Pics of my tortoise shelter and advice needed

man.about.town

Hi,
I've a south facing fully enclosed garden and have purchased a small purpose built tortoise shelter. Its a fully insulated outdoor shelter. The previous owner had kept a hermanns tortoise in it successfully for many yrs however it passed on he believes rat poison of all things.

I have the opportunity to rehome an adult Herman's however, it has never been kept outside. I want to add a heat source with theromstat to the sleeping area to have a constant heat but cant find one suitable, any advice on equipment to use? I presumed a heat pad was ok but apparently not.

The previous owner just used hay. The tortoise will be over wintered inside on tortoise table.

The shelter itself is made of wood, sleeping area fully insulated and the entire hut is wrapped in heavy duty felt.

recedite

You'd want to be careful if using mains voltage wiring outside.
I think if heating was desirable, a heat pad and thermostat would be the way to go. The problem is, the heat might make the tortoise active inside the house, but when he ventured outside for food he would be affected by colder temperatures.


Also bear in mind insulation is great if there is a warm blooded creature or an electric heat source inside the house, to keep warm, but not really much point otherwise.


Just an idea, but maybe site the house on a large black slab, or a concrete area, where it gets the morning sun. Then make sure there is no insulation in the floor, so that it gets some steady heat from the slab when the sun shines. On bad weather days, the tortoise should remain fairly inactive.
Wait for the weather to warm up a bit before moving your tortoise outside, because he'll be active but not used to the cold..