Desert Tortoise Burrow Questions

[Hot Wet Sam]

Hello All,

My little guy is almost 4 years old. And I'm transitioning him to be outside full time this summer. He spends his day roaming the yard, chomping on weeds and hibiscus. At night I lock him in his dog house to protect him from any predators. So far its been going well, but these recent 100+ days have prompted me to decide to build him a butrow to keep cool. He has plenty of bushes and shade all over the yard, but i want to do my best to give him the option of a cooler burrow. So after a ton of research on burrows, here's my problem:

If I make an underground burrow, most instructions say to make them anywhere from 4-6ft long to achieve the proper Temps interface burrow. But at that length, there's no way I can reach in and retrieve my tortoise to lock him up at night. So I decided to make a shorter burrow that I would be able to reach into every night, but I'm worried it wouldn't provide the proper relief from the sun.

I guess I'm just looking for suggestions, ideas, or if anyone has a similar situation/story.

 

[Tom]

I grappled with this too. I made an underground burrow with an access hatch. It worked perfectly, but the pics are lost now.

Here is a different one I made for Russians which would be similar in size to your little guy until he grows larger.






I then put the radiant heat panel on the ceiling so that I could keep them outside long into the fall and earlier into the spring. Here in SoCal we have warm days, but cold night in fall and spring. The thermostat was set to 65ish, so that it would cool at night, but not too much, and then they could sun during our warm sunny day.

 

[Tom]

A much easier way to do it is to simply dig a sloped hole, put a board or some plywood over it, and then put the dirt from the hole back on top of the board. Add even more dirt if needed.

What ever you do, use a thermometer to check the temperature.

 

[KarenSoCal]

This is how I dug my DT's burrow...

First, a ramp and chamber.



Then, I lined the ramp and chamber with wood, and put some uprights so it wouldn't collapse. Added a lid. The bottom of the chamber is about 24" below ground level.





Finally, some dirt, and a mister and shade cabin.



He used this burrow for a summer. Then he dug one of his own in the front left corner of the enclosure. You can't see the entrance in this pic. He used both of the burrows for the next 2 summers. I could never figure how he decided which one to use.

 

[Maro2Bear]

I guess the problem with covering the burrow with a large heavy lid & then dirt is that it’s impossible to nightly retrieve the tort to lock up at night. Overhead access(trap door from the roof concept like Tom‘S there in the pix seems to have tackled that problem.

Always interesting to see these issues conquered to help our torts!

 

[KarenSoCal]

I guess the problem with covering the burrow with a large heavy lid & then dirt is that it’s impossible to nightly retrieve the tort to lock up at night. Overhead access(trap door from the roof concept like Tom‘S there in the pix seems to have tackled that problem.

Always interesting to see these issues conquered to help our torts!

Yes, that is an issue. However, with where I live, I didn't have a night box for him. He slept in whichever burrow he chose at night. The only time I had a problem was when we'd get a torrential downpour. I actually never saw a drop of water in either burrow, but that didn't stop me from panicking every time! More than once I was laying in mud in the middle of the night coaxing him to come out. Then he'd get to sleep in the bathtub for the night.

 

[Canadian Mojo]

The potential issue I see with roof access is that the sun is beating down on the plywood lid right above the torts head. Instead of that you could make a raised tunnel with a back door. It would allow you to dump a lot of soil on top of the den area to help keep it cool and it would also be pretty flood proof.

The downside is that you would need a lot of soil to cover everything and you would be creating a pretty big mound in your enclosure.

 

[Sedona]

Interesting thread! With an adult male DT we've had success with

A Rubbermaid Commercial Products Untouchable Square 23 Gal. Grey Indoor Outdoor Trash Can, available from Home Depot. This was intended to prevent monsoon rains from flooding the burrow FROM BELOW. We dug out a ramp as have other posters, creating a berm in front to prevent flooding. The berm is in part impermeable concrete. The trashcan rests on its side inside the ramp, with the lip on the berm. The sides and end of the ramp, at soil level, are flanked with cinder blocks filled with sand. A large thick piece of slate covers the blocks. The space in between the slate and top of the trash can is filled with foam board insulation and spray foam sealant (aka Great Stuff). The bottom of the trash can is about half full of soil. The mouth of the trash can is larger than the DT needs for entry/exit and promotes too much heat exchange between burrow and environment, so we built a removable plug: 1/4" plywood spanning 2X6 lumber, with the space above the plywood filled with Great Stuff allowed to harden to fill the space [be certain to place plastic wrap or wax paper on the inside of the trash can before using Great Stuff]. The plug can be removed to access the DT if need be.

We monitor the temperature inside the burrow with a HT1 Smart Temperature Sensor and Humidity Sensor - Bluetooth Thermometer and Hygrometer with App Monitoring - Indoor/Outdoor Temperature and Humidity Monitor for RV, Humidor, Fridge & More (1 Pack) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AEQ9X9I?tag=exoticpetnetw-20 . Every so often the DT expels it from the burrow; we just put it back. The device creates a continuous record of temperatures.

In really hot summer weather, we shade the top of the burrow with foam board insulation. We allow an air gap between the foam board and burrow, and use foam board with a reflective coating on top.