# Offgrid Oogie. Using natural sunlight as a basking area in an indoor enclosure



## Joma (Dec 20, 2018)

Morning. A few months ago I posted about keeping my Greek Tortoise in an indoor enclosure for the winter and, as I live off grid and therefore must be conscious of my power usage, using natural sunlight coming in the window as his basking area (as opposed to a heat lamp). Some folks cautioned me against such a plan, concerned that the tortoise would not be able to increase his body temperature in order to become active enough to eat and digest.

It is almost the solstice, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and also, therefore, the day with least amount of light (both in length and quality) coming in my windows for Oogie to bask in and I am happy to report that we are seemingly doing well. Currently, our outside temps at night are dropping as low as 9F and days are reaching between 34-45F. Oogie is up each morning at approx. 7AM and remains active off and on through out the day until he retires at about 4PM for the night. As the earth changes its position vis a vis the sun, the basking areas in my enclosure also change. Oogie is always successful at finding the right spot to warm up. He is eating consistently, has gained weight since early November and he poops and urinates each day. In mid November, I noticed a short period of slowing down but within a week he was back up to previous activity levels. 

My biggest concern was for the occasional cloudy days that we get here in Northern New Mexico. On these days Oogie has a heat mat in his hide and he does slow down. But as his hide is made of rock, there is thicker substrate in it and the heat mat is under cement board and is insulated underneath. So on these days, we keep the heat mat on all day and are able to warm his hide well using thermal mass (the cement board, rock walls and substrate hold heat well). 

I would not suggest these methods for every situation. Here are some of the reasons that I think, so far, I am able to do it:

- I live at altitude in a house that is heated using passive solar. ie. the sun is more powerful here and the house is designed to take full advantage of this fact. My basking areas on a sunny day at solstice are getting up to between 95-110F and my ambient temps about 85F. (One note about this is that, while more artificial environments can produce these results in consistent amounts year round, my situation produces shorter and longer lengths of basking heat depending on the time of year. But so far this has not been an issue) 

- I live in New Mexico were we get comparatively fewer days of cloud in a year

- My enclosure is making good use of natural processes ie. thermal mass for the hide, placed in the window of my house for some direct sunlight (One note on this, as windows can also loose heat substantially faster than other building parts, I have a blackout curtain that I close each night on the window in front of his enclosure. This curtain prevents the cold from the window radiating into his home)

- I have his heat mat set to come on each day at 3AM and to turn off at 10AM. My thought with this is that it gives him a morning boost before the sun is at its fullest. 

- I got Oogie as a 4 year old adult. I don't know much about raising hatchlings, but I from what I have read on this forum, my situation would not work well for them.

- And.....I'm not a dumbass . I understand my natural and artificial environments well and what they are and are not capable of - which really is the key for any of us I guess.

Anyhow, that is it. I still have a second half of upward swing to go through as light begins to increase in quality and amount but so far so good I think.


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## jsheffield (Dec 20, 2018)

It sounds from your description as though it is generally working, but I have a suggestion that might help your tort in the long run.

Get a thermostat on the heating pad, so that it turns on if the sensor goes below 80F and turns at 85F ... there may be nights when because of your solar gain it does not need to cycle on, and conversely there could be cloudy days when it needs to run longer.

When I added a thermostat to my Darwin's enclosure, it took a lot of the guesswork and wondering out of my primary concern for his well-being, maintaining an adequate temperature for him in chilly (and cloudy) New Hampshire.

I'd love to see pics of your tort, your passive-solar house, and the scenery out there ... I love the southwest, and can't wait to get back that way again, exploring the wild country outside the cities.

Jamie


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## TammyJ (Dec 20, 2018)

What about the humidity in his enclosure? How is that maintained? I would also love to see some pics of your setup.
I spent Christmas in Santa Fe once long ago and it was the first time in my life that I experienced 8F and snow!


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## Cheryl Hills (Dec 20, 2018)

Great job. But, my concern is uvb light. Uvb does not pass through a window, so, from the sound of it, he is not getting any uvb. Are you providing this in another way? What species of tortoise do you have?


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## Grandpa Turtle 144 (Dec 20, 2018)

Well it seems you have it all taken care of for now . But will help me understand one problem. UV rays cannt get through screan, or glass and your tort needs UV rays to digest calcium. So how does your tort replace the calcium in its body ?[emoji217]


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## TammyJ (Dec 20, 2018)

Grandpa Turtle 144 said:


> Well it seems you have it all taken care of for now . But will help me understand one problem. UV rays cannt get through screan, or glass and your tort needs UV rays to digest calcium. So how does your tort replace the calcium in its body ?[emoji217]


Hah! I was presuming that the window has to be open! Then - how cold it must be!!!


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## Joma (Dec 20, 2018)

No. He has a UVB bulb. UVB bulbs are low wattage so I can easily run one. I just can’t always run a heat bulb, they are higher wattage. It is a coil for now and so far no eye issues. I will probably change it out when it burns out though. Also, I can still get him outside on the occasional day that is 48-50 because the sun has heated the ground well. 

Here is a pic of him basking in his natural sunlight basking area. In this pic his carpace is registering 101F with my heat gun. He’s kind of an ugly little guy because the people who I got him from let him pyramid. But we love him anyway lol. 

@TammyJ Humidity is monitored and maintained by adding water to the substrate. 

@jsheffield great idea!!! I didn’t know this existed. Can you send me a link by any chance? 

And another pic of his whole enclosure. 

I did read an research article posted on this forum a while back about heat bulbs causing too much concentrated heat and this was better for the basking area to be broad/larger. I was thinking that my set up doesn’t have this issue. 

Thanks for the encouragement and the ideas.


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## Joma (Dec 20, 2018)

Oh one more thug I meant to add. His enclosure is on the small side I realize. It is a work in progress


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## Cheryl Hills (Dec 20, 2018)

Cool, I was just worried. You have a beautiful tort there. I have a Russian that is pyramided like that to. I got her that way.


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## jsheffield (Dec 20, 2018)

Link to the thermostat I use:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E9IO6N0/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

Jamie


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