Outdoor Winter Housing W/Heat needed for Sulcata

[Teiko's Mom]

Hi, my female Sulcata is now about 50-60 lbs and too big to carry inside during the winter nights that it goes below 60' here in FL. I'm looking to build her a night box/enclosure with some sort of heat and need some ideas. What worked/didn't work for you? We have been putting her in our laundry room in a large bin during those chilly nights but want to offer her something outside( she has free run of the backyard and a large hole she goes in under one of our shrubs) that she can go into and come out of as she sees fit, not shutting her in. Need to provide some heat as it can go into the 40's at times here, occasionally 30's. TIA

 

[Tortoise_Nerd]

Look up KampKenen sulcata on YouTube

 

[wellington]

Member Tom night box idea should work for you. He uses them in CA for his sulcatas.
Otherwise you could build a shed, insulate it and use a oil filled portable radiator heater on a thermostat to heat it.
The night box would probably be cheaper to heat as it wouldn't be as big as a shed.

 

[Dizisdalife]

Here is a link to Tom's night box design. http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-best-night-box-design-yet.66867/
I built one very similar for my sulcata 4 years ago and it has worked since.

 

[Tom]

In addition to the link from Joe, check out these:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-night-box-thread.88966/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/double-door-night-box.129054/

The smaller 4x4 box will work better for a single sulcata.

Some tips for the questions you are about to ask:

• An igloo with a heat lamp will not work well. You need a sealed, insulated box.
• I know of no pre-made ready-to-buy tortoise house that will work. Even a full size shed will need some customization and insulation. I've tried all sort of other methods and observed lots of other people's results with all sort of other methods. The above linked boxes are what my studies have led me too.
• Don't use heat lamps or CHEs for large sulcatas. You'll slow burn their carapace. Use either an oil heater, or a combo of heat mat and radiant heat panel. Either type needs to be controlled by an additional thermostat.
• These boxes keep temps in the 80s when night are in the 20s here with a minimum of electricity use. They also maintain temperature for a lot longer if the power ever goes out. This buys you valuable time.
• Be sure to block off the burrow in fall and make the tortoise use the night box all winter.

 

[Big Charlie]

I built a nightbox similar to Tom's design, with a radiant panel on the ceiling and a Kane heat mat on the floor, both plugged into a thermostat. You will probably have to teach her to use it, but once she gets used to it, she will go in on her own. As long as it doesn't get too cold, you don't need to close her in, but a lot of heat will escape without a solid door.

 

[manetteaplin]

I built toms night box and used it for all day and night for about 5 months a year here in Oregon and open it up for the other months for his free roam. It has been great. But because it has to be a full time winter home we will be building something bigger this year! It work great and was easy to keep warm!