We get it in 8 or 10' lengths and its 26" wide so you can get a little overlap.
My Best Night Box Design Yet
- Thread starter Tom
- Start date
We get it in 8 or 10' lengths and its 26" wide so you can get a little overlap.
Bambam1989
Well-Known Member
Pressure treated wood is when they use high pressure to force chemicals into the wood, thus preserving it longer. This means that your tort could become sick from the chemicals used.
Oh man. I just finished framing out my box with pressure-treated wood. I spent hours. All of the walls, floor, doors. Insulated and ready to put together.
Bambam1989
Well-Known Member
If you line the inside with untreated plywood (preferably not made of pine) it may be ok... What do you think @Tom ?
Btw, I am in Central Florida. We haven’t had a hard freeze here in a long time. We have a few days a year where it drops below 40.
I wouldn't use pressure treated wood in any confined space with any live animal. Outdoors with open ventilation is fine, but not closed in a box.
I know its a bummer, but when these things happen and I really don't want to go through the hassle of re-doing something, I just envision finding my tortoise dead. Then I go ahead and re-do whatever needed to be done.
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Definitely not okay. That is probably the number one area to be losing heat. This is an easy fix though. Just frame the floor with flat 2x4s, drop in the 1.5 inch rigid foam insulation, run GE Silicone 1 sealant all around the framing, and then drop a sheet of plywood on top of that. I usually screw the plywood down to really set the sealant.
Kendra North
New Member
Hi Tom, thank you so much for posting step-by-step instructions on how to build this. We followed your instructions and built the night box for our two tortoises. It works great, and we are so pleased. The only trouble we are having is with maintaining the humidity. We have 5 containers of water on the shelves, and I spray water inside the enclosure several times a day. However, the humidity is only around 30-35%. Do you have any suggestions?
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We had the same issue. I added this http://a.co/3jGJQms plugged into this http://a.co/g430BQP and no issues since. Keeps perfect humidity once you get the settings right
Kendra North
New Member
Thank you so much for the recommendation. We will order those items today!
There are a couple of things that stand out to me in these photos. First, there is no weatherstripping on the lid. Heat and moisture will easily escape through the small cracks. Secondly, there is no covering on the doorway. To hold humidity in, and heat, there needs to be a covering on the doorway. I'm sure that a humidifier or mister will help, but until the box is better seal I don't believe that you will be satisfied with the results.
How often do you have to fill it? I'm having a similar delima. Humidity is about 12% with just one small water dish. The box is pretry well sealed and holds temps at 78-80F when its 24 F out! And was thinking about a humidifier but didn't really know how to controll it. Was thinking on plugging it into the thermostat so that it would only turn on when the heater is on. But I didn't know there was a humidity controller avaliable. Thanks!
Kaliman1962
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2016
- Messages
- 193
will that fogger give enough to humidify a 4x4 enclosed chamber?
i have the repti-fogger, its not strong enough
i have the repti-fogger, its not strong enough
Kendra North
New Member
I didn't realize we didn't do the weather stripping yet, but we were working in the door covering today. Thank you for your observations!
I agree with what Joe said. I think you will have no trouble maintaining humidity once you make those changes.
One other thing that I learned from Joe that is really helping a lot, is to run a 4" computer fan inside the box to circulate the air. I get one with a speed controller, and I set it on the thermostat, so the fan only runs when the heater is on. You could set it to run all the time if you wanted, but its working well for me as is.
