You know Dudley, right? Our 90 pound Sulcada tortoise who was the size of a chalupa just five years ago?
Dudley’s baby picture with Chico the kitten
She spent the winter last year on the deck, but she’s just too darn big now and needed a backyard shelter to keep her warm when temperatures drop below 50F. She is, after all, a desert tortoise.
I suppose we cold have just spread thirty or forty sleeping bags over her 4×6′ crate, but that seemed kind of tacky, so we called our long-time friend and contractor, Kurt Wahrmund, to see what he could come up with. After all, he built her first condo. The brilliant result? A cedar-clad shelter that matches the architecture of the house. It has three wall panels that can be stored in the summer, and it features a plexiglass roof and a plenum system that directs the heat from a space heater down into Dud’s straw-lined crate. Check this out!
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- Dudley’s original condo – sliding doors, hinged roof
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- Side view of the new structure which fits over the original tortoise house (Kurt built that, too)
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- Fancy Plexiglas roof that lets in the sun’s heat on nice winter days
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- Space heater with the roof closed
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- Space heater with the roof open before the plenum is set in place
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- Plenum structure that directs the heat downward
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- Storage space for bags of hay used for insulation and inside nesting
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- Looks great from the back!
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- This is one happy tortoise! She will have a curtain in front on the coldest days – isn’t this a fine shelter?
I am so grateful to Kurt for figuring out a beautiful solution that works aesthetically and practically for human and tortoise both – if you ever need a contractor/designer with a great solution to a building dilemma, call Kurt Wahrmund!
very cool!! I’ll bet the cats are jealous !!
They haven’t seen it yet, and I’m keepin’ it that way!
Very cool! Love seeing all your pics.
Thanks, Nancy!!
She is a very lucky girl !!! Now you should just get her a few chickens !!!
Great idea, Teri!
This is awesome. Dudley now has a tortoise palace. She will be needing cabana boys though.
What am *I* – chopped liver? We ALL need cabana boys 🙂
Never a dull moment at the Belisle casa. So way cool. Lucky Dudley!!
Dud’s all happy and warm 🙂
That is one spoiled tortoise!
Here is my tortoise story. When I was about 13 or 14, one of my brothers acquired a tortoise, which was still legal then in the far-away country where this story takes place. Tortoises do not naturally occur there at all, and we don’t know the country of origin. I think it may have come from Greece. The first few years the tortoise spent winters in the house, in a straw-filled crate. Then one year we “lost” him, in the fully enclosed backyard. Much to our surprise he emerged from a tunnel around March 21, many months later. Ever since then, usually sometime in September, a few times even in late August, he has dug himself in, under the concrete slab of a shed. Every year he emerges around March 21. Yes, he is still around. I am 62 now. I sometimes wonder what will happen to him when my 88 year old mother will no longer live in the house. By the way, this tortoise has not grown much since he joined the family.
I love this story!! I know that when Dudley is out in the enclosed yard, she tries to dig under things. What an interesting tortoise tale. Thanks, Margaret – wow.
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Awesome job, Kurt!