Greenhouse enclosure

[justin]

hi all i need some help please i have just brought another house with a big greenhouse im hoping to turn it into a newt paradise i need to know which species do well in a green house and also are there any special requirements cheers justin

 

[joeri]

Don't you think a greenhouse will be to hot for newts during summer? It can get very hot under glass, even early in spring already. All it takes is sunshine.
I know England hasn't the best reputation regarding great summers but there will at least be some sunny days, won't there?

Hope you can find a way to keep them cool during summer

Joeri

 

[garrison]

Many greenhouses have automatic ventilation systems, and they're nice, but unless you have some sort of air conditioning unit tied into the thermostat I wouldn't recommend it because the ventilation by itself doesn't always cut it on the occasional scorcher.

Another route if you have a pond setup in this enclosure is to at least find a way to keep the water cool, we had a pond with an 8ft high waterwall system where I worked that through the evaporation on such a high surface area was able to keep the temp pretty cool and stable as well. It's kind of laborious to set it up though.

 

[morg]

Justin
Im sure that there are members of this forum who successfully use greenhouse enclosures in the UK.
Hopefully they will post with more tips on how to keep the summer temperatures from getting too high.
In the housing amphibians section of the book, Amphibians in captivity, the setting up of a greenhouse enclosure is covered, with a few tips on keeping the whole set up from overheating.

 

[alan]

For caudates, I'd suggest removing some panes of glass in summer, perhaps replacing them with mesh to keep predators out. You may also need some shading. I believe Henk Wallays (sp?) does something like this.

 

[justin]

im rapidly going off the idea which is a shame as i really wanted a green house enclosure but as i no it will get very hot in the summer months i could take out a few windows but it does have opening windows all round cheers justin

 

[benjamin]

Summer isn't the only bad time of year for green houses, in the winter temperatures can fluctuate allot. It could heat up over the day, and then if you open the door it can drastically drop.

 

[mark]

Hi, at my school, we have a huge green house with regulated and AUTOmatic temparature controls with heaters and cooling fans, so you can keep it at one temp all the time. Would this be okay? We are thinking of putting a pond in there and I was think it would be awesome. Thanks.