Outdoor Temps

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knight_visionn

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Hi guys :D

I'm in the process of moving Keyser outside full time in order to properly enjoy this beautiful blossoming California summer. I think he's large enough to handle this - at a year-and-a-half, he's somewhere around ten pounds right now, and, eyeballing it, is probably about eight inches. That being said, I am a bit worried about his nighttime temps.

I built a boxed (roofed) structure for him within his overall outdoor structure, with a built-in heater and timothy hay lining the inside to insulate and soften. After a few test runs, it seems that, when the heater is on at night, the ambient air temperature inside hovers around 75F-80F (with the floor being around 65F-70F). This seems a bit cold to me, especially on chillier nights following chillier days (days where the clouds just don't move away and the temps barely break 65F). The heater I have is quite small, at 200w ( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003XDTWN2/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20 ). Do I need to get a larger heater? I'd rather not, to avoid the power bill. Perhaps adding a floor heater instead would help, although those seem to be quite costly.

Thanks for the help in advance.
 

Dizisdalife

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Those temps are a bit on the cool side especially when the day time temps aren't getting very high. If you were to insulate the walls, floor, and top and seal it up good then I believe the 200W wiuld be enough heat. Here is a link to a night box that Tom recently built. It shows the type of inulation and panel construction that will really help you get a handle on your heating/temps.

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-66867.html

The problem with adding more heat to compensate for poor insulation is that it creates a very dry climate for the tortoise.
 

Tom

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I agree with Joe. The solution is more insulation, not more heat. Once winter comes back this will be an issue anyway.

Also, I don't like using that style of heater in an outdoor box filled with hay. If the tortoise flicks the hay on its back, like they often do, and some of it makes it to that heater, you could have a fire. Even the airborne hay dust could combust with a heat source like that. I've seen it happen. I much prefer to use radiant oil heaters, which don't get hot enough to combust even with accidental direct contact with wood or hay, or a combo of a radiant heat panel above and a Kane heat mat below, all set on a thermostat.

I don't like CHEs or incandescent bulbs for night houses any more because they get too hot and can seriously dry out and damage, or even burn, the carapace of a larger tortoise.
 
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