New enclosure questions

[DAC8671]

We are gearing up to keep Ralph outside 24/7. Right now I bring him in at night so he can have some heat.

Ralph is just shy of 4 yrs old and about 12-15 lbs.

I want to get him a dogloo for a house, but how do I set up the heat? Please note that we can not do any permanent structuring to our yard (we live in military housing). We also do not have control over our sprinklers. The housing office sets the on/off time and it's different each week.

His "bedroom" will be on the concrete but the rest of his "run" will be on the grass, which will sometimes be wet.

We are in San Diego and want him to thrive during the winter months. It's not normally rainy, but sometimes can be.

What do you suggest? If we put heat in the dogloo, how do we do it?

Thanks

 

[Yvonne G]

How cold do the winter nights get in San Diego? I don't use the Dogloo myself, but one of the gals in our turtle club does and she threads the electrical cord of a CHE (ceramic heat emitter) through the vent hole on the top of the Dogloo. I don't know how its mounted inside, but maybe the cord just hold it up at the ceiling?? Only thing with a Dogloo is there isn't enough room for the tortoise to get away from the heat if the CHE gets too hot. Maybe your husband can use silicone sealer and mount some sort of hook to one side of the ceiling then attach the CHE to the hook. That way, being on one side, the tortoise could go to the other side to get out from under the heat. Placing the Dogloo on the cement of the patio is fine. You just have to have some sort of substrate on the bottom. Hay is good for this purpose. I'm assuming the patio concrete has a roof over it, right? Your tortoise is a fine-looking specimen! Thanks for the photo.

Yvonne

(And I LOVE the name "Ralph" for a Sulcata!!)

 

[DAC8671]

Thanks for the info.

BTW, We named him "Ralphie" but call him Ralph, after the kid in Christmas Story. We let "Santa" leave him on the doorstep about a week and a half before Christmas.

 

[DAC8671]

OOPS, hit send before I was finished....

He was about a 2 month hatchling at the time. His birthday is sometime 10/04. We just picked a general date of 10/15.

 

[aka2tal]

I may be able to help you on some of your questions. On Saturday, I am cleaning out the Tortoise Pen for our Sulcatas and I will take a picture of our set up with a heat emitter, temp. controller, and heat Bulb. Basically, the large Igloo has a flat spot on the roof near the vent. I took advantage of that flat spot by cutting a large board to screw to that flat piece. I then attached the hooks that hold the heat light and heat emitter. The temp. controller sits between the roof and the board, out of the way. I will take a photo tomorrow so yo have a better idea.

Also, If you go back to the main page, go to the chat "Enclosures". Around page 2, you will see a chat called "Our Enclosure in Los Angeles" with my name. Take a look at the photos of our set up. It will give you some ideas.

I will reply tomorrow with some photos of the set up in the igloo.

Aka2tal