# New Russian tortoise enclosure, FINALLY FINISHED!!! Cost - $10!!!



## Kristina

This is my new Russian tortoise enclosure!! It turned out JUST like I wanted, and I am sooooo happy with it.

We built it mostly out of recycled materials. We only had to buy 4 landscape timbers, and one bag of topsoil. When all was said and done, it cost a little in elbow grease, but only $10, and I think it is pretty dang great!

Here it is!!


















































































If you want to see start to finish pictures, visit my photobucket album

http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/...urtle Enclosures - Outdoor/Russian Tortoises/


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## chadk

Looks awesome!! Tell us about the rock hide thing.....


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## ReptileBuddies

Your torts are so cute  Awesome looking enclosure!!!


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## Kristina

Thanks!!!

What the hide consists of is an oval shaped plastic garbage can. We drilled holes in the bottom, so it won't fill up with water in a sudden heavy rain, and then put a patio brick under the back end so that it will drain towards the front also. On the sides are stacked big pieces of cement that we gathered from where a home was being torn down. Then, I put the large flat rock on the top, with the cement bearing the weight of it, the flat rock to cover the bottom lip, and wedged the side ones in so that it was really tight. I stacked more cement around the back and sides to create a slope, and then covered the whole thing with dirt, a layer of potting soil, and then the sod that I had originally removed from the area.


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## TortieLuver

Nice setup! That's a neat project and I like the hide area idea. Thanks for sharing and oh, adorable torties!


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## GBtortoises

Looks great!


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## DeanS

Ingenius using the trash can lid for your hide base...excellent! I trust you bring them in at night or are you going to incorporate some kind of lid to keep unwated visitors out...i.e. predators.


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## Tropical Torts

Very Cooooollll!!!!


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## ChiKat

I love it!!! It looks incredible!! 
What are the dimensions?

Now come build something like that for Nelson!


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## sammi

Ahhh I love it! Love the rock hide idea =]


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## Weloveourtortoise

great job and the RT's look like they are loving their new home!!! the are so adorable roaming around!!


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## Kristina

DeanS said:


> Ingenius using the trash can lid for your hide base...excellent! I trust you bring them in at night or are you going to incorporate some kind of lid to keep unwated visitors out...i.e. predators.



I actually used a trashcan, not just the lid.






It was a Sterilite brand, the same one pictured there, only blue. I think I got it at Walmart for a dollar or two, and I just bleached it out and dechlored it before using.

Right now I am bringing them in at night. In the near future electric fencing will be utilized to deter predators. I also live in a residential area, and we don't get many scavengers. I know this for a fact because I leave my garbage on the porch at night, and it has never been torn into, lol.



ChiKat said:


> I love it!!! It looks incredible!!
> What are the dimensions?
> 
> Now come build something like that for Nelson!




It ended up being about 5' X 10'. I have a postage stamp for a yard, so we have to utilize every single space, lol. The RF's are getting the biggest chunk, which will be 8' X 16'.

Buy me a plane ticket and feed me and you have a deal, LOL!! Oh, and you have to call in sick for me at work 

Thanks everyone! I am very pleased with it.


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## terracolson

how cute!


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## Kristina

Of course, it is 40 and raining today, so no one gets to go outside  The Russians are clawing at the tub begging, though, lol. I fed them and they all passed out in a pile IN the food dish. They crack me up.

Almost got the pond and waterfall done for the RF enclosure, then Mika (my box turtle) will get her new enclosure.

Moving stinks, you have to start all over.


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## TortoisesRock!

Wow! Looks fantastic!


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## Kristina

Thanks!!! It is snowing today, two days in a row too cold for the torts to go out, and the Russians are MAD... lol.


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## Yvonne G

I love the pen. You did a great job on it. But, I'm going to have to be one of your only nay sayers in the group. Piling dirt up onto the side of your house is asking for trouble. Your wood is going to rot away, and it makes it easier for termites to come out of the soil and into the wood.


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## terryo

Your enclosure is so great, and that hide is one of the best I've ever seen. I am definitely coping something like that for my new enclosure.


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## Kristina

emysemys said:


> I love the pen. You did a great job on it. But, I'm going to have to be one of your only nay sayers in the group. Piling dirt up onto the side of your house is asking for trouble. Your wood is going to rot away, and it makes it easier for termites to come out of the soil and into the wood.



Not a problem. It isn't my house  It is my ancient shed that will be fine until I sell the place and move out, lol!!!

There is more cement than dirt touching the wood. The dirt layer is 6" thick or so.



terryo said:


> Your enclosure is so great, and that hide is one of the best I've ever seen. I am definitely coping something like that for my new enclosure.



You have no idea how huge of a compliment that is for me  Pio's living space is AMAZING, and hopefully I can borrow some of your Muse as I build the pen for the RF's I am adopting


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## Tom

I love this! Great job.


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## Kristina

Thanks again!

I'll take new pictures in a couple of weeks, once the sod melds back together and the lines in between the pieces disappear. It was like putting together a giant puzzle.


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## webskipper

Kids are still wearing jackets  Too warm to wear much here in AZ. 95F.

Really nice. Great creativity.

All I'm worried about is some jerk (dog or kid) stepping on the cave. Can you rebuild it with a milk crate as the structure? You can bury it some or saw it to make it shorter. Use a saw, see?

Many people will bury a bucket and build the rock cave over it.


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## Kristina

The only kids that would have access to it are mine, and they are not jerks, lol. The entire yard is being fenced at this time.

The support for the cave is NOT the garbage can. It is very thick pieces of cement. The garbage can was more of a liner, to make sure that the rough edges of the cement did not scratch their shells. Think of it like cinder blocks holding the top rock, basically it is the same idea. I really don't think that a milk crate is going to stronger than cement blocks.

The base of the pen itself is pieces of cement. We dug the sod out, and laid the cement in the hole, roughly two inches apart. It raised the pen slightly and allows for drainage, at the same time keeping the Russians from digging out. 







This pic shows the two side supports for the top rock of the hide.






I stood on top of it to make sure it was secure, and I am no lightweight, lol. If my considerable weight did not shift it, my little girls wouldn't either. And they flat out know better than to put their feet in there 

I do appreciate the concern, and I would agree with you if I was just using the garbage can as support, but honestly, that top rock would have squashed it flat the second I set it on top of it. It is the cement holding the weight.


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## webskipper

I was referring to "other people's children". It's always "other people's children".

Maybe I was being presumptuous. That's quite a project and it looks great.


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## tortoisenerd

Very cool!


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