Heated night box

[stephanierose]

I prefer to start a burrow where I want it and let them dig it themselves. That is what I do here, and then block the entrance in the fall and make them sleep in their heated insulated night boxes over winter until the warm (hot) weather returns.

If you want to dig your own, I went three feet deep for a two foot box and had a foot of dirt over it. It had a hatch on top of the underground box, and a cover tunnel that went down to the box. There was a sloped rain cover over the entrance tunnel to keep it from flooding in heavy winter rain, and I mounted a CHE and two RHPs down there set on a thermostat so they could use it all winter long. The sides lasted almost 10 years before they began to rot. The box would sometimes climb into the high 80s when summer temps were over 100 for weeks in a row. Unfortunately, the pics are gone.

Hi @Tom! I'm brand new to this forum. I live in Phoenix, Arizona, and I own a 2.5-year-old Sulcata tortoise. We're currently designing an outdoor habitat for her. I found your plan for the heated night box -- we'll definitely use that!
But for the hot summers, I'd like to build a burrow for my tortoise (rather than let her build her own), but after reading lots of posts about this, I'm still confused about how to proceed! I'm wondering if you could elaborate on the description of your burrow in your July 2022 comment. My main concern is that my tortoise will be able to get cool enough, especially during heatwaves like we are now! Here are my questions:

→ "I went three feet deep for a two foot box and had a foot of dirt over it." -- does this mean you dug three feet into the earth and then buried a 2'x2' wooden box in there?

→ "It had a hatch on top of the underground box" -- is a hatch a door? did you do that so that if needed, you could uncover the earth from the box, open the hatch, and get your tortoise out in the event that they got stuck?

→"and a cover tunnel that went down to the box." -- what material did you use for the cover tunnel?

→"There was a sloped rain cover over the entrance tunnel to keep it from flooding in heavy winter rain" - like a tarp?

→"and I mounted a CHE and two RHPs down there set on a thermostat so they could use it all winter long." -- i'm planning on just building a separate night box for the winters and using the burrow for the summers...in that case, i should be god without the CHE and RHPs, correct?

Thank you so much for your time and wisdom!

 

[Tom]

Hi @Tom! I'm brand new to this forum. I live in Phoenix, Arizona, and I own a 2.5-year-old Sulcata tortoise. We're currently designing an outdoor habitat for her. I found your plan for the heated night box -- we'll definitely use that!
But for the hot summers, I'd like to build a burrow for my tortoise (rather than let her build her own), but after reading lots of posts about this, I'm still confused about how to proceed! I'm wondering if you could elaborate on the description of your burrow in your July 2022 comment. My main concern is that my tortoise will be able to get cool enough, especially during heatwaves like we are now! Here are my questions:

→ "I went three feet deep for a two foot box and had a foot of dirt over it." -- does this mean you dug three feet into the earth and then buried a 2'x2' wooden box in there?

→ "It had a hatch on top of the underground box" -- is a hatch a door? did you do that so that if needed, you could uncover the earth from the box, open the hatch, and get your tortoise out in the event that they got stuck?

→"and a cover tunnel that went down to the box." -- what material did you use for the cover tunnel?

→"There was a sloped rain cover over the entrance tunnel to keep it from flooding in heavy winter rain" - like a tarp?

→"and I mounted a CHE and two RHPs down there set on a thermostat so they could use it all winter long." -- i'm planning on just building a separate night box for the winters and using the burrow for the summers...in that case, i should be god without the CHE and RHPs, correct?

Thank you so much for your time and wisdom!

I made a 4x4x2 box and buried it three feet deep.

It had one insulated lid right on top of the box, and another insulated lid on top of the short shaft the reached above ground.

Made the tunnel out of plywood.

The rain cover was a box with no bottom and no front that fit snuggly over the entrance of the tunnel. This prevented rain from going down the tunnel.

You could do a buried box, but its better to let them dig their own for summer. If you make one, be sure it has a bottom, or your tortoise will dig to China INSIDE the box.

 

[Yvonne G]

You can't do a one's sort of thing for everyone. If I were to bury wood here I could dig it up in a week and it would be rotten and termite infested.

 

[Tom]

You can't do a one's sort of thing for everyone. If I were to bury wood here I could dig it up in a week and it would be rotten and termite infested.

I primed and painted this one and it lasted for 7 years, but it did eventually rot. I always thought that if I did it again, I'd use expanded PVC sheets instead of plywood. I did like the system and it was good for the tortoises.