Enclosure

Verno

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Tonypandy
Hi thinking of moving my tortoise home to the garage so I can get him a much bigger enclosure. What lights do I need and what enclosures would be best to keep him safe for the winter thanks
 

Jacqui

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Could we have more details please. Type and size of tortoise. Size of envisioned enclosure. Size of garage and it's installation. Your location.
 

Ray--Opo

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Hi thinking of moving my tortoise home to the garage so I can get him a much bigger enclosure. What lights do I need and what enclosures would be best to keep him safe for
What kind of tortoise and how old?Not sure where Tonypandy is. How cold do the winters get?
There are great winter enclosures here.
Look at @Tom enclosures, he has perfected over the years. One thing I would suggest is a insulated floor and also a floor raised off the ground.
Lights will really depend on what kind and how old your tort is.
 

Tom

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Hi thinking of moving my tortoise home to the garage so I can get him a much bigger enclosure. What lights do I need and what enclosures would be best to keep him safe for the winter thanks
A large closed chamber should be suitable. If the garage gets any colder than about 12-15C in winter, you will need to build an insulated closed chamber.

Here is all the heating and lighting needed:
There are four elements to heating and lighting:
  1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
  2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night. Some people in colder climates or with larger enclosures will need multiple CHEs or RHPs to spread out enough heat.
  3. Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
  4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.
 

Yvonne G

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Hi, and welcome!

What species of tortoise do you have? It sounds like a pretty good idea making him a larger enclosure. I'd love to see his picture.
 

zolasmum

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What kind of tortoise and how old?Not sure where Tonypandy is. How cold do the winters get?
There are great winter enclosures here.
Look at @Tom enclosures, he has perfected over the years. One thing I would suggest is a insulated floor and also a floor raised off the ground.
Lights will really depend on what kind and how old your tort is.
Tonypandy is in Wales, UK
 

Verno

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Jun 2, 2022
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Tonypandy
Hi thinking of putting my Tortiose in my garage so I can get a larger cage can anyone send me pictures of a large enclosure with a top for protection in the winter mouth please thanks my Tortiose is coming up to three years now
 
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