Juvenile Enclosure

[chill8]

What I am rocking right now for two 1 year old sulcatas. Not sure what to do about winter (we are still in the 90's) just trying to get prepared. Last year they were hatchlings so I brought them inside. I debated on moving this to the garage and use artificial light or maybe rebuild the walls with insulation. Either way I am ordering a pig blanket. Thoughts ?

 

[ascott]

I am giving your thread a bump....maybe some of the sully keepers will look at and give their opinions....

 

[Claireabbo]

looks great!

 

[tyler0912]

Looking good!

 

[dmarcus]

How big are your Sulcata's? If they are small then the garage may be a good option. If you want to keep them outside you will definitely have to make it a bit bigger so that you can insulate and you should also make sure you have a good heat source. When we got the freak ice and snow during the superbowl our sulcata's insulated house with heat lamps were not enough for how cold it got and we ended up bringing him inside.

We are prepard this year just in case we get some freak snow or if it gets colder than normal.

 

[chill8]

Delan. Do you have pics of your enclosure?

 

[dmarcus]

This is for our two small Sulcata's its about 85% finished. I have to get the electrical set up correct, right now it's just hooked in there so they will be warm at night and we are going to do some adjustment on the top.

This is a front and side views of it.

this one show's the larger of the 2 front doors. They lift up and lock.

This is the top view and you can see we have some work to still do on the electrical but it stays between 80-85 degrees in there. We also have a thermostat in there so it doesn't get to hot or to cold.

This last one is Honey our rescue asleep in one of the hides.

Hope this helps a little.. We will be building one for our bigger Sulcata soon should look the same but just bigger...

 

[chill8]

Very cool setup, thanks for the ideas, how cold before you close the door and keep them from going outside ? Do you water your enclosure for humidity if so ..daily, weekly, ever ?

 

[dmarcus]

I will keep the smaller door open unless the temps drop below 50 degrees. I will be adding the freezer flaps soon that way I can leave the door open even if its cold. I spray the inside down once a day or every other day depending on how fast the heat lamps dry the substrate out.

 

[Tom]

For yearlings I like to have an outdoor set up with a heated, temp controlled box, like Dmarcus' set-up, but I also like to have something indoors to bring them to, when the weather is just consistently cold. Its pretty easy to just throw some 24" walls up on a 4x8' sheet of plywood and hang some heat over it. An enclosure with a top on it will make heating it much easier and more efficient. Next fall you will probably be ready for the whole insulated shed thing...

Here's a set up I did. I now have 6 yearlings living in this. Daisy went to go live with the adults...
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Daisy-s-New-Enclosure#axzz1Yyf0Y9mX

Here's the box I built for the adults:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-The-Mother-of-All-Tortoise-Boxes#axzz1Yyf0Y9mX

 

[dmarcus]

For yearlings I like to have an outdoor set up with a heated, temp controlled box, like Dmarcus' set-up, but I also like to have something indoors to bring them to, when the weather is just consistently cold. Its pretty easy to just throw some 24" walls up on a 4x8' sheet of plywood and hang some heat over it. An enclosure with a top on it will make heating it much easier and more efficient. Next fall you will probably be ready for the whole insulated shed thing...

Here's a set up I did. I now have 6 yearlings living in this. Daisy went to go live with the adults...
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Daisy-s-New-Enclosure#axzz1Yyf0Y9mX

Here's the box I built for the adults:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-The-Mother-of-All-Tortoise-Boxes#axzz1Yyf0Y9mX

Tom, I am building the box for Vegas now that I hope will look like yours. It's bigger than I though using the full sheets but he should be nice and warm...