Forever home advice please

[Anthons]

Hi All, I have today purchased a forever home for my 2 hermans (2 years old). I plan to insulate and run electricity for heat and light to keep them cosy all year round. They can then access their outside enclosure (you cannot see this in my pic as house has not arrived yet) and sun room whenever they wish. I could really do with some advice around heat lamps and thermostats. I plan to put my extro terra UVB bulb inside for cold, cloudy and wet days but want to add an automatic thermostat for whenever temps drop.
Can anyone advise what I should buy? The enclosure is 6x4 and I will be able to remove the lid. Thank you!
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[Ozric Jonathan]

Hi there

unless you install very good insulation and/or are willing to spend a lot of money on heat and light you might find it very difficult to keep your tortoises warm enough in an outside shed in the winter.

Using a combined heat and uvb lamp inside a confined space can be tricky because these cannot be controlled on a thermostat so it is either on or off. I think it is worth thinking about using separate heat and uvb sources. One way to do this is to use tubular heaters in the winter to help keep the temp above a base level and then to use halogen lighting which can be thermostatically controlled for hotspots.

Probably you will want ceramic heaters for nighttime which can be thermostatically controlled and work really well. If used all winter the cost is likely to be quite high.

You might not be interested in hibernating your tortoises in which case it might be a lot cheaper and more practical to have them on a table inside your own home for a few months of the year.

I hope this helps a bit but others will have some different views and ideas too.

[burnt toast]

I have some low sheds like this too. It will be fine if you insulate well. I have used plastic sheeting for damp proof membrane then insulated the lot with a combination of 2" thick polystrene, bubble wrap, some bubble type insulation with alluminium & wood round floor & 12" up sides all round. ( didnt put wood round whole lot as had to do the work myself & didnt have the skills! so I just did lower part as my females climb the walls when gravid & would destroy other insulation) I have tubular heaters, no ceramics they are set on thermostats to come on anytime temps drops too low & are working well.

My sheds are attached to large greenhouse but as Jonathan has said I was worried about having combined lamps with a low roof so I have my basking lamps set up in the greenhouse & my torts have free roam to use either area or go outside.

I do hibernate but not torts that I dont think are well or heavy enough. So some are awake all year & I have found it fine to keep them year round like this.

Make sure you insulate all round, roof, floor included.

[TillyTortoise]

Like you said, you need to insulate it well.

If I was setting this up, I would create a smaller insulated hide box about 3 feet wide x 2 feet deep and 1.5 feet high at the back. I'd place either 2 or 3 foot tubular heating in the box set on a thermostat to come in when temps drop. This will be much easier to heat than the entire shed.

Outside the box, in the larger part of the shed you can hang a basking lamp for cool days.

[Anthons]

Thanks all, some great tips there, these will be really useful. I cannot wait to get started! They have been living inside and only put out on nice days, I can't wait to see them making in/out decisions for themselves! They are growing up lol! Off to shop now for all the bits! Shed not here for two weeks so I can really plan well! Thank you!