heat in the greenhouse

[jonesy]

My meds have heated sheds to go into which obviously gets shorter times of the day as they shut down for hibernation. My tropicals have heated sheds into greenhouse into garden, so they can choose where they want to be. A shed is much easier to keep warm than a greenhouse. Hope this helps.

[burnt toast]

I have one greenhouse attached to an insulated shed with curtained hatches through. The greenhouse is glass & isnt insulated in anyway. Its fine in other seasons but during the colder months only heats up when the sun hits it & although they have access I find the torts dont venture into it much. (cant get them out of it when its warm!)

I have another greenhouse in another area of the garden which isnt in direct sunshine. This is their main enclosure, unlike above which is just an additional space. This second one is bubble wrapped all over & secured using special clips that came with the wrap that fit into the frame & double sided tape for awkward corners. I also put sheets of polystrene round the lower half to help insulate it but the exposed parts of this were pretty much destroyed by a gravid female!

Inside the greenhouse are their sleeping quarters which is solid heavy thick wood kennel. Insulated with polystrene which has a tubular heater on a thermostat.

To be honest I cant comment on how this would fair during really cold winter months, (as only used this one for one year) although if it were only to keep frost off I dare say it would work (my worry would be it getting too hot for a hibernation area?)

At the moment mine is working fine but I also have an additional 6 foot tubular running along the middle of the greenhouse which I can use if the weather gets too cold, havent needed to yet as I have a basking area 4 x 3 with 3 lights which tend to warm it up enough. Last winter, well the bit around hibernation time, wasnt too cold round here.

I remember seeing this thread:http://shelledwarriors.co.uk/forum/s...ad.php?t=41831 & noticing the guards (look in marginated home) presumably to deflect heat downwards to the torts? Dont know if that might help? Think I would stear clear of fan heaters because of blowing dust about, drying out the air & also think they would be very expensive.

Also have you decided/got the glazing for your greenhouse yet? If not perhaps look into the insulation properties of twin wall polycarbonate opposed to glass? Only a thought - maybe warmer than glass.

Also what about siting the tubular heaters very low? You would definately need guards for them, as they do get really hot. I have just done this in a large kennel type home for one of my males, put his tubular really low, with a guard to stop him burning himself & a sheet of foil insulation above the heater to try & deflect the heat back down to him.