New Sulcata Barn

[aka2tal]

Hi Everyone. We are in the process of building a bigger enclosure for our 3 Sulcatas. We live in Southern Calif. and our Sulcatas are approximately 7, 11, and 12 years in age. They have been doing great in a Extra Large Igloo but they are getting a little cramped. We have designed a new Tortoise Barn that we are building adjacent to their existing enclosure. The Barn will feature a rectangle doorway under the window, to allow a full size bedliner to slide in and out. The Sulcatas will continue to sleep on Bermuda Grass that they are used to. The inside will be lined with the bedliner for easy cleaning. The barn will feature Warehouse lights hanging down to provide basking areas, and on colder nights, a oil filled heater will be adding more heat.
Attached is a picture of our 12 year old female Macy coming out of the old existing Igloo, and a photo of the framing that has been done for the new Tortoise Barn. I will update and we progress to a finished barn in the next few weeks.

 

[Yvonne G]

That's going to be pretty nice. Quite an improvement over the Dogloo.

 

[Tom]

This is the next step for me, so I'm VERRRRY interested in what you are doing there. Your pics are so small that I can hardly see them. Please please please try http://tinypic.com/ . Its really easy to use. There is no hassle, you don't have to give them any info or sign up or anything. It automatically resizes the pics for you and all you have to do is copy/paste the IMG code into your post. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to computers and it was so easy that even I was able to figure it out on my very first try.

Here's the new box that I just built. I thought you might see some design elements to steal.
http://tortoiseforum.org/Thread-The-Mother-of-All-Tortoise-Boxes

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you build.

 

[aka2tal]

I apologize for the small photos at the beginning of this post. Pictures were taken with my cell phone. We also took pictures with our Cannon. I just downloaded and reduced the size for the pictures to fit on here.

I am adding three more pictures. One is of the foundation after it was insulated and topped with flooring. The second is a view from our rear alley. Since the shed is being built up to a alley wall, we completely sided, trimmed and painted the rear wall before tilting it into place. The blue and white, and the pitch of the roof, match our existing house as required by our city code. The thrid picture is of Russell, Macy and Lindy last easter.

As we are building this, we are open for ideas and suggestions.

We do plan to insulate the interior walls with R13 Insulation, covered with wood paneling. Torotises will not harm the floor because it will be the bedliner, and the walls of the bedliner will keep them from harming the interior walls of the shed.

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Are the oil heaters safe to use? Tom, I see how you have yours on a shelf. I have one that has its own thermostat control thaat was on sale at Home Depot last August. Still in the box, but I got it for the new barn. It does not get to hot next to the walls of the box?

 

[Tom]

Now that is a thing of beauty. Much more sophisticated than mine. I have a friend who was using the same kind of oil heater up against the plywood of his tortoise box with no problems. If you keep it on low it doesn't get hot enough to start a fire. I put mine up on the shelf to keep it out of harm's way from the most destructive species of tortoise on the planet AND to optimize floor space. The first thing I though once my box was in place and I saw them in it was, "Its too small, I should have built a 12x12' shed."

I noticed the air vent up toward the top of the shed. I'd cover that up so it doesn't let all of your expensive heat out. They don't need a lot of air movement. There isn't any down in a deep burrow. I found the thermostat that comes with those heaters to be inadequate for our purposes. I bought several of the "A Life 1000 Watt Thermostat" from LLL Reptile. They only cost about $30 shipped. They work very well and so far have been very safe and reliable. I've been using them for a couple of years now with no problems.

Please keep the pics coming. I'm self taught for all this carpentry stuff, so I need all the help I can get. Your project will give me all sorts of ideas.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

That is top notch sir.

 

[Candy]

This is awesome! I'm going to go and get my husband and show him and I'm afraid at that point he's not going to be happy with you. One could only hope that their own house is built so well. Beautiful, your Sulcatas are very lucky. Are they males or females? I guess by looking at them they get along with each other right? Well I'm off to get my husband now.

5 minutes later; Well I showed him and that didn't go well. Guess Dale, Ruby and little Eddie won't be having one of these very soon.

 

[Livingstone]

Doin it right. Nice lookin torts too.

 

[aka2tal]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

UPDATE : Front Door and Window have been framed in, and finishing up the surewall before the siding goes on.

Tom, I did put the Gable Vent on the rear wall. I was thinking if their is too much draft, I can frame the inside of the vent and make a door to close it off. I also got same vent for the front wall, over the door and window, but I am thinking the alley one, along with the draft that they will get at their entry door would be sufficient. I was going to hang plastic strips over their door like you did for the box, and I did for the Igloo. Now, I have been thinking of a hard door at their entry., where I could slide it down and lock them in on cold nights, but I am wondering if they may get agitated and Ram the door if they are locked in. If the door is mistakenly left closed when it warms up, would they ram to get out? They need to somehow sense when it is warmer outside.

Anybody else have suggestions too?

 

[chairman]

On my shed I have a dutch split door. The top part of the door has heavy plastic strips (pond liner, actually) hanging from it such that the bottom portion of the door can still close. My shed hasn't been in operation too long (less than a year), but when the weather is 80*+ I leave the whole door open. When the weather is 70*-80* I just leave the bottom section open. Now that my weather is cooler than that I have the whole shed closed. I was considering an automatic option, an electronic doggy door with sensor, thermostatically controlled circuit to power a door opener, etc. But when it comes down to it, I am in that shed every morning and a couple times throughout the day, so it really isn't a big deal for me to open and close the door manually. And, so far, I haven't had any issues. Of course, the weather has only just gotten too cold for the door to be left open and I have a 6.5" tortoise housed in a 9' x 9' shed... so problems could be days or inches away.

 

[chadk]

Mine have 24x7 access to the tort yard, even when there is snow on the ground. They know where to come back to when they are ready do warm up. And yes, I think they would get frustrated if they could not get out when they wanted. The only reason to lock them up at night would be if you are afraid for their safety (raccoons, dogs, theives, etc).

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[Yvonne G]

but I am wondering if they may get agitated and Ram the door if they are locked in. If the door is mistakenly left closed when it warms up, would they ram to get out? They need to somehow sense when it is warmer outside.

Dudley usually wants out before I get there to open his door. I only have something like a bent screw on each side of his door and when he rams it it usually pops right off, leaving the screws in place.

I have solid doors on piano hinges for others with a slide bolt to hold them shut. When those tortoises try to go out, they can't do any damage to the door and it stays shut. I'm going to change Dudley's door to this way too.