floor and it had started to burn the wood. So if you use a bulb that hot make darned sure it is hanging tough.
We don't want our tortoises to have hard or gritty urates so they need to stay well hydrated all winter long. So in Bob's case he drinks from a dog water dish that he can't tip over. But he did get high centered on it last year and I laughed at him...
So I guess that's all I can think of. Bob being larger can go outside in colder weather than should a smaller tort because his core temperature will stay warm longer than a smaller tort. As an example I wouldn't let Queenie out iif the temp drops below 70 degrees, but last year Bob came out and played in the snow. So that's it please ask any questions you might have and you know we all will try to help...Here's a picture of Bob in case you haven't seen his previous threads. He loves squash and so he always has some on his face...
What is the lowest temps you have in Oregon during the winter?
