I need help (fostering & need winter care info)

[LeopardNewbie]

Hi there. I am new and in desperate need of information. I am fostering a tortoise long term and we need help on how to properly care for him in the winter.
Exact age is unknown but I have been told they think he is approximately 20 years. He weighs about 25lbs from his last vet check. His owners are not able to provide for him at the moment so he is with us until they can.
We live in Central California, so our nights have dropping down into the 30s and 40s.
Our resources are limited at the moment as we are scrambling to set something up for him as the weather is cooling down rapidly.
My husband has put together a strong wood frame in the garage. I cannot give you exact measurements at the moment, but it appears large enough for him to roam a bit if he chooses.
We are thinking clamp style lamps will be best, as we could clamp it to a storage unit that is next to the enclosure. I have been told he needs a heat bulb and a uvb bulb.
What brand, style and wattage bulbs and lamps would you recommend? Also, how far above him should they be placed? Do I need a thermostat? What type of substrate do you recommend for the enclosure?
Thank you!

 

[wellington]

If your days are warm you could house him outside during the day and house him inside for the cold nights. If your days are getting cold too where he can't get out then he does need a large enclosure, at least a 4x8 with temps at 80 and uvb bulb and night heat.
Don't use the clamps that come with the reptile fixture they have been know too fail.

 

[Yvonne G]

You'll need a rubber stall mat on the cement floor. Quite a bit of heat is lost through the cement. I buy mine at feed stores:

Figure out a way to hang the lights. The clamps are known to sometimes fail. You can also buy a pig blanket from Osborne Industries. Here's what I use for my leopards:

https://osbornelivestockequipment.com/product/stanfield-heat-pad-s203/

And I use the F911 controller. The smaller/cheaper one doesn't work well:

https://osbornelivestockequipment.com/product/heat-pad-control-f911/

 

[Tom]

This tortoise is too big to live indoors unless you want to dedicate an entire heated room to it. And heat lamps are not good anymore for a high domed tortoise of this size. Heat lamps will cook the top of the carapace and still not warm the tortoise enough.

I think you need a large heated night box in a large outdoor enclosure. Then the tortoise can stay in its heated area on cold days and nights and come out and walk around during the warmer sunny days. Here are two examples of how to build and heat these boxes. You'd only need a 4x4 for a single leopard, but you can see the construction on the others:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-night-box-thread.88966/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-effective-night-box.86632/#post-807666
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-best-night-box-design-yet.66867/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/h...ht-box-with-exploded-view.97697/#post-1291873

It will take a while for the tortoise to get used to the new area and go in and out on its own, so you'll have to put it back in there every night for a while.

 

[Yvonne G]

My leopards live here:


And on overcast days like today, I didn't even open their door. They were stuck inside the shed. But there are lights and heat in there and I fed them in there. The inside floor space is about 16'x16'