Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This weekend I'll start building a shed for a sulcata tortoise. The attached picture is what I had in mind as far as the shed goes. It's a type of greenhouse with a window that takes up one side of roof. Instead of using Lexan we'll be using a single double glazed sliding door to provide some sunshine into the shed.

As far as heating the shed goes, we are not sure how we are goig to do that yet. The shed is going to be built like a house with insulation between the interior and exterior wall(it can get pretty cold here, we are in USDA zone 5 bordering 6). Should we heat the entire shed or just provide a basking area? I've read conflicting info on heating the entire shed and just providing a warm area.

Any ideas or better yet pictures and plans of tort sheds?

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1.0.0 Double Het Patternless Albino Leopard Gecko 'Yoshi'
0.1.0 Patternless Albino Leopard Gecko 'Miso'
1.0.0 Beagle 'Tigger'
0.1.0 Jack Russell 'Roo'
2.0.0 Guinea Pigs 'Millhouse and Ralph'
1.0.0 Hamster 'Fluff'
1.0.0 Husband

Nice picture, sounds like a great project.

- Starting in late spring, the sunroom on the back of my house starts getting pretty hot. Make sure to provide ventilation.
- Check out greenhouse supply sources for climate control equipement. They have heavy duty thermostates made to either turn on fans, open vents, or start heaters. Here is a link to one, http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/index.cfm?page=_a2&sr=9&cid1=186&cid2=259

Let us know what you end up doing and how it works.

Thanks,

John

We just built ours and are still working out the details but I'd be happy to tell you what has worked for us and hasn't. I was so worried about not being able to keep it warm enough and it's almost been the opposite. If the outside temp is 50 or above and it's sunny, the shed heats up to the mid80s no problem.

For heat, we did two baseboard heaters with built in theremostats. We screwed them into the floor and built a frame around them so he couldn't get to them and burn himself. And then in one corner he has a basking light. The thermostats on the floor heaters are set to 75 but the shed stays 80s even on cold days. I have two remote thermometers that read the floor temp of the shed in two places up in the kitchen. The one problem we've had is that the heaters dry the air out in the shed to unnatural levels.

Someone walked us thru the building of ours and I'd be happy to email with you if you have more questions (TYoder2@cs.com). We are still working out things but he's been in there since Thanksgiving.

Troya

Troya,
What state do you live in?
John

Alabama

Troya

I especially like the idea of the baseboard heaters. They are pretty inexspensive and could provide decent heat paired up with a heat lamp for basking.

We have an idea of how we want to build but if we run into trouble I'll definatley take you up on your offer and e-mail you for help. Thanks.
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1.0.0 Double Het Patternless Albino Leopard Gecko 'Yoshi'
0.1.0 Patternless Albino Leopard Gecko 'Miso'
1.0.0 Beagle 'Tigger'
0.1.0 Jack Russell 'Roo'
2.0.0 Guinea Pigs 'Millhouse and Ralph'
1.0.0 Hamster 'Fluff'
1.0.0 Husband

I live in NW Oregon and have a 6x32-foot lean-to greenhouse with an eastern exposure I have been using for about five years to house aquatic Asian turtles. Keeping it cool during late spring, summer, and early fall is more of a problem than keeping it warm the rest of the year (my turtles tolerate pretty cool temperatures). I have used an attic exhaust fan that came with its own "slightly remote" (3-foot lead) thermostat. I bought the fan and thermostat as a unit at one of the big-box builders stores. I put the exhaust fan at one end of the greenhouse, and I have screened windows at the opposite end for air intake -- it is important to guard against dead spots by having the intake far from the exhaust. I think the attic exhaust fan probably is cheaper than the most rudimentary commercial greenhouse temperature control system, and it has worked quite well for my relatively small space. I found the thermostat it came with to be sensitive enough for my purposes. I wired in a switch before the thermostat, so the fan can be turned off without changing the thermostat setting. Winterization involves turning the switch to "off," closing the intake windows, and sealing the outside of the exhaust vent with polyethylene. Start-up involves the reverse, with no need to re-set the thermostat.