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Preparing For The Freeze

Nanci

Nanci

Alien Lover
So, winter is coming. It's getting down to 27F tonight. 18F tomorrow night. I am going to try heating the tort burrow tonight when it isn't so critical, and if I don't like the results, I'll dig them out tomorrow.

Here's my heating pad on a thermostat. This is going in the burrow, set at the lowest setting (which appears to be holding the pad at 10F above air temp, and the temp in the burrow is the same as the outside temp right now, 65F). Then the entrance is blocked with the wooly rug.

I have a probe by the torts, and on the pad.
 

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I just pulled the boxies- they aren't hibernating anyway. They can spend the night in boxes in the shower, which is the coolest part of my house. Krusty:
 

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Fagalo: (She was underground outside, but barely).
 

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The boxes are now closed and in a dimly lighted place. Krusty wasn't happy when I put him in, and he isn't happy now!

Thanks for looking!
 

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I bailed out of MN when I was 38, FINALLY, and don't miss the cold one bit! You're young- you can escape!!
 
I can take it.
Sucks that my room is the only one without a heat.
What I'm wondering is how ill bring back my BP from the show :\
 
Aww heck, hasn't risen above 3F here all day. Got down to -23F last Friday too.

Those boxies are adorable by the way :D
 
So far so good. outdoor temp 51F, burrow temp 65F, heating pad temp 79F.

You can bring your snake back in a bag in your shirt.
 
Ok, it looks like my heating project worked! This morning the outdoor temp was 34F, and inside the burrow it was 64F, with a heating pad temp of 74F. I feel safe leaving them out tonight when 18F is forecast. It maintained a steady 64-65F in the burrow with outside temps ranging from 65 down to 34F. I had to take the box of boxies out of my shower at 2AM because Krusty was trying to get out, again, and I was having nightmares from the noise. So they spent the night on the couch!
 
Not below freezing, because they are artificial burrows. A natural burrow would go below the frost line and is many feet long and is only as big as the tortoise, with a small turn-around at the end. I didn't let them dig natural burrows, because they aren't from a rainy climate, so I didn't know if they could burrow safely. I wanted their burrows to be high and dry. I thought in the garbage can burrows, they would dig out the dirt and simulate a natural burrow, but really they dug a huge chamber and sit way in the back on top of the dirt, not buried at all.

So my hibernation choices were: box-in-box hibernation in a place that stays about 40-50F. It gets too warm here- it's been 80 all of December! Refrigerator hibernation. Build a small warm box for them with a ceramic heater and a thermostat- which I was going to do but couldn't find a deck box that was right. Leave them in their burrow and hope we didn't get a hard freeze. If worst came to worst and the heating pad idea hadn't worked, I could have dug all the dirt out of their burrow and been able to reach them, but I really didn't want to do that.
 
Oh I see, they're lucky you know what you're doing with them! You explained before about the dangers of flooding into the burows. So with the heatpad the torts will still hibernate or will they wake up? And the boxies didn't hibernate because it's been too warm?
 
The boxies didn't brumate because it's getting up into the upper 70's low 80's nearly every day. Last year, Fagalo started brumation right around Thanksgiving. So this year I stopped feeding them a couple weeks before that, and except for a few nights with lows in the 40's, it's been just not wintery at all! They are out basking every afternoon! Finally Friday I felt like I was safe giving them a good meal, since they are out burning calories. They each ate six nightcrawlers, then had Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to digest before it got cold again.

The tortoises just stopped coming out sometime in November. I blocked off their one burrow so I would always be able to find them in the other. They haven't peeked out in weeks- I'm sure they are sound asleep and won't wake up. I think since they are in a dark place, they stay asleep even though they are technically "warm." I think their preferred temp is about 80F. If it's hotter, I don't see them either.

Isabel also went to sleep yesterday- crawled into her hide and conked out. I covered her with a blankie. She hasn't been really brumating- just really slowed down, but this is the first time she's gone to sleep during the middle of the day. I have pics- just don't have them resized yet.
 
Oh I can't wait! Blossom gets very fussy about food in winter, despite her temps and light cycle being the same she still knows the time of year and gets less active
 
I went to bring a couple potted palms in for the next few days and found two very cold anoles under one of the saucers, so I brought them in, too. They were so cold they were black, and did NOT appreciate being popped into a little Kritter Kage for the next few days. Oh well, at least they won't freeze!
 
Nanci said:
I went to bring a couple potted palms in for the next few days and found two very cold anoles under one of the saucers, so I brought them in, too. They were so cold they were black, and did NOT appreciate being popped into a little Kritter Kage for the next few days. Oh well, at least they won't freeze!
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Yea, they should appreciate it! You saved their lives! If they don't thank you when you let them go, grab them and send them to me. I will give them their own plastic bags and their own spot IN DA FREEZER.
 
32F here at 8PM. 61F in the burrow. I turned the thermostat up a titch. HOW do you guys up north stand it??? Where my daughter lives, St. Paul, MN, it was a high of 8F. I am so glad I bailed. Nothing, NOTHING makes it worth living where it's cold! So what if wages are 30% higher- I'd rather be warm. I got out my mukluks to wear to work tomorrow. There is no such thing as pipe insulation down here- I just have to leave a faucet running all night so my pipes don't freeze!
 
Those anoles should thank you! I just checked your forecast and it predicts a low of 2 degrees C Friday night! I just would nevr have expected Florida to ever be that cold!
 
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