You could try a sporting goods store that carries camping gear for the tarp.

Thanks for the advice Itort.

Today, I'm going shopping to see what I can find for my new tort table

Isa

torts4me,
I think what you did is fine. Did you by chance seal the wood where it goes togther with aquarium silicone? That would prevent any moisture from leaking through those seams. I stapled the tarp to the top of my table. Not the best looking but functional. I have quite a bit of Dirt and sand and Bed a beast mixed in and my Greeks don't dig to the bottom. They have about 6 inches or so of substrate. I used a poly tarp and I only remove all the substrate once a year. (My table is setup at the end of Oct. when the torts come in and broken down about this time of year when the torts go outside for the summer. Hope this helps.

Isa, just remember if you find you have a problem you can always tweak it later, Like when you are cleaning it. I am sure it will be fine and Hermy will love his new home.

Thought this might help.One of my torts is in a book shelf.
I dont have any sealent on it.Did put a piece of ply wood under it.And the inside is lined with a large garbage bag.Naild the sides and bottom real tight.
   
   
   

Hello Everyone

I thought you put the tarp only at the bottom but you put it all the way to the top, it's a good way of keeping the tort table clean.
Yesterday, I went shopping, I went to 4 stores. My boyfriend and I were looking for the non toxic waterbased sceller (we found it at home depot) we also found the aqurium sillicone at the pet store. BUT we did not found a nice laminate bookshelf at a reasonable price. I found one with the correct dimension, it was very ugly. There other ones we found were too small. We found a nice one with a not so bad wood quality and it was very expensive. So my boyfriend told me he wants to make the tort table with natural hard wood (the sides) and plywood (the bottom). He is going to seal the sides (interior) 5 times, the outside 2 times, the bottom 2 times. We dont know yet what we are going put inside at the bottom because we did not find no tarp . But I did not go to the sport supplies store yet, I am going to go this week.
I dont want to be a pain in the neck but I have 2 more questions for you. I know I have a lot and I am really sorry but when it comes to my Hermy, I want to make sure everything is ok.

If we dont find no tarp, is it ok if I just leave the wood (with the 5 coats of sealer) on the interior sides, is it going to be easy to clean? Or should I really find something to put there. PS at the bottom I will try hard to find something to put on the wood and put the substrate on top but on the side I am more worried since I cant put whatever I want in case Hermy is going to be in full contact with it.

We want to make sure Hermy has enough space for a couple of years, what do you think if the dimension of the tort table is 2foot *5 foot. I wanted it to be 3 1/2 foot * 4 foot but my BF thinks it is going to be too hard to maintain the good temperature on the cold side and on the warm side. What do you think?? is 2foot too small?

We are going to buy the wood this week and seal it this week end. I cant wait .

Thanks

Isa

I would suggest you the 5 coats of sealer on bottom also. This is where the majority of moisture is going to end and the greatest threat of rot.

I just built this ( http://tortoiseforum.org/new-indoor-encl...-1392.html ) not to long ago. I put 10 coats of the polyurathane and then I dumped more in to use up the bottle. I don't use tarps and so far because I used so much polyurathane I have had no problems with moisture (I have boxies in one of them). For the sides I used a cabinet grade birch (which looks nice) and plywood for the bottoms. We used screws, when I polyurathaned I sealed up any holes. I also put laminate squares on the bottom to help as well. just be careful with the squares as my russians that were in the bottom one tore up two of them with there digging.

Thanks for your answers!

Jenn1, does your tortoise try to scrape or eat the garbage bag sometimes? I really like your tort table.

Itort, thanks for the advice, you are right, 2 coats are not enough on the bottom.

Jenrell23, Your table tort is really really nice!! How long did it take you to do that?? I bought a sealer, is it the same thing as polyurathaned?

Thanks

Isa

No she doesnt eat the garbage bag,sometimes she digs at it but I just fix it.
The sides are over 12 to 14 inches high.And shes not a climber.But the sides are soft and slippery so no worries.

Isa, I just thought you can also use a shower curtain. It will work just like a tarp Is cheaper and is thicker than garbage bags. You should be able to get them anywhere.

The closer you get to a square enclosure the harder it is to maintain microclimates unless it is really big. You could always split the diffence and maybe make it 3 feet x 5 feet that should last Hermy a long, long time.