Ibera Greek - Outdoor House Question

[kathyth]

My Ibera Greek did not hibernate this winter, so I brought her in, and put her outdoors in thew arm weather.
She is 3 years old and has a great enclosure with elevated burrows.

My question is this..... We are going to build her an insulated house, for cold nights, etc, as it is in her best interest to live outside 24/7.
Should this insulated house have a ceramic heat emitter? If so, would I turn it off in the winter so that she will hibernate?
I live in Southern Calif.

Thanks!!

 

[lynnedit]

There are a couple of other threads about heated houses for smaller tortoises.
I think the Radiant Heat Panels have been mentioned by Tom and others.
You can get various sizes (you can contact the owners with the size of your heated box and they will recommend a wattage). The heat is more distributed, and you don't have to worry about a really hot beam focused on your tortoise's shell.
Instead, it provides more background heat, which is what you want in a heated box.
Just a thought!
http://www.reptilebasics.com/rbi-radiant-heat-panels

 

[Jlant85]

I don't know bout so cal temp for hibernations. The temps needs to drop to 40 under 50 degrees.

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SoCal has such nice weather in the summer. I don't think you'll need extra heat. But really up to you. Here San Fran we rarely hit the 80 degree mark and all I did was build a cold frame it's sufficient enough for my Iberas.

 

[kimber_lee_314]

My Iberra adults live outside 24/7 with no heat. The juveniles go out in the day, but stay inside at night until it stays above 60 at night - then they stay out all the time too. Hope that was helpful.

 

[bedia]

I have built a slightly elevated burrow for my cat using a heating carbon film. https://warehouse25.com/
This is a great product for low cost heating, just be careful at instillation with water isolation. I covered the top of the burrow with cement to ensure it. If you lay it under the tort house you need to use styrofoam underneath to control heat loss.
It really works, heats the everything so there is no direct heat source, efficient and you can attach a thermostat. This summer I plan to build one for the torts, not hibernating in time gave me a lot of sleepless nights

 

[kathyth]

My Ibera Greek did not hibernate this winter, so I brought her in, and put her outdoors in thew arm weather.
She is 3 years old and has a great enclosure with elevated burrows.

My question is this..... We are going to build her an insulated house, for cold nights, etc, as it is in her best interest to live outside 24/7.
Should this insulated house have a ceramic heat emitter? If so, would I turn it off in the winter so that she will hibernate?
I live in Southern Calif.

Thanks!!

I appreciate the advice given! All of it is helpful! I think we will build the insulated house as planned and have low heat available as an option if:

1. She fails to hibernate naturally next fall/ winter
2. The temps get into the 40's or below and a house with heat at 70 is a good idea.

She loves being outside and that is where she belongs.

Thanks everyone!!!

 

[conservation]

I keep many iberas in Socal. There is no need to give them any supplemental heat ever in our climate. Two of my ibera's did not hibernate at all this year. My best producing female just started hibernating. Everyone else is up and eating already.

 

[Jlant85]

I keep many iberas in Socal. There is no need to give them any supplemental heat ever in our climate. Two of my ibera's did not hibernate at all this year. My best producing female just started hibernating. Everyone else is up and eating already.

Really? On this crazy California weather we have and she just started? NUTS! lol...

 

[conservation]

Yep, really crazy! She needs the rest but it is silly

 

[kimber_lee_314]

I keep many iberas in Socal. There is no need to give them any supplemental heat ever in our climate. Two of my ibera's did not hibernate at all this year. My best producing female just started hibernating. Everyone else is up and eating already.

One of my Marginateds disappeared from his pen, and since there's no way to get out, I"m guessing he buried down too. (He was up all winter.) Strange!

 

[kathyth]

Ok, so you are saying that she will be fine in her nice habitat, when the weather is normal in Southern Calif, ie: nights in the 40's and rarely 30's ???? This is my only concern.
This would have been the only time heat was offered. If she did not hibernate and if it was below 45-50.
If your's are fine in this, then she will be too.

Thank you!!

 

[Jlant85]

Iberas are tanks! I MEAN FREAKIN TANKS! If you guys have issues with the cold, I live in San Francisco where our weathers are unpredictable! EVEN IN SUMMER ITS COLD! (hence the reason why i have a cold frame) but they do fine.... I only keep them indoors in the winter... our winter freaking hit 50-60s even at night... even hit the mid 70s at times....weird? nope thats our normal winter weather... Im afraid of hibernation so i dont do it... Summer they stay out 24/7... the temp is more maintained so they do fine outside all summer long... STILL COLD THOUGH... just need to build the confidence i guess...

 

[conservation]

Iberas can handle seriously cold temps. Temps in the thirties are no big deal. I would recommend you have a dry spot for them to hibernate in. This year was so dry I didn't even bother setting up a dry house. In the past years when it is really rainy, I set up an unheated waterproof dog house with hay. That was more for me than them.

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Ibera's

 

[kathyth]

Based on the above responses, it looks like her current set up is perfect!!
I greatly appreciate all responses!

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Hi Kathy,

Now that we aren't standing in the dark and I don't have kids to watch out of the corner of my eye, I wanted to try and explain what I was suggesting to you earlier.

I do think that the Greeks (similar to Russians) can live here in SoCal outside year around with no supplemental heat. But that assumes they brumate during our winter. That is their natural defense against the cold weather after all. BUT IF they don't brumate come winter time (like yours) then I do feel you should either bring her inside and house her in the indoor enclosure, allowing outside time on days that the weather permits. OR set up your heated house idea in her outdoor enclosure but only heated in the low 60's. Not into the 70's. My reasoning behind that is so that her low temps could maintain at 60F which is a typical spring/summer time low, instead of dropping into the 20sF at night.

I hope talking with Rachelle tonight helped you out, too. She has a lot "real life/hands on" experience with these guys and I'm sure was a great resource for you.

 

[redbeef]

I've got a Jordanian Greek tortoise (based on IDing from folks on here) and this year I've left him outside almost all winter. I took him inside during the freeze and rain of November, but other than that he has been outside and is doing fine. I built a hardware cloth and cement "burrow" for him based on an idea in the enclosure section on here and it seems to do the job nicely: even when outside temperatures are in the 30s, it stays at least 10 degrees warmer down there (based on my temp gun) and he's fine. It's covered in a layer of soil and bark and I set it up facing south so the morning sun (in clear weather) warms it up...even on a 60F day, the ambient temperature of the ground and rocks near the entrance quickly heats up to around 100F. He hasn't hibernated at all, and perhaps in his native climate, he wouldn't anyways...your Iberas can almost certainly handle Socal yearly conditions, on the other hand: they might not hibernate at all during a "winter" like we are currently having.

 

[Jlant85]

Can someone post the hardware cloth and cement post in here? I would love to read it ^_^

 

[kathyth]

Heather..... Believe it ir not, what you said i. The "dark" made complete sense to me! Jim is building that insulated house right now. On super cold nights or days we will have heat in the low 60's, if at all. My hope is that she will brumate, next year.
She is always welcome in the house. She much prefers the good outdoors.

Rachelle was absolutely wonderful! All of the info from both of you was perfect.
Sometimes it is so much easier to talk than write.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Sometimes it is so much easier to talk than write

I love this forum but I find it ALWAYS easier to talk about it

I'd love to see what Jim builds for you. If not in person () then share the photos here on TFO

 

[redbeef]

Can someone post the hardware cloth and cement post in here? I would love to read it ^_^

here it is:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-33273.html

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my outdoor enclosure also has a higher soil level than the surrounding ground, so it drains well: keeps the hide from getting flooded or swampy, but honestly, even after some pretty substantial (for Socal) downpours, I've gone out there and seen it's still dry inside. I'll try to take a picture and post it in the next couple days...but my phone kinda sucks, so i'm not sure how the photo will turn out