Hibernation plan

[alley cat]

Originally Posted by burnt toast

Looks fine Alison. (like their little hut) I hibernate mine in back of stone garage in an insulated plasterboard & polystrene den, with them double boxed then in big wooden box's but use a tubular heater with one of those plug in thermostats - works fine. Is their hut in full sun?

I dont like those plug in thermostats much - got a hut similar to yours bit bigger & use one of these in one & a reptile thermostat with knob on in the other - so much simpler to just turn the knob each night depending on the outside temp.

Will any airing cupboard thermoknob do & is it difficult? ( mind you my hubby probably wont want to do it!!)

I used to box mine but am trying to set them all up with safe (frost free) more natural setups so that they can stay in the garden, this is in part due to numbers as I have more babies to look after this winter, these need to be in the house for a while and will only be having short hibernations so I will box them most likely.

The wiring wasn't difficult apparently! although my OH did ask our electrician friend prior to doing it. The electrician had a good point about the tubulars with built in thermos cutting in and out all the time due to the sensor being so close to the heat source, the way we have done it means that the sensor is away from that. I would quess you can use any control that is for an airing cupboard, the problem i had was finding a tubular heater with a built in thermostat as I only wanted a foot long one, after searching endlessly without success I went this route as it was cheaper and neater than a habistat control. I hope it all works out ok, bit nerve recking when it is the first winter of use

[Pussygalore]

providing heat for cold is easy but how are you going to stop the house becoming to warm?, we often have warm spells through the winter, enough to wake them. We ended up having to insulate an area under the shelf in the shed with loft insulation then place their wooden box inside that area, the temps were just up and down all the time in that shed as it wasn't brick like the one we used at our last house. I think you might need to cover the whole house with something that will insulate it but first you'll have to wait untill its cold enough inside then hope to keep it cold with the insulation. The problem with this is that you can't set a date to put them in it as it might be to warm, we might not have the weather cold enough 5c for ages our british weather is so unpredictable. The adults I had were easy in that they would sleep from the begin Nov without much help from me but I still had a job to get their box cold enough to put them in, we had to leave the shed open on a cold night then quickly close the insulation around it before it got to warm in the morning, that meant watching the forecast for the temps to drop.

[alley cat]

The kennel has 2 inch insulation added around walls and roof (visible in pics) so I would have thought that it will work both ways, to keep heat in or keep heat out once it is all shut up.
My Horsfields hibernated in the greenhouse last year for the first time, the greenhouse got quite warm some days but the ground temp must have stayed pretty stable as they didnt wake up, they were dug in with a wooden box covering the area they were in and insulation packed around it with an old heavy blanket on top also.
I will have to monitor the temps closely this year to see what happens.

[Pussygalore]

you'll be able to remove the lid on a cold night to get the temps inside down, sorry I didn't see the insulation, did you notice if the house got warm in the summer ie used a thermometer? or did it stay nice and stable.

[alley cat]

I didnt use a thermometer in it until recently which I have done to check that the thermostat is working correctly. The kennel is not in full sun and I hope it would take alot longer for it to get warm inside from the outside temps, certainly longer then a glass greenhouse.
At the moment I am still opening the shutter each morning for them to come outside and they are still active (unlike the Horsfields who have been dug in for a while!) even when i dont expect to see them out they usually are!

[burnt toast]

Originally Posted by alley cat

I used to box mine but am trying to set them all up with safe (frost free) more natural setups so that they can stay in the garden, this is in part due to numbers as I have more babies to look after this winter, these need to be in the house for a while and will only be having short hibernations so I will box them most likely.

The wiring wasn't difficult apparently! although my OH did ask our electrician friend prior to doing it. The electrician had a good point about the tubulars with built in thermos cutting in and out all the time due to the sensor being so close to the heat source, the way we have done it means that the sensor is away from that. I would quess you can use any control that is for an airing cupboard, the problem i had was finding a tubular heater with a built in thermostat as I only wanted a foot long one, after searching endlessly without success I went this route as it was cheaper and neater than a habistat control. I hope it all works out ok, bit nerve recking when it is the first winter of use

That's a good point about built in thermostats. I did think about this & in both huts I have put the sensor/ plug in thermostat away from heater/exits to try & not get a false reading getting equal heat all over.

In my hibernation area I only have a little 2 foot tubular ( in a 6 x 4 x 4 high area) & have found this worked fine last few years- but I don't put any of the box's near the heater. I arrange the in a "U" shape around the heater - so as none gets too warm. My area doesn't get particularly warm as its under trees in the shade & I think the concrete slabs act like freezer blocks but you could move/cover or indeed add frozen items around the outside of yours Alison if temps really go up (if needed)

[burnt toast]

They share the garage with hubbies kit car lol!!



Looking a mess, I had took most of their box's out to check them, but you get the idea. I left the boys later this year, think I had already woke most of the girls by time I took these pics.

His car comes in handy to weigh & check them on - he would go mad, as he loves this car & I cover it in dust & shreaded paper!

[Suze65]

Lynn, in your bunker do you still put the torts in boxes and do I see you use shredded paper, cos I'm thinking of putting up a small shed type of thing, insulate it, with a tube heater in ( plugged into a thermostat ) but still put them in their boxes ( I also use shredded paper) I'm asking cos I'm new to this way of doing things, I've always used a cold room in a friends house, but won't have the use of that for much longer.

[burnt toast]

Originally Posted by mediterraneansuze

Lynn, in your bunker do you still put the torts in boxes and do I see you use shredded paper, cos I'm thinking of putting up a small shed type of thing, insulate it, with a tube heater in ( plugged into a thermostat ) but still put them in their boxes ( I also use shredded paper) I'm asking cos I'm new to this way of doing things, I've always used a cold room in a friends house, but won't have the use of that for much longer.

They are double boxed in the usual way: an inner cardboard box filed with shreaded paper, this goes into a larger poly box with more insulation: shreaded paper, polybeads, etc. I just used to place then into this insulation den (you can get the 2" thick polyboards from Wickses & they are tongue & grooved which is handy as you can make walls with them. Over the last couple of years I have also managed to get some large wooden box's ( one is huge, bit like a coffin! It was a homemade chicken brooder but I will either place their box's in these wooden ones or if I cant fit them in without too much wasted space I will insulate the wooden ones & put them in together.

I thought of changing to soil substrate but am nervous of spotting if they have p'd or pooped but I guess you could tell by their weight loss.

I know someone who just added an extension onto the back of their garage, made from breeze blocks, its only small. Shelves all the way around, insulated & a simple fan heater set to come on it temps fall too low. Interestingly though she reckons her males wont hibernate indoors, never have they hibernate in the garden, in the same place each autumn, she then covers that area with plastic & couple big sheets of insulation - she has been doing it for decades.

[Suze65]

Thanks Lynn, I've got a good idea of what I'm going to do , maybe get one of those low shed/ storage boxes for gardens , and insulate it, with a tube heater in it and then double box them and put the boxes in the shed / box. Does that sound like a good idea.