Solar heating for outdoor tortoise shelter?

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Alyssa

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So I am in the process of building an outdoor enclosure for a russian tortoise. I want to be able to keep him outdoors all year, so I want to put a heat lamp with thermostat in his shelter which we will build, for the winter months. We live in a relatively warm area in California, so it rarely gets to freezing temps.

My dilemma is that the enclosure is very far from a power source. I have heard of people rigging up solar powered heat emitters for chicken coops, but has anyone had experience with a small scale version for reptiles?
 

wellington

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I have been looking into solar to use on my tortoise shed, here in Illinois, where we get really cold and snow. I haven't been able to find anything that would really power it enough. They have lots of portable systems, look online, that in Cali may work.
 

jeffstort

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We get snow to so I can't really do that but good luck with that
 

Tom

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Most people in CA, especially Southern CA, don't use any sort of heat source for Russians. They will dig in when the cold of winter sets in, and all of them seem to do fine just living outside on their own.

I've been researching this for a couple of years now and I know of no one who has ever had a temperature related problem with Russians living outside in SoCal. Some people don't even build a shelter or if a shelter is offered, the tortoises just go dig down into the dirt somewhere in the yard anyway.
 

Levi the Leopard

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Re: RE: Solar heating for outdoor tortoise shelter?

Tom said:
Most people in CA, especially Southern CA, don't use any sort of heat source for Russians. They will dig in when the cold of winter sets in, and all of them seem to do fine just living outside on their own.

I've been researching this for a couple of years now and I know of no one who has ever had a temperature related problem with Russians living outside in SoCal. Some people don't even build a shelter or if a shelter is offered, the tortoises just go dig down into the dirt somewhere in the yard anyway.

This is true so far with my 4 Russians. And with everyone else I talk with who keeps them here in so Cal...

Heather
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Alyssa

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Thanks so much! That is good to hear. It is really pretty warm here, so I think I may be ok without the heat. Thanks again!
 
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