Colorado Outdoor Enclosure Ideas?

[Jimb]

Living in Colorado, our winters go anywhere from dry and 50s-60s to deep snow and below freezing temps. So I'm looking for ideas (photos too) of anyone with outdoor enclosures for this type of weather. Currently my two Torts (Hermanns & Leopard) live indoors year round with open-air outdoor areas to forage in when the temps are above 70ish.

Thanks! I might add that I'm pretty carpentry challenged too.

 

[Taylor T.]

You've likely seen this thread, but in case you haven't:

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/ideas-for-outdoor-enclosures.65797/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/ideas-for-outdoor-enclosures.65797/
Unfortunately, since Photobucket decided to play nasty, a lot of the photos aren't there.

 

[Jimb]

You've likely seen this thread, but in case you haven't:

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/ideas-for-outdoor-enclosures.65797/
Unfortunately, since Photobucket decided to play nasty, a lot of the photos aren't there.

Yeah, I see that. I'll have to check some other time, maybe Photobucket will play nicer then.

 

[Jacqui]

So you are wanting outside (not in human house) all year long?

 

[Jimb]

So you are wanting outside (not in human house) all year long?

Thinking about it. Just looking for ideas right now.

 

[Jimb]

So you are wanting outside (not in human house) all year long?

Thinking about it for my Leopard Tort. It'll be a few more years I think before it needs to be built, Was just looking for some ideas on heating. I've seen some use Oil Filled heaters mounted high enough that the Tort can't accidentally touch it. Otherwise Heat Projectors and UVB for when it's too cold for him to venture outside the enclosure.He's only about 16 months old now.

 

[viridiflavus]

I live in north Spain and I think I have similar winter temperatures here although snow is very rare. Theese are some ideas but please keep in mind that they work for my tortoises and they may not be enough for keeping Leopards outdoors in winter depending on the temperature you have.

I keep mediterranean tortoises, mainly Testudo graeca from Spain and noth Africa, in outdoor enclosures all year round and I try to offer temperatures for them to brumate no longer than they would in their warmer home ranges.
I cover their enclosure in autumn, winter and spring with a plastic film for greenhouses that allows a high percentage of UVB to pass through. You can use twin-wall polycarbonate sheets which provides better insulation but I use the film because I take the film off in summer and it is also much cheaper and I don´t need the temperatures to get too warm, just not cold, in winter.

The north wall of the greenhouse is made of wood and insulated on the outside in order yo minimize heat loss at night. I also have ten big black barrels full of water that really help a lot in keeping night temperatures, but of course you need sunny days to heat up the water and then the heat be released at night.
In adition or instead of the water barrels you could maybe use your house heating piping and lead it into your greenhouse.
I dont have electricity in the place where my greenhouse is so I have to rely on passive solar heating completely.

Besides or instead of the barrels (but I have checked the night temperatures inside the greenhouse and they work great and are free to operate...) you can use an underground heat sink similar to this:

This is actually something that I will definately add to my greenhouse next autumm. I think this may also cool the greenhouse a bit on bright sunny days but I still need to test that.

A closed greenhouse hit by the sun is a death trap for tortoises so you need to use one or two (one on each end) Automatic Greenhouse Window Openers (you can google that to see what they are) and have a door for the tortoises to go out when they get too hot. Where I live this applies in spring and autumn, not in winter yet, although winters are becoming warmer and warmer. I take the film off in summer.

You could probably run a greenhouse made of twin-wall poycarbonate with its north wall insulated using only electricity but I have no idea about the bill... At least for Hermmans I guess that it wouldn´t be too pricey as in my opinion they dont need any winter heating at all in the greenhouse as they will brumate, so heaters would only work if needed at night in spring and autumn.
Maybe it is also posible for Leopards using electrics alone, but In my opinion it´s worth thinking of storing the solar heat income and using your house heating system if possible. A Leopard will probably need to have also its greenhouse insulated also on the bottom and the walls in order to efficiently keep heat in winter nights and to be efficiently heated,(both by sun and electrics or hot water piping) in winter days

Here you can see some pictures of my greenhouse, from the inside, from the outside and in summer without the plastic film. It is a bit too low, making it not very confortable to move around inside, so it is probably a good idea to build it a bit higher.

Improving my greenhouse termal stability is always on my mind, so any ideas on this subject will be very much appreciated!.

I really don´t write or speak english often, so apologies for my mistakes.

 

[Jimb]

I live in north Spain and I think I have similar winter temperatures here although snow is very rare. Theese are some ideas but please keep in mind that they work for my tortoises and they may not be enough for keeping Leopards outdoors in winter depending on the temperature you have.

I keep mediterranean tortoises, mainly Testudo graeca from Spain and noth Africa, in outdoor enclosures all year round and I try to offer temperatures for them to brumate no longer than they would in their warmer home ranges.
I cover their enclosure in autumn, winter and spring with a plastic film for greenhouses that allows a high percentage of UVB to pass through. You can use twin-wall polycarbonate sheets which provides better insulation but I use the film because I take the film off in summer and it is also much cheaper and I don´t need the temperatures to get too warm, just not cold, in winter.

The north wall of the greenhouse is made of wood and insulated on the outside in order yo minimize heat loss at night. I also have ten big black barrels full of water that really help a lot in keeping night temperatures, but of course you need sunny days to heat up the water and then the heat be released at night.
In adition or instead of the water barrels you could maybe use your house heating piping and lead it into your greenhouse.
I dont have electricity in the place where my greenhouse is so I have to rely on passive solar heating completely.

Besides or instead of the barrels (but I have checked the night temperatures inside the greenhouse and they work great and are free to operate...) you can use an underground heat sink similar to this:

This is actually something that I will definately add to my greenhouse next autumm. I think this may also cool the greenhouse a bit on bright sunny days but I still need to test that.

A closed greenhouse hit by the sun is a death trap for tortoises so you need to use one or two (one on each end) Automatic Greenhouse Window Openers (you can google that to see what they are) and have a door for the tortoises to go out when they get too hot. Where I live this applies in spring and autumn, not in winter yet, although winters are becoming warmer and warmer. I take the film off in summer.

You could probably run a greenhouse made of twin-wall poycarbonate with its north wall insulated using only electricity but I have no idea about the bill... At least for Hermmans I guess that it wouldn´t be too pricey as in my opinion they dont need any winter heating at all in the greenhouse as they will brumate, so heaters would only work if needed at night in spring and autumn.
Maybe it is also posible for Leopards using electrics alone, but In my opinion it´s worth thinking of storing the solar heat income and using your house heating system if possible. A Leopard will probably need to have also its greenhouse insulated also on the bottom and the walls in order to efficiently keep heat in winter nights and to be efficiently heated,(both by sun and electrics or hot water piping) in winter days

Here you can see some pictures of my greenhouse, from the inside, from the outside and in summer without the plastic film. It is a bit too low, making it not very confortable to move around inside, so it is probably a good idea to build it a bit higher.

Improving my greenhouse termal stability is always on my mind, so any ideas on this subject will be very much appreciated!.

I really don´t write or speak english often, so apologies for my mistakes.

WOW! That's a pretty ingenious idea for sure. I'm not sure how it would work here especially when it snows. But I'm keeping the video just the same.
Thanks, I've never seen that idea before.