Smart or not, Tort house

winknateryan

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Reading on a outdoor house, you want something waterproof, durable, and insulated with a built in lid. I thought of using a deep freezer, is this good or should I just go build one out of wood? Looking for use on a ~12" sulcata.

20180915_182924.jpg
 

ZEROPILOT

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That's intetesting.
I've never seen that attempted.
Would that be the enclosure or just a night house?
Because it would be a little small for a foot long Sulcata, probably.
 

Tom

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Reading on a outdoor house, you want something waterproof, durable, and insulated with a built in lid. I thought of using a deep freezer, is this good or should I just go build one out of wood? Looking for use on a ~12" sulcata.
I think it can work, and its a pretty good idea. And I'm the guy that usually tries to tell everyone else how everything except my style of wooden boxes isn't going to work.

You'll need to protect the tortoise from the metal edges somehow, and also keep rain out of the door there. I would line the door way with wood, and make a 2x4 cover over the door way like in my night boxes. Some GE Silicone I between the wood and the freezer will help keep rain out.

Please keep us posted on whatever you do here, how you customize it, how you heat it, and how it all works out. This is a good learning experience for us all. I'm also curious to see how it will hold up outdoors in the weather over time.
 

winknateryan

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Just a night house. Plan on keeping under a porch, but covering edges anyway. Inside measures 5 feet by 22 inches.
 

Tim Carlisle

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I agree....that is a good and interesting idea. I see folks giving those away (usually non-working) on Craigslist all the time. If you go thru with it, I'd love to see your finished product. I have someone in mind in my area that would love a good cheap solution for their leopard tortoise.
 

EllieMay

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So would you just mount the RHP to the lid ? What are your plans for heating??
I’m very interested:)
 

Tom

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I agree....that is a good and interesting idea. I see folks giving those away (usually non-working) on Craigslist all the time.

I never looked for one on CL... This would save me a tremendous amount of time instead of building them from scratch. And for free? If it works, it sounds like a winner!
 

Tim Carlisle

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I never looked for one on CL... This would save me a tremendous amount of time instead of building them from scratch. And for free? If it works, it sounds like a winner!
Most expense I can foresee is maybe giving it a good coat of outdoor metal paint to prevent rust/corrosion. The inside can just be wiped down occasionally. Easy maintenance.
 

Yvonne G

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Year ago we had a very experienced turtle man in our hobby named Harold Carty. He lived in Chowchilla, CA and travelled all over the world for turtles. . . had quite a collection. He used refrigerators and freezers for tortoise shelters. Harold has since passed on, and when I knew him, there was no internet, so there are no pictures of his freezer houses.

Here's a link to another thread about it:

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/chest-freezer-enclosure.159293/
 

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