# Pio's new vivarium



## terryo (Mar 12, 2011)

I finally finished Pio's new vivarium. I have two CHE's..150 wt. on either side, and a long tube UVB in the middle over a screen top that is mostly covered with clear wrapping tape. On the sides I have a clear desk blotter/cover from Staples to hold in the humidity. The temp. is stable at about 85, and the humidity stays between 78 - 79. The hide is a fake rock cut in half. The opening is big, but it goes pretty deep so he can dig under the moss and hide. I have lots of moss in there, which I wet with hot water, spueezed out and fluffed up. Just a bunch of tropical plants around the water dish and over his hide and towards the middle...vivarium moss here and there. I don't like the water dish. It's just the bottom of a planter, so I'm going to home depot and get a really big terra cotta saucer.
Now I have to do Solo's new viv...78 gal.


----------



## CtTortoiseMom (Mar 12, 2011)

Wow, so nice. You are like a tort interior designer/ decorator!!


----------



## pdrobber (Mar 12, 2011)

looks great! I didn't realize how big he was.


----------



## ALDABRAMAN (Mar 12, 2011)

Very nice.


----------



## mike1011 (Mar 12, 2011)

very nice, looks like many enjoyable days ahead tort gazing at it.


----------



## N2TORTS (Mar 12, 2011)

LQQKN~ .... Sweetttt......nuttin; like a tropical paradise! Whadda lucky guy!
JD~


----------



## Terry Allan Hall (Mar 12, 2011)

Very nice...pity our regional museum doesn't have you to decorate the live exhibits!


----------



## coreyc (Mar 12, 2011)

Looks great


----------



## Torty Mom (Mar 12, 2011)

Awesome!!! Paradise for sure!!!


----------



## kimby37 (Mar 12, 2011)

Wow.....now can you come to my house and make a nice place for Mylo to live in?  Nice job he must be very happy.


----------



## Kristina (Mar 12, 2011)

Fantastic as usual Terry!!


----------



## LindaF (Mar 12, 2011)

Beautiful! Pio is one lucky tortoise.


----------



## ticothetort2 (Mar 12, 2011)

Looks really good!


----------



## Balboa (Mar 12, 2011)

lovely as usual!

I'll be curious as to how well your plants hold up over time, hopefully Pio is more respectful of your efforts than Rocky was of mine.


----------



## Tom (Mar 12, 2011)

Nice job as usual. I love looking at all of your enclosures. I always get new ideas.


----------



## terryo (Mar 12, 2011)

Balboa said:


> lovely as usual!
> 
> I'll be curious as to how well your plants hold up over time, hopefully Pio is more respectful of your efforts than Rocky was of mine.



That's why I didn't put too many plants in there. She'll probably trash it soon enough. Now when I do Solo's new viv this week, I'll put a lot of plants because she's so little and won't make a mess of things. 

Thank's everyone for the nice compliments.


----------



## onarock (Mar 12, 2011)

You know I'm a big fan of all your enclosures both indoors and out Terry. For all you newbies to the forum, just wait till she posts some pics of the outdoor stuff... a real treat.


----------



## terryo (Mar 12, 2011)

Wow...thank you very much.


----------



## Madkins007 (Mar 13, 2011)

Really nice, Terry! You should be proud of what you have done there!


----------



## Kristina (Mar 13, 2011)

Can we get some close-ups of Pio, Terry? She looks fabulous from what I can see.

(BTW you are doing really well with the transition to thinking of Pio as "she," I always have a hard time with that  )


----------



## Nay (Mar 13, 2011)

Terry,
Did you set that up and let things grow first? Where did the moss come from? Will it grow in there? Do you have the whole thing on the ground?
I also love when I see you've posted something as I know I can get inspired to do more with what I have. I do have one large aquarium for my little on Nougat and dumped some seeds from my finch cage in there, after all the plants bit the dust. They actually grew and I have a piece of Xmas cactus growing, but nothing else takes root.
Thanks for explaining like you did, you know how the questions come.. smart girl!!!
Nay


----------



## terryo (Mar 13, 2011)

Thank you again. 
Kristina....Pio used to have a lot more marbling, but after the Summer most of it was gone. And no...I keep calling her a he. I just always thought she was a he. LOL










I thought the tank was a 125 gal, but the guy said it was 73 x 20 custom made to fit in a cabinet. I put it on three cinder blocks and covered them with a piece of ply wood. I had to raise it because there are two heat ducks under the tank and they had to be open. I thought I would have a problem with humidity with the dry heat, but it turned out to be a bonus with heat on the bottom of the tank. I have a lot of plants in that room, so I am always misting them and watering them, so that helped with the humidity also.
I got the moss from a craft store (Michaels). It's not frog moss, as I didn't have too much luck with that before. This moss is dried out and very green, so if it dries out again, it will stay green. It's real moss though.
As for the plants....don't do what I do....I just buy some tropical plants from home depot, and take them out of their pot, rinse them off and put them back in the same pot with some miracle grow potting soil, and stick them in the substrate. I don't wait 6 months for the chemicals to grow out. (just what I do...please don't take it as advice) I try to put plants around the water dish, some in the middle and some around the hide. This way the humidity becomes more balanced.
Today I'm doing Solo's new viv, which is Pio's old one. 78 gal tank. Her's will probably stay nicer, as she's still too little to mess it up. I wonder how long it will take Pio to wreck everything. She hasn't come out of that hide since I put her in. She just sits in there and looks out. Today is the second day she's in there.


----------



## Isa (Mar 13, 2011)

Wow Terry, Pio's new enclosure is beautiful! You are one tortoise enclosure decorator queen!


----------



## Balboa (Mar 13, 2011)

LOL
My daughters saw the pic of Pio and correctly identified a cherryhead (I'm so proud)

The oldest then proceded to notice that PiO is owned by TerryO, making her a CherryO.


----------



## lobovasco (Mar 13, 2011)

Hey terry, i love your setup! Pio looks very happy. I was wondering what the green stuff on the floor is? Somekind of moss? And is that cypress mulch in his cave?

Thanks!


----------



## terryo (Mar 13, 2011)

Thank you. The green stuff is moss and inside the cave is long fibered sphagnum moss...from Carolina Pet Supply. I like their moss the best. It's very soft and fluffy and has no sticks and junk in it.


----------



## Candy (Mar 13, 2011)

Oh my gosh I love this enclosure that you made for Pio. You know Pio and Dale would make beautiful little Cherry's if you lived closer to me Terry.  Pio is one of the luckiest tortoises to have such a loving person taking care of him. Great job again Terry.


----------



## ChiKat (Mar 14, 2011)

Gorgeous!! And Pio looks great too  
I have one of those tropical plants- does Pio ever try to eat it? (Is it edible?) Maybe I'll add it to Nelson's enclosure...


----------



## terryo (Mar 14, 2011)

I throw in some Rose of Sharon seeds and some spring mix seeds and she eats all the little sprouts. I keep doing this so she always has some little things to eat and she won't bother the plants. She's really good about not eating the plants.


----------



## zzzdanz (Mar 14, 2011)

Beautiful!...and look how much Pio has grown.


----------



## ChiKat (Mar 15, 2011)

terryo said:


> I throw in some Rose of Sharon seeds and some spring mix seeds and she eats all the little sprouts. I keep doing this so she always has some little things to eat and she won't bother the plants. She's really good about not eating the plants.



Ah, I don't think I trust Crazy Man Nelson. He left his decorative cactus alone for several months before chowing down on it


----------

