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I finished the winter box for my outdoor blackthroat enclosure. It measures 7' long, 4' wide and 2' tall.

It was constructed from 1/2" plywood with 3/4" foam insulation on all sides, top and bottom. the inside was then finished off with 1/4" plywood to keep her from clawing up the insulation.

The bottom was covered with a 1" or so layer of dirt. Yes I know, not enough to burrow in, but she never really burrows anyway.

There is a breezeway with a clear damper (doggy door) to keep the colder drafts out.

There is dual 45 watt halogen floods in one corner so she can access her basking temps. To maintain ambient temps, I bought a 1500 watt blower heater from Wal-Mart, installed in one corner. This is controlled with a remote thermostat set to 75*.

I know what your thinking, A BLOWER HEATER!!!! Well, it is all plastic construction, non conductive. It has many safety features, overheat, tip cut-off, reset etc.

It is securely mounted with plenty of airspace around it. I held my hand directly touching the heater and never even got close to being too hot, even after several minutes. Plus it is mounted up higher, so she can't lay directly on it anyways. I do plan however to cage it in for safety for extra precaution.

Right now it is 58* here during the night. With this setup her inside temp will never fall below 75, with a daytime basking area of a maximum (if she lays directly under it) of 145*, ambient 75*. I have been monitoring her minimum lows, and everything is working out great.

She still has access to her outside pen, which she still takes advantage of. She is all over the place, basking in her box, hiding outside in her man-made burrows, and hide boxes, laying in the natural sun, and sleeping at night in her toasty box.

We are experiencing a cold front here in this part of Florida right now. Normally this is January/February weather. With the average winter here of 75-80 daytime, 40-50 night time, I feel this system will be perfect for her for the 3 months of this cooler weather.

The only trouble I can see is the space heater drying the box out. I plan on adding a zone to my sprinkler system directly to the box, with a small mist head that will mist a few times daily.

Sorry for rambling on!!! Just wanted to share with you all.

Pics will be up at some point.

jeff

Storm
Your "box" sounds fine, lights, heater, misting head and doggie door.

The BIG problem I can for see is, what happens on a nice bright sunny day when your Monitor is out basking?
As the temps drop there is no guarantee your Monitor will go into the box. If it gets down to those temps and he is hiding or sleeping he won't be able to move till Sun up.

If this happens a few times your Monitor will be at risk for resperatory infection or death.

Something to think about Brother.

Two other problems (non-life threatening) I see.
1" of dirt and he doesn't hardly dig anyways...2 more problems to think about!

Mike

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Mike's Monitors!

You do have a good point and I have thought about that. The only real solution is for me to actually make for sure she goes in there at night, as in "put her to bed". Very inconvenient, but I guess that is the only way to guarantee she will be safe. Besides, people do that with their dogs and cats all the time, whats the difference?

What about if I remove her other hide boxes, so she HAS to seek refuge in the heated area? That may work, but it could deprive her of those optional hides, possibly causing stress, so anyones thoughts are helpful.

As far as the 1" of dirt and not digging...

I have always provided adequate and various hide boxes for her. She has a whole ton of dirt to dig in if she wanted to, but she just doesnt dig. She has moved a little dirt here and there under her hides but thats about it.

The soil could not be any better for digging either. It packs nicely and would hold a burrow very well. It's the same Florida soil armadillos and gopher tortoises use. She just refuses it, so in this case of her winter hide box I did not provide it for my convenience.

In place of that I just added her favorite hide box design within her winter area, a small rubbermade bin with a few inches of peat moss at her hot end and cool end.

For pointing that out. Can you suggest anything that will help that situation?

Anyone....?

Florida soil is awesome for some species.
Glad to hear she at least has the option.
My point about the 1" in the box is the fan heater will dry it out right now! Even with the misting.

When the temps drop she may not be warm enough to want to move, then as temps drop even lower she will not be able to move.

Moving her in nightly is a great idea be sure to secure the doggy door.

The things we do for our Captives, you gotta LOVE it!

Mike
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Mike's Monitors!

Ha Ha, seriously!!! If she could only know the friggin hoops I jump through for her, the time, money, blood and sweat!!!!

I will be moving her in nightly, or at least checking to make sure she is in there.

Is locking the doggy door necessary? I really dont think she will wander out in the middle of the night.

I just dont wan to confuse her with thinking she is trapped part of the time.

Well I would rather have her confused, than dead from the cold...

I will have to work on a substrate that will hold moisture better than dirt with all that dry air moving around.

I know I can use mulch, but i wanted to avoid combustibles.

Locking the door is a good idea, better safe than sorry!
I hear you about fire hazard!
You'll figure it out.

A labor of love Monitors are!
Mike
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Mike's Monitors!

Instead of building a box, I've always built a sort of Bunker for everybody thats housed outside. I dig a chamber big enough to fit the animal(s), a Kane heat mat, and give some space so they can go off and on as needed. The Chamber is recessed as far into the ground as I can go, and I've never had a problem with the animals not recognizing it. I also throw hay into the cavity to help keep the temps on the pad stable. The heat mats are on a timer that goes off in the morning and comes back on at night. I'll also wrap any open ( Chain link, Wire, etc. ) cages with visqueen to keep out drafts and to help keep temps stable. Matter of fact, I'm off to construct one now for my hellion of a Cuban Iguana

I do not as of yet keep my monitors outside but thats coming in the near future. I do however keep my iguanas outside almost year-round(I chicken out on fronts that drop temps into the20's) in Florida a bit north of newstorm. As ericvins said visqueen helps moderate the cold a bit. I usually secure the plastic on the upper parts of the south and west side of my cage with tape so it can be undone on warmer days. My twist on the heated box is I use a large shallow rubbermaid-type bin filled with water and one or two submersible aquarium heaters the number and wattage varies on the size of bin I use and what I can find for heaters usually 100 or 150w heaters. It just depends on what I find when the time comes to replace it and I only give it any thought at that time. I cut one or two slots in the top edge of the container for wire access fill it with water and turn the heater(s) on full blast which is about 90f and put the cover back on. I got that idea from an old issue of the vivarium many years ago and while it is true that a pig blanket would be easier That water thing works incredibly well. it is also quite cheap and there is less danger of hot spots than with pig blankets or other heating pads and is imo less worrisome than space heaters. This contraption is used in an insulated box as well. I could pretty much do what I want to heat my cage but I have used this method for at least 11yrs. and it works so well I have never changed it (the heaters and rubber maid boxes do wear out after time though.). I have also found that except on only a very few occasions when fronts came through in the middle of the day that the Iguanas almost always go into their box on their own. I do check when really cold weather through but Iguanas are quite smart about this of course monitors are much smarter so I expect they would do the same.