My new outside enclosure - help please

[Daryn]

Originally Posted by Pussygalore

Daryn how did your hibernation place cope when the temps rose, I know the heater will deal with the cold but was the hibernation den affected when we had warm days.I know its a natural way but in the 'wild' torts will dig down to as much as 18inches to find a stable temp and when the temps reach around 9-10c its enough to start to wake them. Often its warmer weather thats more of a problem than the cold and its easier to deal with cold than warm outside, we were lucky in having an old brick outbuilding which was under trees and never got warm even in the summer, it had a storage heater with a thermostat and was ideal for hibernation.

Well in the winter the tortoise area is in the shade, in the summer I get partial sun two different times of the day, I have to say though she did wake up a little earlier than I wanted her too as the temps did get a little high, but if you could have a weather proof box with one of these tube heaters in and place it in a place that is shaded all the time it could be better, even in a shed, I have to say if I had somewhere for another fridge that does seem the better way to do things, no temperature fluctuation etc.

I was well pleased though for my first hibernation, I was outside day and night checking, the tube heater coped really well in keeping the den at 5c when the temps were freezing. I can only improve things as time goes by.

I will be doing this again this year although I will be keeping them awake as long as I can, hopefully put them down in December, we will see, just got to keep watching the weather forcast, got to say its the first year Ive prayed for cold weather lol.

Another method that interests me, a more natural one.

I read of a method from a site called slow coach, his idea an I have to say it sounds ideal was to bury a dust bin in the ground and fill it will soil,, I would use top soil and sand for this and maybe gravel.

The advantage is they can naturally bury themselves down if it gets cold. Here is the link , I really like this.

http://www.slowcoach.org.uk/care/adu...re/adults.html