# Inflatable Outdoor Enclosure



## algoroth1 (May 6, 2014)

Ok, I thought this was crazy at first but please give it a chance
Ponce, our mee (brown mountain tortoise) is almost two years old. His carapace measure about 7in. by 5in. and he's big enough to live permanently outdoors here in South Florida. However, he's not yet big enough to roam the entire yard freely. I did not want to spend a lot of time building an enclosure he will outgrow in a year when, if he continues to grow at this rate, he could be a good foot long and big enough to roam and graze in the yard unsupervised.

I discovered a medium strength vinyl three level inflatable swimming pool made by INTEX. I assumed it would not be adequate, but decided to invest $25 or so to experiment. The pool is 10ft. by about 5ft. And once I'd inflated all three levels I found it stands nearly 2ft. in height. The air closure on each level is heavy duty and after inflation I left it outside for a few days to see if any of the levels lost air or shrank substantially during cool evenings after hot days. Size and inflation remained constant, though I still check them daily. I also figure that if one level goes down there are two that will maintain enough height to keep Ponce in.

I opened the drain on the bottom and spread 8 cubic feet of cypress mulch that gave a depth of an average of 3-5 inches. I may need to punch more holes in the floor if it gets too soggy, though mee's according to Vic Morgan have been known to live in mud. 

Since mee's need lots of shade I placed the habitat under spreading palm and hibiscus trees. Add water dishes, food dish a hide and A

locasia plants (mee's and mep's love to eat them and they also give great shade) and voila--an outdoor habitat in less than an hour. Just add Ponce (did that yesterday). He dug down and hid in the mulch overnight but today I found him surveying his new digs. Here's a photo. Comments positive or critical are very much appreciated. BTW, his claws do not gain traction on the vinyl sides so he should not be able to climb out.


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## wellington (May 6, 2014)

I love thinking,out of the box. I love your idea. I can't think of any reason why it won't work great for you. Oh, wait, one thing, if he pops holes in it, it may be a problem. Other then that, it's great.


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## algoroth1 (May 6, 2014)

Hey Wellington. Yep, I thought about that and I suppose there is that risk, but only if he bites the sides, which isn't likely. He does seem to like to wedge himself between the bottom level of the wall and the substrate, probably for security. That's why I checked to see if his claws could get traction and poke a hole. The material is pretty tough, but we'll see. Thanks for your comment and all the best!


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## lismar79 (May 6, 2014)

Nice!


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## erdavis (May 7, 2014)

I like it  very creative. I think it looks good if it works


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## bouaboua (May 7, 2014)

That is creativity at it's best.


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## Yourlocalpoet (May 7, 2014)

You should get an inflatable alligator to put next to it, just to add some authenticity


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## Elohi (May 7, 2014)

What about wind? That would be my biggest worry. And I have this pool stashed somewhere in my garage. 


Elohi(Earth)


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## Jacqui (May 7, 2014)

I like it, too. Here the wind would be a worry.


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## StuMac (May 7, 2014)

Excellent idea. Great use of a low cost item instead of spending a fortune. It's great when we get the creative juices flowing! I'm sure the fact it is rubber with also help with heat, so Ponce is in for a treat living there!


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## kathyth (May 7, 2014)

I think it's a great idea!


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## algoroth1 (May 7, 2014)

Thanks for all the responses so far! As far as thinking out of the box and creativity go, necessity is the mother of invention. I was just looking for the simplest but safe answer to a need. Of course the pool is truly "out of the box". Jacqui and Elohi, regarding wind, the weight of the pool is substantial but when you add the mulch you're looking at over 100 lbs. minimum. The habitat is next to an eight foot privacy fence which also provides some protection. Of course, if a hurricane raises it ugly head Ponce comes indoors. StuMac, thanks for the observation and the compliment. Same to Lisa, Erin and bouaboua. Shell, we've got more than enough *real* alligators down here, so adding an inflatable would be coals to Newcastle. Will be watching how it holds up over time and will plan to post updates. My best to all.


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## Jhwells46 (May 7, 2014)

What a great idea! Love it!


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## Yourlocalpoet (May 7, 2014)

algoroth1 said:


> Thanks for all the responses so far! As far as thinking out of the box and creativity go, necessity is the mother of invention. I was just looking for the simplest but safe answer to a need. Of course the pool is truly "out of the box". Jacqui and Elohi, regarding wind, the weight of the pool is substantial but when you add the mulch you're looking at over 100 lbs. minimum. The habitat is next to an eight foot privacy fence which also provides some protection. Of course, if a hurricane raises it ugly head Ponce comes indoors. StuMac, thanks for the observation and the compliment. Same to Lisa, Erin and bouaboua. Shell, we've got more than enough *real* alligators down here, so adding an inflatable would be coals to Newcastle. Will be watching how it holds up over time and will plan to post updates. My best to all.



Ha ha, I know! I visited Florida when I was 11 years old and I went to GatorLand - it was amazing!


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## algoroth1 (May 8, 2014)

UPDATE--
He hid in a corner for nearly 48 hours. Didn't come out for food or drink. I got impatient so I added some Mazuri pellets to the food dish this morning. In ten minutes he was out, polished off the Mazuri and was drinking from one of his water dishes. Continuing to hope that this is a successful experiment from which all outdoor tort caretakers can benefit.


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## mikeh (May 8, 2014)

He is nice size for his age. Would you mind doing update on him and post photos, I'd like to compare him to my year and half old emys emys.


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## algoroth1 (May 8, 2014)

mikeh said:


> He is nice size for his age. Would you mind doing update on him and post photos, I'd like to compare him to my year and half old emys emys.


Sure. Here are four pics from a few weeks ago when I had him roaming the yard. For size reference, the palm branch is around seven feet long. And for comparison, there he is at about 30 days on his six inch food dish.
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Let's see some pics of your mee! All the best


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## mikeh (May 8, 2014)

He looks amazing! I really like how highly domed his shell is for Manoura. Big differences in shell shape. Although mine are nicely humped they are not domed like yours. They have more the round look. I wonder if they come from different locale. Another difference are the spurs on the front legs. The two here have huge front leg spurs. So far the spurs lay flat, not exhibiting spur coning. 

They are 16-17 months old, just over 6 1/4" SLC and heavy as bricks. I have them exactly one year. They grew 2 1/2" since then. They now weigh around 700grams from 90grams when they arrived. 

For size reference the food dish is 13" across.


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## algoroth1 (May 9, 2014)

mikeh said:


> He looks amazing! I really like how highly domed his shell is for Manoura. Big differences in shell shape. Although mine are nicely humped they are not domed like yours. They have more the round look. I wonder if they come from different locale. Another difference are the spurs on the front legs. The two here have huge front leg spurs. So far the spurs lay flat, not exhibiting spur coning.
> 
> They are 16-17 months old, just over 6 1/4" SLC and heavy as bricks. I have them exactly one year. They grew 2 1/2" since then. They now weigh around 700grams from 90grams when they arrived.
> 
> For size reference the food dish is 13" across.



Mikeh,
Yours look great as well! 
Where are you located? Are your mees outoors all the time? Yes, mine has exhibited "pine-coning" on the front legs for a while. Where are yours from? Ponce is second generation captive bred from Vic Morgan here in Florida. I'm very interested in differences that occur in development that might be traced to environment as well as food. All the best,
Ron


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## algoroth1 (May 20, 2014)

Further Update--three weeks in-
I've added a shade screen over half the enclosure since too much sunlight was hitting most of the area at mid-day. Ponce has surveyed the area and determined his favorite hangouts. I discovered that too much water is being retained under the cypress substrate so I punched a number of drain holes in the vinyl floor to let out any standing water (it will never be a swimming pool again). The inflated sections all seem to be holding well. Thus far this looks like a usable outdoor enclosure solution. Will try to post more photos over the next few weeks.


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## Moozillion (May 20, 2014)

What a great idea!!!


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## compassrose26 (May 22, 2014)

I love this idea. I wonder if I could put some chicken wire over the top of one and use it all summer, I am extremely worried about predators.


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## algoroth1 (May 25, 2014)

NEW UPDATE AND CHANGES
Thanks Moozillion. Compassrose26, attached are my latest pics with new additions. Chicken wire might be hard to use with an inflatable pool for reasons you can imagine. Nonetheless, predators have to be considered. I used Jobes deerblock to keep out predators. It is very light plastic netting that drapes over the entire enclosure. You can see the net's squares against the white vinyl of the pool, but it is nearly invisible otherwise. It is not all that strong but keeps deer out of plants and protects koy ponds from raccoons, so I'm hoping it will do the job for Ponce as well. It costs only about $7.00 for a roll 7ft. X 100 ft. I also added a shade over the whole enclosure as I found we were getting to much direct sun. Whether or not you do that depends on the kind of tort you have. Happily, Ponce continues to eat well and seems to like his new environs. So far so good


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## mikeh (May 27, 2014)

algoroth1 said:


> Mikeh,
> Yours look great as well!
> Where are you located? Are your mees outoors all the time? Yes, mine has exhibited "pine-coning" on the front legs for a while. Where are yours from? Ponce is second generation captive bred from Vic Morgan here in Florida. I'm very interested in differences that occur in development that might be traced to environment as well as food. All the best,
> Ron


Sorry I missed this post Ron. I am in New Jersey. 

They are housed indoors in a 6x3 very warm/moist almost steam room like terrarium, with indirect (mostly convection) heat. They do make it outdoors couple times a week in summer months on higher humidity days. Mine came from Florida as well but from a different source I believe. 

I have few "guesses" what causes pine coning of the spurs.

a) lack of protein (as hatchlings/juveniles these guys show strong hunting behavior for live protein as especially worms, snails, even mice a member wrote?

b) lack of wetness (not just humidity) mine are completely wet 3-6 hours a day due to morning condensation when the enclosure is warming up. 

c) combination of a and b

d) very young mother 

Do any of these fit your emys?


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## compassrose26 (May 27, 2014)

algoroth1 said:


> NEW UPDATE AND CHANGES
> Thanks Moozillion. Compassrose26, attached are my latest pics with new additions. Chicken wire might be hard to use with an inflatable pool for reasons you can imagine. Nonetheless, predators have to be considered. I used Jobes deerblock to keep out predators. It is very light plastic netting that drapes over the entire enclosure. You can see the net's squares against the white vinyl of the pool, but it is nearly invisible otherwise. It is not all that strong but keeps deer out of plants and protects koy ponds from raccoons, so I'm hoping it will do the job for Ponce as well. It costs only about $7.00 for a roll 7ft. X 100 ft. I also added a shade over the whole enclosure as I found we were getting to much direct sun. Whether or not you do that depends on the kind of tort you have. Happily, Ponce continues to eat well and seems to like his new environs. So far so good
> View attachment 81490
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How did you secure the netting? How do you get into the enclosure when you need to?


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## compassrose26 (May 27, 2014)

I am mostly worried about birds if prey and raccoons. Possibly even coyotes


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## emysbreeder (May 27, 2014)

algoroth1 said:


> Ok, I thought this was crazy at first but please give it a chance
> Ponce, our mee (brown mountain tortoise) is almost two years old. His carapace measure about 7in. by 5in. and he's big enough to live permanently outdoors here in South Florida. However, he's not yet big enough to roam the entire yard freely. I did not want to spend a lot of time building an enclosure he will outgrow in a year when, if he continues to grow at this rate, he could be a good foot long and big enough to roam and graze in the yard unsupervised.
> 
> I discovered a medium strength vinyl three level inflatable swimming pool made by INTEX. I assumed it would not be adequate, but decided to invest $25 or so to experiment. The pool is 10ft. by about 5ft. And once I'd inflated all three levels I found it stands nearly 2ft. in height. The air closure on each level is heavy duty and after inflation I left it outside for a few days to see if any of the levels lost air or shrank substantially during cool evenings after hot days. Size and inflation remained constant, though I still check them daily. I also figure that if one level goes down there are two that will maintain enough height to keep Ponce in.
> ...


....Ron, That is a grate enclosure and the emys look really good. Vic


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## algoroth1 (May 27, 2014)

Compassrose,
I secured the net by using the cement "O" rings used around in-ground sprinkler heads to keep them from being crushed by lawnmowers. If you don't know what I'm talking about I'll send you a photo. I used plastic ties to secure the O rings to the netting and let the weight of the ring hold the net flush to the sides/top of the enclosure. Any slack I tucked under the enclosure walls. I think it works for raccoon because the netting would catch on their claws as it is light (I've tripped on it because it catches on my sandals if I'm not careful.) Same would go for coyotes except that they could rip through it if they tried. I would hope the effort wouldn't be worth it to them, though I don't know how much they crave tortoise. Of course I can't make any guarantees as I'm experimenting myself. 
In terms of the netting and food, I just lift the O ring at whatever location I choose, then pull up the net, reach in, take out or put in whatever food I'm dealing with and then put the net and O ring back down and smooth out the net again so it is lying flush on the pool edge surface.
Hope this helps! All the best.


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## compassrose26 (May 27, 2014)

algoroth1 said:


> Compassrose,
> I secured the net by using the cement "O" rings used around in-ground sprinkler heads to keep them from being crushed by lawnmowers. If you don't know what I'm talking about I'll send you a photo. I used plastic ties to secure the O rings to the netting and let the weight of the ring hold the net flush to the sides/top of the enclosure. Any slack I tucked under the enclosure walls. I think it works for raccoon because the netting would catch on their claws as it is light (I've tripped on it because it catches on my sandals if I'm not careful.) Same would go for coyotes except that they could rip through it if they tried. I would hope the effort wouldn't be worth it to them, though I don't know how much they crave tortoise. Of course I can't make any guarantees as I'm experimenting myself.
> In terms of the netting and food, I just lift the O ring at whatever location I choose, then pull up the net, reach in, take out or put in whatever food I'm dealing with and then put the net and O ring back down and smooth out the net again so it is lying flush on the pool edge surface.
> Hope this helps! All the best.


Very cool, thanks!!


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## algoroth1 (Jun 17, 2014)

Latest Update a month and a half in--
The rainy season in South Florida has begun. I was concerned that heavy rains would start to turn the enclosure into a pond, so I started puncing holes through the vinyl floor under the substrate. We've had heavy rains on and off over the past two weeks. The cypress mulch has absorbed almost all of the water making the substrate pretty moist except for the top layer where direct sun hits it, and it appears to agree with Ponce the emys emys. My only problem is that his appetite is increasing! That probably goes with mountain torts enjoying moisture and becoming more active in the rain.
Mikeh-- regarding pine-coning of front scales, if it is due to lack of moisture, we'll know soon


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## algoroth1 (Jul 2, 2014)

Eight weeks in and the first tropical storm of the year (Arthur) hits. Much wind, some downpours but the enclosure has held up well. Haven't even had to add air to the walls yet!


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## Sheldon the russian tortoise (Jul 2, 2014)

Wow hope that Storm doesent come towards louisiana


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## algoroth1 (Jul 3, 2014)

Hey Sheldon, don't think that's going to be a problem. Hope the folks up North don't get hit badly.


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## algoroth1 (Aug 7, 2014)

Update at three months in:
Well, after three months of rain and heat I finally noticed that that inflated walls had begun to sag. Pumped them up and good as new. I guess if that's the biggest problem I have with this idea I'll call it a success. Ponce is loving the moist atmosphere and eats anything that raises its "green"head (like clover)


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## algoroth1 (Apr 22, 2015)

Final review nearly one year in - two pools later - this is a good interim solution, but sooner or later a permanent enclsure will be necessary. The second pool only lasted three months. It deflated while we were away and a neighbor was caring for Ponce our emys emys. At nearly three years old he's pretty big so although he escaped and spent a night on the town, the neighbor found him (whew!). We're building his permanent pen now from plywood


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## leigti (Apr 22, 2015)

algoroth1 said:


> Final review nearly one year in - two pools later - this is a good interim solution, but sooner or later a permanent enclsure will be necessary. The second pool only lasted three months. It deflated while we were away and a neighbor was caring for Ponce our emys emys. At nearly three years old he's pretty big so although he escaped and spent a night on the town, the neighbor found him (whew!). We're building his permanent pen now from plywood


Thank you for the update. I think your idea gives people a good option for a temporary enclosure.


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## wellington (Apr 22, 2015)

algoroth1 said:


> Final review nearly one year in - two pools later - this is a good interim solution, but sooner or later a permanent enclsure will be necessary. The second pool only lasted three months. It deflated while we were away and a neighbor was caring for Ponce our emys emys. At nearly three years old he's pretty big so although he escaped and spent a night on the town, the neighbor found him (whew!). We're building his permanent pen now from plywood



Whoa, glad your neighbor found him. What was the reason for the second pool, I mean, how did the first one get ruined? I loved the idea, but never thought about the sides deflating and the tort getting out. Another time I'm glad your neighbor was able to step up. Great neighbors. Can't wait to see what you build for him now,


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## algoroth1 (Apr 28, 2015)

Thanks Wellington and leigti. Yep, great neighbors. Why the deflation? A combination of constant heat and/or rain plus gardeners with weed wackers and big mowers. I am going to check to see if there are any tiny punctures from tortoise claws but I really doubt it. Will let you know if I'm wrong. It is curious, though, that the first one survived intact for eight months but the second one wasn't even three months in use before it failed. Maybe Ponce's claws are tougher than I thought :>)


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## Tidgy's Dad (Apr 28, 2015)

Tortoise claws, a cat, any blown sharp object or simply perishing of the rubber/plastic. 
Great idea, but only for a short term solution, methinks.


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## teresaf (Apr 28, 2015)

Elohi said:


> What about wind? That would be my biggest worry. And I have this pool stashed somewhere in my garage.
> 
> 
> Elohi(Earth)


I thought of that too! But then I would just add some flat rocks to weight it down. May keep out ants?


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## algoroth1 (Apr 28, 2015)

Tidgy's Dad said:


> Tortoise claws, a cat, any blown sharp object or simply perishing of the rubber/plastic.
> Great idea, but only for a short term solution, methinks.


Right Adam. I thought we'd do a little better because the material was heavy and durable. Oh well. Going out to paint the plywood now


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## Tidgy's Dad (Apr 28, 2015)

algoroth1 said:


> Right Adam. I thought we'd do a little better because the material was heavy and durable. Oh well. Going out to paint the plywood now


Rather you than me.
But it was a great idea. Still think super for temporary accommodation.


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## algoroth1 (May 6, 2015)

Well, got the plywood enclosure built and painted. Ponce seems to like it. Neighborhood kids came to ask "watcha buildin' mister" so I let them pitch in. Felt like an old Tom Sawyer;-) 5/8 inch plywood painted green by popular demand. Will try to attach a photo when I'm back on my computer. In the end I would agree that the inflatable enclosure is a great idea for temporary housing.


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## algoroth1 (May 6, 2015)

Here's a pic. Far from beautiful but "not bad fo' gu'mnt work":-/


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## Tidgy's Dad (May 6, 2015)

Nice job, but be careful that Ponce doesn't dig under it.


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## algoroth1 (May 7, 2015)

No w worries. Manouria emys emys (Brown Mountain Tortoise) are not diggers. They're climbers, which is why the walls had to be at least 2 ft tall.


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