Winter house dilemma

[Hugo's Home]

Well as some of you know I'm a new sulcata owner. Winter is fast approaching us in sierra vista, AZ and I'm stuck.
So he has an underground burrow I built for him. Here's the pic

So it a about 5 ft deep 7 ft in and 5 ft wide the ceiling is only about 3 ft from where he sleeps. All summer temps were in the 70's to 80's with no help.

Ok so my plan was to build him a winter box inside the shed (in the back of the pic) similar to toms. Where I am we can see winter temps in the teens at night to the 50's in the day. Most years lows stay in the twentys at night.

What I am proposing is to just semi seal up his burrow opening with the plastic they use for freezers ( keep the draft out) and other stuff but also put in a radiant heater or an oil heater down in the burrow. Temp controller all that jazz.. I guess I could try it but would love all of your thoughts..

Talking to some people around here in sv. One person has 5 sulcatas. He just let's them burrow and that's it.. he's had them for 15 yrs.. another person built an shallow adobe house with a heater in there and that's it. " If they wanna go out in the winter they do.." is what one told me..

So I'm stuck not sure what to do.. the cheaper less labor intensive option of putting a heater down in his burrow or building him a night box in the shed...

Right now night temps are low 50's with day time temps in the 80's burrow hasn't dropped below 70 yet.. but when I go down into the borrow you can feel a draft kicking around when the wind blows..so gotta get something soon.

Thanks all for your help!

 

[wellington]

I personally would not go without a heated place for him to go. They have to be able to warm up to 95-100 to properly digest their food. They can go out into the cold, even snow, but they have to have that warm place to go. If you can heat the burrow you made him without risk of him damaging the heater, then why not. Probably would take less heat to keep it warm then an above ground house.
Now, I don't have a sully, but leopards and mine stay in a heated shed all winter.

 

[Millerlite]

I would go with a above ground insulated box. Tom has great insturctions and pictures on how to make one. This way you can check your tortoise when its cold. If it rains too you know there will be no flooding and if there is at least you can check the shed and make sure its staying dry. my personal opinion.

Kyle

 

[Tom]

Here are my thoughts:
1. You can try to heat up the burrow and see what happens. Maybe it will work.
2. The safe bet is to close off the burrow and make the tortoise sleep in an above ground heated box that is insulated and temperature regulated. That is what I do.

People around me just leave them outside with no heat too. Some think they hibernate. Others just think any species from anywhere in the world can survive outside with no help in sunny SoCal. Sometimes they survive for a few years, but many die. You don't hear about the ones that die. People are ashamed, embarrassed or upset, so they just don't say anything.

 

[Hugo's Home]

Well its just about done. Decided to make a winter night box in the shed! It's about 4x7 feet. Mini oil heater, zilla thermostat, a remote temp monitor and that's it for now. Wood was leftover stuff, same with the foam leftover from a neighbors stucco job. Pipe foam to help seal the lid. All done with the info found on this site! A true newbie diving into all of this on a super low budget.

Here are some pics. Probe is on the hot side.. yeah it should be on the cold but it wouldn't reach over there..and it all stays about the same temp about 80 F... unless the wind blows then it drops lower... don't know how to solve this..yet...??tripple layered flaps for the door and the temp monitor
Used commercial rubber base board to make the flap for the hinge part to help seal it. Temporarily held in with screws until the liquid nail dried.