jknoche
New Member
So She Who Must Be Obeyed is looking into a juvenile Eastern Hermann's in the foreseeable future, which means I'll be entering handyman mode.
We have a 10x10 area blocked out for his enclosure, and some general questions.
1. How tall should the walls be? Will 2x12 (pressure treated) sides be sufficient to keep him contained, or should I go up to 18?
2. Covering: I'm planning ~2ftx10ft fixed section down the middle with 2 4x5 chicken wire lids on each side. This should give us enough access to get in, plant and clean etc while still keeping birds (we have hawks in the area) and dogs from getting at the tort. We do have raccoons in the area so I expect the latch mechanisms will need to be pretty secure as well. Does this seem pretty reasonable?
3. Heating/cooling: We're in the Atlanta GA metro area, so our summers are quite hot and humid, and our winter temps can occasionally get pretty brisk but are usually manageable. We also have a smaller inside enclosure for severe cold snaps. While I acknowledge that moving between indoor and outdoor is probably not optimal, I'm also hesitant to bake an expense that may only come up every 3 or so years into my planning. Would an outdoor cold frame/mini greenhouse and having an emergency indoor enclosure be a tolerable compromise vs an exterior heating solution for our generally mild winters here?
4. Sun/shade: The outdoor area I have in mind gets a few hours of fairly direct sun around noon but is pretty well-shaded the rest of the day. Will that be a problem for getting enough heat/light?
5. Decor: We have a fairly rocky yard (providing plenty of fieldstone I can dig up and use as terrain) and a garden center well-stocked with plants that pass the tortoise table database check. I had the brainwave of planting several planter boxes with various tort-friendly plants and rotating them in and out of the enclosure during the growing season so they can be snacked on and have recovery time. Or am I underestimating how hungry these critters are?
6. Anything else I'm missing, aside from miracle'ing up a bigger yard or flattening my 20% grade front yard? Believe me, I wish I could.
We have a 10x10 area blocked out for his enclosure, and some general questions.
1. How tall should the walls be? Will 2x12 (pressure treated) sides be sufficient to keep him contained, or should I go up to 18?
2. Covering: I'm planning ~2ftx10ft fixed section down the middle with 2 4x5 chicken wire lids on each side. This should give us enough access to get in, plant and clean etc while still keeping birds (we have hawks in the area) and dogs from getting at the tort. We do have raccoons in the area so I expect the latch mechanisms will need to be pretty secure as well. Does this seem pretty reasonable?
3. Heating/cooling: We're in the Atlanta GA metro area, so our summers are quite hot and humid, and our winter temps can occasionally get pretty brisk but are usually manageable. We also have a smaller inside enclosure for severe cold snaps. While I acknowledge that moving between indoor and outdoor is probably not optimal, I'm also hesitant to bake an expense that may only come up every 3 or so years into my planning. Would an outdoor cold frame/mini greenhouse and having an emergency indoor enclosure be a tolerable compromise vs an exterior heating solution for our generally mild winters here?
4. Sun/shade: The outdoor area I have in mind gets a few hours of fairly direct sun around noon but is pretty well-shaded the rest of the day. Will that be a problem for getting enough heat/light?
5. Decor: We have a fairly rocky yard (providing plenty of fieldstone I can dig up and use as terrain) and a garden center well-stocked with plants that pass the tortoise table database check. I had the brainwave of planting several planter boxes with various tort-friendly plants and rotating them in and out of the enclosure during the growing season so they can be snacked on and have recovery time. Or am I underestimating how hungry these critters are?
6. Anything else I'm missing, aside from miracle'ing up a bigger yard or flattening my 20% grade front yard? Believe me, I wish I could.
