# Our new Sulcata indoor enclosure



## DaveTheDadHaileeTheDaughter (Dec 13, 2010)

Pretty much finished up the new enclosure last night, its 6foot x 4foot with a 21 x 21 hide. Still have some stuff we want to add, more heat lamps, and waiting on the new mercury vapor uvb bulb to come in (had to order it) Temps now by the heat lamps are 79-82 the hide was at 68 with 75% humidity (no heat in hide) away from lamps is 68-70. Changed the substrate to cypress mulch and found a local grocery that stocks organic dandelion greens!! So little by little we are getting there (I think) So much yet to learn but my daughter and I are having a blast with these Torts and they seem to be doing fantastic !! Thanks again for everyones help/input/suggestions !!!









Video link to new enclosure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK1dVnX-Jfw


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## Torty Mom (Dec 13, 2010)

Looks awesome, you guys did a fantastic job!!! LOVE it!!! Nothing better than father daughter time!


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## ChiKat (Dec 13, 2010)

It looks wonderful!! Very nice job 
My only suggestion would be if you want more floor space for them I would take out some of the big rocks since those are just taking up space. You could add more hides or fake plants, or add flat rocks so they can walk on them and keep their toenails trim 
You may want to bury the water dish in the substrate a bit so they can easily get a drink. Or get a larger water dish altogether  (I use a frisbee in my Russian's outdoor enclosure!)

I love the built-in hide. You must be very handy! I love that this is a project/hobby for you and your daughter.
Do the torts have names? They are very lucky to be under your care!


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## DaveTheDadHaileeTheDaughter (Dec 13, 2010)

Torty Mom said:


> Looks awesome, you guys did a fantastic job!!! LOVE it!!! Nothing better than father daughter time!






Thank you ! We spend allot of time together in my workshop which now houses my shop equipment, a indoor koi pond, and the tortoise enclosure lol


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## JohnathanO (Dec 13, 2010)

Looks Great


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## Torty Mom (Dec 13, 2010)

Have you posted pics of the indoor koi pond? I am dying to have a pond!!! I would love to see it!!


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## ticothetort2 (Dec 13, 2010)

Looks nice and roomy for the torts!! Great job!


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## Laura (Dec 13, 2010)

i see that little pile of grass hay... is that its Diet/food? 
baby sulcatas dont eat grass hay... big ones might if they acclimate to it..
so buy some bagged lettuce spring mix... or the Santa Barbara mix if you can find it.. 


oh.. and i miss my dad.. he would have done that for me.. 
cherish it all.


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## -ryan- (Dec 14, 2010)

Laura said:


> i see that little pile of grass hay... is that its Diet/food?
> baby sulcatas dont eat grass hay... big ones might if they acclimate to it..
> so buy some bagged lettuce spring mix... or the Santa Barbara mix if you can find it..
> 
> ...





This was addressed in the initial post, and there are better choices than bagged mixes (financially speaking, as well as quality), if you have the resources nearby, which it sounds like they have discovered.

Good thing to address though, because I could see how some newer members might assume that they can feed their torts on a diet of all hay.


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## coreyc (Dec 14, 2010)

The table looks great the only thing I can see an is the light that is hanging in the middle of the table it looks like a coil bulb? but you have a MVB bulb on order so I would imagine your going to change it out when you get it


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## DaveTheDadHaileeTheDaughter (Dec 14, 2010)

ChiKat said:


> It looks wonderful!! Very nice job
> My only suggestion would be if you want more floor space for them I would take out some of the big rocks since those are just taking up space. You could add more hides or fake plants, or add flat rocks so they can walk on them and keep their toenails trim
> You may want to bury the water dish in the substrate a bit so they can easily get a drink. Or get a larger water dish altogether  (I use a frisbee in my Russian's outdoor enclosure!)
> 
> ...



Thank you I have a ton of ideas I wanna do to the enclosure, one im going to build a small platform with a sunk in tub for water they can crawl in and out of, and omg the ideas lol as for names none yet she's still waiting for the special thing that one or the other does to help her decide on a name for each



Torty Mom said:


> Have you posted pics of the indoor koi pond? I am dying to have a pond!!! I would love to see it!!



Heres a pic of my indoor winter pond for my koi its 250 gallons, I havent got the sprayers an such going yet so its kinda blah plain right now as seen in pic





Pic of my outdoor summertime koi pond its 1000 gallons





video link of my outdoor one - vid is from second year after i built it so now its much more established more plants etc. Theres a couple other vids too of how I built it and such.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWiOnjlIEPo


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## Candy (Dec 14, 2010)

Absolutely beautiful! You guys did a great job.


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## DaveTheDadHaileeTheDaughter (Dec 14, 2010)

-ryan- said:


> Laura said:
> 
> 
> > i see that little pile of grass hay... is that its Diet/food?
> ...





The grass pile is timothy hay, when we got them the previous owners only fed lettuce an some other stuff not sure exactly, used no calcium, no uvb, no soakings nothing, wont mention the cedar chips they used for bedding. When we got them we started them on spring mix, calcium, uvb, daily soakings they just love, some pumpkin,a bit of carrot, numerous stuff we have been alternating. The hay we put in actually for something for them to crawl in or whatever but most usually they eat most of it by the time we get home in the evening. Hopefully my other bulb is here soon, but for now I have the coil one hung 18 inches up to the bottom of the bulb. Thank you all for your compliments it has been a awesome learning experiance for both my daughter and myself and looking forward to learning a bunch more thanks for all your help and knowledge !!!


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## Yvonne G (Dec 14, 2010)

I love the inventive way that your light is hanging, however, like Corey said, the compact fluorescent bulbs might not be one of the best choices for a tortoise. When they first came out, they caused blindness and pain for tortoises. One of my sister's baby tortoises even died. If its at all possible, buy an MVB (mercury vapor bulb) instead. They provide heat along with the UVB that is necessary for the tortoise's calcium intake to work. The CFL is supposed to be ok now, however, its hard for you to know whether or not you have a new one after the fix, or an old one.


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## ISTortoiseLover (Dec 15, 2010)

very nice tortoise table, Dave. Great job!


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## TKCARDANDCOIN (Dec 15, 2010)

WOW! Everything looks awesome!Great Job!By the way,What part of Ohio?I am just outside of Cleveland.


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## shaz179 (Dec 15, 2010)

Looks great, you done a fab job


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## Jermosh (Dec 15, 2010)

I am going to recommend putting in a lip on the walls, I have seen sullie and certainly DTs climb walls like that in the corner. Some dont climb, others do, but at that height it would be horrid to find out one did like to climb.

My Shelly used to be able to scale a 10" wall when he was little. Took me hours and hours to find him too.


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## DaveTheDadHaileeTheDaughter (Dec 16, 2010)

Jermosh said:


> I am going to recommend putting in a lip on the walls, I have seen sullie and certainly DTs climb walls like that in the corner. Some dont climb, others do, but at that height it would be horrid to find out one did like to climb.
> 
> My Shelly used to be able to scale a 10" wall when he was little. Took me hours and hours to find him too.


The lip is already in the works, one of the reasons I got this thing built quick was they were doing their best to climb out of the small tub we had them in for the first couple weeks, so far they havent tried to climb the walls (or that ive seen) but Im not taking any chances so the lip will be installed very soon !!





TKCARDANDCOIN said:


> WOW! Everything looks awesome!Great Job!By the way,What part of Ohio?I am just outside of Cleveland.



Thank you and Im located in Tiffin Ohio, approx 1hr south of Toledo, my town is noted as being a college town as we have two colleges here, Tiffin University, and Heidelberg College


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## Jessicap (Dec 27, 2010)

awesome table! and your outside pond is gorgeous.


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## tortoises101 (Dec 29, 2010)

Your enclosure design looks great! Gives me a few ideas for my tort table...


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