KYMichelle
New Member
For many years now I've wanted a sulcata. I adore tortoises and turtles, but I've never really had one of my own. Now that I've got a house with a yard, I would very much like to change that. The main thing that's always stopped me from having one is the winter months. I live in mid Kentucky, and the weather here sees negative temperatures in the winter. Not usually for very long at a stretch but I certainly wouldn't want to keep any animals out in that!
This house has a basement with a few rooms, and I'm seriously thinking of converting one of them into a winter home for a sulcata. I would love to see some advice, tips, threads, whatever input might be available! I will add that I am hoping to adopt a bigger/older one so everything I'm planning here is for a mid to adult sized animal. If I end up getting a baby I will mod the room until it's big enough to need it.
The basement room is about 20ft x 20ft has walls of red brick. The floor right now is a mixture of gravel and dirt. The room actually has a functional shower in it, but not a stall. It's basically a drain in the floor and a faucet coming out of the ceiling with hot and cold water. I was thinking I could concrete the floor in such a way as to be able to use a hose to spray out the floor and send waste into the drain. That would let me keep the room extra clean for him/her while it's there. The doorway to this room would need a short ramp as it has steps going up right now, but it leads to the garage which in turn leads outside. I figure when the little dude gets too big to carry I could walk it outside this way. Carrot on a stick perhaps? XD
The room is unfinished right now, so I will be putting a better door on to hold heat in and adding insulation to the walls. The floor will be cemented, and I will add some platforms to put some heaters on to keep the room warm without him being able to knock them over. I know I will need a basking area too, but I can run a heat lamp down from the ceiling to whatever spot I choose for that. I can also put a UV lamp in the same place. I was thinking of building a wooden platform there to allow him to get off the cement floor and warm up. I think I would need some type of pool area as well so he can soak. I may fix the drain area to allow that there and make water changes easier? Either that or I may build a cement pool next to it that can drain into it. And I believe they need some type of hide, so perhaps a wooden dog house in his room? Should this have extra heat?
At the moment that's all the plans I've come up with! Does this sound viable? Is there anything I will want that's not mentioned here? I've just started looking into this idea a few hours ago so I probably missed something. But also some things you only think of with experience so advice on both is quite welcome!
This house has a basement with a few rooms, and I'm seriously thinking of converting one of them into a winter home for a sulcata. I would love to see some advice, tips, threads, whatever input might be available! I will add that I am hoping to adopt a bigger/older one so everything I'm planning here is for a mid to adult sized animal. If I end up getting a baby I will mod the room until it's big enough to need it.
The basement room is about 20ft x 20ft has walls of red brick. The floor right now is a mixture of gravel and dirt. The room actually has a functional shower in it, but not a stall. It's basically a drain in the floor and a faucet coming out of the ceiling with hot and cold water. I was thinking I could concrete the floor in such a way as to be able to use a hose to spray out the floor and send waste into the drain. That would let me keep the room extra clean for him/her while it's there. The doorway to this room would need a short ramp as it has steps going up right now, but it leads to the garage which in turn leads outside. I figure when the little dude gets too big to carry I could walk it outside this way. Carrot on a stick perhaps? XD
The room is unfinished right now, so I will be putting a better door on to hold heat in and adding insulation to the walls. The floor will be cemented, and I will add some platforms to put some heaters on to keep the room warm without him being able to knock them over. I know I will need a basking area too, but I can run a heat lamp down from the ceiling to whatever spot I choose for that. I can also put a UV lamp in the same place. I was thinking of building a wooden platform there to allow him to get off the cement floor and warm up. I think I would need some type of pool area as well so he can soak. I may fix the drain area to allow that there and make water changes easier? Either that or I may build a cement pool next to it that can drain into it. And I believe they need some type of hide, so perhaps a wooden dog house in his room? Should this have extra heat?
At the moment that's all the plans I've come up with! Does this sound viable? Is there anything I will want that's not mentioned here? I've just started looking into this idea a few hours ago so I probably missed something. But also some things you only think of with experience so advice on both is quite welcome!
