Outdoor Tortoise House

[Yvonne G]

I'm a little worried about how low the light hangs. It's easy for tortoises to burn their shell sitting under a hot light that's too low. The light should be 12" at least from the top of the carapace.

 

[Keith D.]

Looks good, those tiles though look really slippery, I would probably went with tile that had a stone finish or some natural slate tile.

 

[wellington]

I agree about the light/heat and the floor. A slippery floor can cause deformities in the legs and walking. As well as the low heat source burning the top shell. For the floor, lay some dirt subtracts and it will be fine and the tort would enjoy a natural floor better. As for your camera, I hope you have it attached, he will most likely be moving the thing it's on all over the place. Oh, and by the picture, the set out looks a little low, be sure he has no problem going in and out.
Btw, have fun watching him and with just a few minor changes, you did a great job.

 

[Joanne]

Thanks for the comments guys, just to put your minds at ease, the CHE is thermostat controlled and sits at 32*C during the day and is set at 16*C in the evenings. However, I can raise it if needs be. Currently it sits about 20cm's away from the top of his shell (8 inches in old money).

When we went looking at tiles we felt them to make sure they were rough. I was incredibly surprised when the shop owner recommended these until I felt them. Despite their glossy finish, they are infact incredibly grippy (if that's a word) even on nails. I've bought a mat from Ikea which I've put under his water bowl...

The idea is that he will spend time venturing outside, although he hasn't done this of his own free will yet! I have more coir I can put down, my husband is frightened that the CHE will set it on fire though. He's also worried that the untreated wood inside could deform or even rot with something damp touching it.

We've chosen to mount the camera, as on top of the hut just wasn't working for me so we mounted it just above his flap to the outdoors.

I was getting concerned about him not finding the CHE, because the last couple of days he has been sitting in the sun coming through the windows instead, however, when I looked on the camera this morning I was delighted to see him sitting there. So I ran down and took some pictures to show you all the ever improving enclosure with plants and mats and rocks and mounted cameras!!

 

[Joanne]

Here is a pic of the thermostat from the camera. When I looked at it last night about an hour after it switches to 16 degrees, the temperature read 24, so I'm pretty happy with the heat retention currently. I'll be monitoring it like a hawk as soon as it starts getting cool. I've got a temperature monitoring stick that I'm going to leave in different corners over night to monitor temperatures away from the CHE. There will always be a box for him inside too!

 

[Paschendale52]

Is your camera wired by ethernet back to a router inside your house or is it a wifi setup? I'd love to mount cameras inside my terrarium, but don't want to run 100 feet of Ethernet cable through the outside wall and through my house. : D

 

[Joanne]

It's a wifi one. Got it off ebay. It's not the most reliable thing and I had to put another access point in our conservatory to extend the WiFi signal. It's something like this one: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tenvis-TR3818-P2P-Wireless-IP-Camera-/121741339546?hash=item1c58596b9a

 

[Joanne]

As an alternative (If you have a plug socket close by) you could use some 'powerline adaptors' which turn your electric sockets into ethernet. I'm using some to feed the access point. I've got these and they seem to be working OK http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-PA411KIT-Powerline-Adapter-Starter/dp/B0084Y9N3O