winter shed

[tortoise5643]

I acquired an 8x10x9 shed. It is a manufactured, wooden shed bought from Lowes. I am going to make the ceiling 6.5 so then it would be 8x10x6.5. I am lining it with 2 inch Styrofoam, here is my local weather in winter. The shed is for redfoots, so it has to be pretty toasty.
My questions are:
1) what should i heat it with?
2) should I section off part of it?
3) could I use baseboard heaters?
I Can use a constant, 500nwatts of energy for heating this shed, I could get say a 1000 watt heater and have it on half the time or whatever, but you get what I mean. I was wondering what y'all recommend? I would like the cheapest, most energy efficient way. So I just want to here yalls experience and ideas.

 

[lynnedit]

You will get a lot of good advice.

Meanwhile, I know two things:
*Be sure to insulate the floor very well, as well as the walls/ceiling.
*You can use oil filled electric heaters for background heat. They work very well, I use one in my insulated greenhouse.

Look at Wellington's (Barb) thread; she created a wonderful shed for winter for her tortoises in Chicago.
http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-76837.html

 

[sibi]

I'm in the process of finishing my winter shed. The shed is 10' x 12', and we already had it, so we de idea to put our tortoises in it 24/7. It had been build with 2 x 4's and the siding and roof are aluminum. What we did was buy R-13 insulation to insulate the roof and walls. We had 2 dedicated electrical circuits put in. We have durock walls that need to be installed, and I've installed sheathings to insulate the floor, then put cork flooring. The shed will be divided and each side will have two 27" x 36" Kane pig blankets installed. The heating will be oil filled unit, and all the lights and heaters will be on a timer. Pics will be posted in the next week or so. All the materials were about $300 excluding the cost of the electrician. The 2 pig blankets cost about $500 and they're huge. It should last my two sullies for years.

 

[wellington]

Thanks lynnedit for the kind words.
I heat mine with an oil filled heater on a thermostat for the main part of the shed set at 75. The hide has a pig blanket and a radiant heat panel above it and both is on a thermastat and set at 80. I also run a fan on low that is at the ceiling to circulate the heat and to bring the heat from the ceiling down to torts height.
The shed walls, ceiling and floor is very well insulated. I have MVB's on timers for the a.m. and they stay on all day except in warm weather.
Insulate very well.

 

[tortoise5643]

Do y'all think I could heat mine with the oil filled heater with my climate

 

[mike taylor]

I have a 16/20 shed. I keep three red footed tortoises, two red ear sliders ,and two snapping turtles .
I use a window unit with heat 1200 btu I think 120 volt . It keeps the shed at 86 all day and night in the winter . I have a humidifier in there keeping it nice and humid. The window unit was about two hundred bucks but works great .

 

[wellington]

I'm in Chicago. Do you know what our weather is like? We are I to the low 40's now at night and days only the 50's. Snow predicted next week. If I can you sure can. As long as you insulate.

 

[tortoise5643]

To mike OK I might try that. We have a unit in our garage.
To wellington, OK thank you for your advice and yes I will insulate

 

[tortoise5643]

Re: RE: winter shed

I have a 16/20 shed. I keep three red footed tortoises, two red ear sliders ,and two snapping turtles .
I use a window unit with heat 1200 btu I think 120 volt . It keeps the shed at 86 all day and night in the winter . I have a humidifier in there keeping it nice and humid. The window unit was about two hundred bucks but works great .

Where do you live?

 

[mike taylor]

I live about 20 miles North of Houston Tx. In a small town called New Caney.

 

[tortoise5643]

Ok, I'm done! U finished up this weekend except for stuff like 2 story ect. I am using that heater to heat it and it has kept it at 65 on a 45 degree night on just the low setting. It has 3 inches thick of styrofoam and then OSB on top. I still need to lower the ceiling so that it will be less to heat up the whole thing. The thermostat comes in the mail tomorrow. There is About 4 inches of dirt in it. I still need to get a good basking bulb but for now, the only thing wrong with the one I have is that it's green, it still produces alot of heat. I'm hoping for more eggs soon as last Sunday I learned that I know how to incubate them. I'm sorry for all this rambling, but I am just really proud of myself. I am a 13 year old kid who payed for all of this myself (except the shed which I acquired for free) and I even got a timer for the light, a thermostat, and a kill-a-watt per hour thingy so I can pay my parents for electricity.

 

[tortoise5643]

I guess no one cares ):

 

[lynnedit]

We all do! We just aren't very quick, lol

Looking good. How are your ambient temps in there down toward the ground? I wonder if you should add a second basking light adjacent to the first one?
Nice lining and substrate on the bottom.

 

[wellington]

Doing really good. I should have you talk to my 16 year old, he's a money pit.
If there is a way you can put that heater on the ground and keep the torts from it, it would work a little more efficiently. Also, I had put a fan up towards the ceiling of my shed, pointing down at the heater. This way it not only brings the heat down from the ceiling area, it also spreads the heat coming from the heater down to tort level, before rising. So far my shed has cost me $80.00 to run the heater, 3, basking bulbs, one CHE and two pig blankets and two radiant heat panels. We have been in the 30's some nights and mostly 40's during the day. Next spring I am looking into installing the radiant floor heat. It's around a $1000.00 to have installed. It's an easy DIY too. Should also be much more efficient. Something for you to think about if you electric gets too high.

 

[WillTort2]

Ok, I'm done! U finished up this weekend except for stuff like 2 story ect. I am using that heater to heat it and it has kept it at 65 on a 45 degree night on just the low setting. It has 3 inches thick of styrofoam and then OSB on top. I still need to lower the ceiling so that it will be less to heat up the whole thing. The thermostat comes in the mail tomorrow. There is About 4 inches of dirt in it. I still need to get a good basking bulb but for now, the only thing wrong with the one I have is that it's green, it still produces alot of heat. I'm hoping for more eggs soon as last Sunday I learned that I know how to incubate them. I'm sorry for all this rambling, but I am just really proud of myself. I am a 13 year old kid who payed for all of this myself (except the shed which I acquired for free) and I even got a timer for the light, a thermostat, and a kill-a-watt per hour thingy so I can pay my parents for electricity.

Nice job.

I would worry about the torts knocking over the legs of the table the heater is on. Maybe use some type of heavy metal grid to keep the torts away from the heater and place it on the floor.

 

[sibi]

Heat rises, and having the heater so high isn't really giving the torts heat. I would suggest getting some cement blocks, the ones that are about $1.35 at HomeDepot or Lowe's. It has openings in the blocks which are great for this purpose. Lay the blocks on its side so that the open holes are visible. Create a box figure and place the unit on the floor inside the box figure. If you do it right, the heater is much lower, can penetrate the blocks via the holes, and block it off from the torts. Of course, if you got little ones in there where they can fit through the holes, I would get wire mesh of some sort and this should still allow warm air to penetrate and keep little guys out. And, even if the air flow from the heater is higher than the blocks, then the blocks could just be used as a barrier between the heater and the torts. Either way, it's a great way to use the heater on the floor where it's most needed.

 

[AnnV]

Tort5643, you are amazing. I wish all 13 year olds were as responsible and resourceful as you!!!
Nice job! Nice torts!

 

[tortoise5643]

Nice job.

I would worry about the torts knocking over the legs of the table the heater is on. Maybe use some type of heavy metal grid to keep the torts away from the heater and place it on the floor.

Thank you. And yes after reading all of y'all's suggestions, I plan to somehow put the heater on the ground. But the shelf the heater has another shelf under the dirt so it's not just this four legs supporting it.

 

[tortoise5643]

***UPDATE***
I moved the heater to the ground right after y'all told me

The heater that I had just wasn't doing it. It dropped to 56 degrees on a 32 degree night[FLUSHED FACE](very scary moment as my torts are redfoots). So I brought them in in tiny buckets with blankets as substrate for a couple of hours. Then I went to walmart and bought a $75 oil filled heater. It does the job on a 25 degree night and keeps the whole shed at 66 degrees. [SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH] so if anyone else is getting a tort shed then I highly recommend an oil filled heater. I knew other people recommended one before I got mine but the other heater that I got had a review that led me to believe that it would work. So I guess a happy ending besides the fact that I water $50 on the first heater[PENSIVE FACE]. I am also getting another redfoot for free tomorrow. Here's a pic.