Winter enclosure

[scrawlauren]

I'm sorry if this is covered somewhere else; I'm looking for advice on heating an indoor/winter habitat for our two marginateds (it's been abominably cold and wet this year; we're in gloucestershire) it's a garden shed, about 5m x 2.5m, roughly. I'm considering an infrared bar heater, something like this: https://www.diy.com/departments/mirrors ... 550_BQ.prd
I've read up about them a bit, and everyone says they're safe, and safe for pets; if anything that they're like natural sunlight. I guess I'm just stuck on the word infrared. And wondered if anyone knew if they'd be safe for torts to live with?

[Nina]

I'm not an expert on this, but I think the first thing you need to do is to properly insulate the shed (I'm assuming that it is a wooden shed and not a brick-built one). That will ensure that the heat is less likely to lead out and you'll pay less for electricity. The description says it can be put on a thermostat, so that's good too. So I can see that it might well provide enough heat, but what about light and UVB? Some infra red heaters give off a soft red glow, and some don't give off any light at all. Basically, if you are keeping them awake all winter then you need to fool them into thinking that it is a bright summer's day in order to prevent them from losing their appetite and trying to hibernate.

Will you be able to have a light in there and also UVB (either a combined mercury vapour heat/ligh/UVB lamp, or an ordinary good wattage light bulb plus a flourescent UVB tube)? And do remember that tortoises need a temperature of around 26% just to properly digest their food, so you will need to monitor the temperature, especially when it is very cold.

Did you only get the tortoises this year? If not, then what have you done with them in previous years? If they are not huge, I think I would be tempted to keep them in an enclosure in the house (but that might not be possible). Is there a reason why you aren't hibernating them (just babies/haven't had them long enough, health reasons)? If you do want to hibernate we can send you full instructions on how to prepare them for hibernation, how to hibernate, and waking from hibernation.

Sorry for so many questions, but a fuller picture will enable us to give you better advice.

Best wishes,
Nina

[scrawlauren]

Hi Nina, thanks for the quick reply. The shed is insulated, and they're all set up with a basking area that has a mercury lamp and a UVB daylight lamp. The heat stays well in the room, it's just that the radiator we're using is an old oil one and it's working pretty hard and just not very efficient. Especially now it's getting so cold.
We're not hibernating them for a couple of reasons - this is only their second winter with us so I'm not super confident. And almost as soon as they came to us (maybe actually before we got them, and I just didn't know enough to spot it) one of them came down with a bubbly nose. And while his breathing is all better now, it gave me a bit of a fright and I just don't feel good about hibernating him yet since I've never done it before. Having said that, we were going to go ahead with it anyway and get all ready for it, but the house came down with bad covid at the end of October and by the time everyone was better and back on their feet, we were well into November and I felt like we'd missed the window for winding them down; stopping their food and shortening their "daylight" hours with their sunlamps etc. Trot is a bit sleepy and might have been fine, but Esio (that's the one who had the bad nose last year) is still very much awake and actually is out and under his sunlamp before I get in there to do their breakfast (the light comes on automatically). So all in all we ended up in a bit of a mess and just not really ready.

Last year, when Esio came down with his bad breathing, I came on here and asked around and was told it wasn't essential to hibernate them at all? Is that not true? We kept them up last year in a temporary habitat made from an old bookcase that was a bit small for them--they're six years old and quite big--but I just got them out for a couple hours every day for a walk about to stretch their legs which was both fun and a bit of a pain in the butt.

Hope I answered everything! Thanks again
Lauren

[Daniel]

Personally I don't see the point of heating the whole shed. If it was me, I would make area in the shed that would have a cold frame inside it and install a full spectrum heat lamp, so the only area you are heating is inside the cold frame up to temperature. The cold frame would have a door, so the tortoises can enter and exit as needed. Please note the area should have a topsoil and sand mix in it, at least the twice the depth of the largest tortoise, so if they do decide to start burmation, they can escape from the cold. The heat lamp should then be turned off and then a top dressing of hay over the top of them, until they become active again. Inside the cold frame, the soil must be completely dry, as cold and damp don't mix well with tortoises, and mold spores might start to grow on any organic matter. The tortoises during burmation should be checked every couple of days, and you will find they move around under the soil to some degree over the course of the week.

[jessipinkman]

Infrared heaters can work well for keeping your marginated tortoises warm, as they're safe and mimic natural sunlight. Just ensure the heater is securely placed out of reach to avoid burns and use a thermostat to maintain appropriate temperatures. Keep an eye on humidity, as infrared heaters can dry the air, and make sure to provide UVB lighting for their health. With proper setup, it should be a good solution for their winter habitat.