# First photo of huge indoor enclosure in progress!



## RosieRedfoot (Oct 14, 2012)

So, I've posted several random threads mentioning this new enclosure we're working on. I decided to take a picture of Rosie "in" the pen for size comparison. In the picture, the pen is up on end. The whole thing is not yet done and will also be painted, have liner, as well as a lid and control system. Buuut I gave Rosie a "sneak peek" of her future home and I think she felt lost! 

I'm going to have a heck of a time climbing into it to paint it and plant it and decorate it  Thankfully this base is only 2 feet tall so I can climb over. The lid we're constructing will be removeable and have plexi-glass doors.


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## Team Gomberg (Oct 14, 2012)

that is big... very cool


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## leonardo the tmnt (Oct 14, 2012)

Really big enclousure!


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## mainey34 (Oct 14, 2012)

Ummm, where is she? Oh there she is...that little black spot...lol


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## kathyth (Oct 14, 2012)

Looks good!


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## dannel (Oct 14, 2012)

Nice! Do you know the measurements of it?


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## sibi (Oct 14, 2012)

Nice! Where do you plan to put this enclosure?


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## 80zthomas (Oct 14, 2012)

That's huge. Did you build this yourself


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## RosieRedfoot (Oct 14, 2012)

We're building it. It's sooo heavy and I'm hoping it fits through the hallway lol. The dimensions are 6 ft by 4 ft and 2 ft tall. She's not yet 4" sooo she has some growing into it to do! It will be going in our third bedroom aka the pet room, lol. When she's an adult it won't seem so overwhelmingly huge.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 14, 2012)

Nice work!


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## LuckysGirl007 (Oct 14, 2012)

Wow! I love it!


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## Cowboy_Ken (Oct 14, 2012)

I believe Rosie is wondering why it's not done yet cause she wants a HUGE enclosure and thinks you should be done with planting it for her by now ; )
I'm jealous. It looks great! Can't wait to see the final pictures.


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## RosieRedfoot (Oct 14, 2012)

I'm wondering how I'll be able to keep track of her in it once it's planted.. and how I'll clean up after her. Might have to get some earthworms living in there to digest her poos and in turn create nicely aerated soil. Would 80% humidity be too high for earth worms? Guess if all else fails she'd get a nice snack out of them... 

If she seems to get too lost then I'll probably partition off part of the enclosure with edging rocks as a barrier and let the plants grow up in that portion. Just hopefully she still decides to come out to see me and doesn't go feral


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## 80zthomas (Oct 15, 2012)

What type of plants are you going for? I like that idea Corning off one side of the table to let the plants grow.

We as you and your significant other? Did you water proof it or are you putting a liner in? Do you plan on putting a cover over or maybe a sheet of plexiglass over to keep humidity in?


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## RosieRedfoot (Oct 15, 2012)

I have some plants that have been growing from cuttings and whatnot for a while. I have a LOT of wandering jew cuttings, a spider plant, a bella palm, and a dracaena type plant. It won't nearly be enough to fill it but by the time it's done my boyfriend and I will have another paycheck and can go to the local nursery and see what other plants are on fall-sale. 

The top is going to be a solid and slanted lid, the back part of the lid will be about 2 feet tall (so the whole thing will be 4 ft-ish total in the back to allow room for mounting lights, and to let plants grow taller), and the front part of the lid will be hinged plexi-glass doors. The whole thing will be able to come apart to let us move it in/out of the room since the doorway is only 28". 

As for the wood, I'll be painting it with acrylic based high-gloss paint and putting in plastic lining. It'll take a while to complete since we don't yet have the dirt, plexi-glass and the wood still needs to dry before I want to paint it. But I'll share progress pictures (most likely next weekend) as it comes along!


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## RosieRedfoot (Oct 16, 2012)

The wood is still fairly damp so we bought a space heater and will be putting some fans on it. So hopefully it dries in the next week or so. My bf is constructing the lid frame tonight!

Why is plexi-glass so darn expensive?! I want two huge front "windows" that are hinged and it'll be $40 additional for the plexi alone... Not to mention the extra electronics we're putting in. But, we're hoping this is a one time indoor enclosure that will last her for a while. Once she's bigger she'll be outdoors in summer and in this pen for winters which is why we're building it as big as we are.


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## LongislandPhan (Oct 17, 2012)

WOW, Very nice job! I use a 4ft long X 2ft wide X 1ft Deep for my little guys but i would love this! Cant wait to see the finished product


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## RosieRedfoot (Oct 17, 2012)

Here's a thus-far progress picture.


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## Moozillion (Oct 18, 2012)

WOW!!! Nice job- and a lot of work! I'd say your boyfriend is definitely a keeper!;-)


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## safari_lass1 (Oct 18, 2012)

She is going to love it!!


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## Jacqui (Oct 18, 2012)

Now you have made sure you can get this into the room it's going right? Plus you can manage the weight during the move? Otherwise, you might be wanting to only do like temporary fastening of it now, so you can take it apart and move it by sections. I love how it is looking so far.


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## RosieRedfoot (Oct 18, 2012)

The top part isn't permanently attached to the base. It will kind of nest onto pegs to keep it from being able to slip off, so the whole thing will never be permanently attached. As for the moving thing... let's hope, haha. We can wheel it out of the garage down the sidewalk and then there's only 2 steps into the front door and the room that it will be in is right there. We will have to take the door off to get it through and shuffle around the gerbils/rabbits in the room to make room. 

I told him if ever a bomb goes off we'll just climb into the enclosure since it's built to last.  Not even sure how I'm going to paint it since I'll have to climb in, paint half, then wait for it to dry to do the other half.


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## amanda712 (Oct 20, 2012)

That is huge! How do you go about heating/lighting something of that size?


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## RosieRedfoot (Oct 20, 2012)

Since it's going to be fully enclosed we're figuring it won't take that much to keep it warm. We're putting in an mvb, regular heat lamp, and probably under soil heat cables. But the mvb in an enclosed space will probably heat it up a fair bit.


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## AZtortMom (Oct 20, 2012)

Wow!! Very cool!


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## RosieRedfoot (Oct 21, 2012)

Attached a new photo (from phone) of progress thus far! Going to start caulking seams and cutting the lining and painting what I can. 

Still need plexiglas and to attach hinges, handles, casters, and the electronic control system.

It only weighs about 300 pounds >.>


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## WillTort2 (Oct 21, 2012)

RosieRedfoot said:


> Attached a new photo (from phone) of progress thus far! Going to start caulking seams and cutting the lining and painting what I can.
> 
> Still need plexiglas and to attach hinges, handles, casters, and the electronic control system.
> 
> It only weighs about 300 pounds >.>



check your scales...it shouldn't weigh 300 yet...not until you add 150 lbs of substrate and plants. 

looks great...very nice job.


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## RosieRedfoot (Oct 22, 2012)

It's heavy... We don't know how much it weighs exactly but it's not light. It basically will have a second layer of wood on the outside to give it a flat front appearance. I looked up average weights of the lumber and calculated that it's at least 260 pounds without substrate. Like I said, my boyfriend is building it sturdy... Haha. Sooo anyone strong on the forum live close by?


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## lynnedit (Oct 22, 2012)

Good idea to put the casters on! It is going to be a great enclosure.


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## DixieParadise (Oct 22, 2012)

I built a similar one last year. Got it set up in the garage. Only thing I forgot was the wheels. Oh well, hope I don't have to move it soon. 
Good job on yours, it looks great...


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## dannel (Oct 22, 2012)

It ONLY weighs 300 lbs??? ONLY???


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## RosieRedfoot (Oct 25, 2012)

Started painting and sealing it! No pictures to update as of yet... I bought 3 more plants on sale (umbrella tree, a dracaena, and a fern)... Also been potting a bunch of wandering jew cuttings from the outside hanging baskets. It's gonna be one huge buffet to her! Just hope that with more plants the selection is too overwhelming and she doesn't destroy *all* of them off the bat. But will eventually buy some silk plants as well that she can't eat!  

It's getting closer to completion!


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## dannel (Oct 25, 2012)

Any more pics for us?


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## RosieRedfoot (Oct 25, 2012)

Will take some after I get the first coat done. Had to run out today to buy more caulking which put things back. Soon!


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## RosieRedfoot (Oct 25, 2012)

Some paint! Waiting overnight for caulking to set up before doing more painting.

View attachment 31221


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## Carlos83 (Oct 25, 2012)

I can't see the Pic


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## dannel (Oct 25, 2012)

Same here:cry:


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## RosieRedfoot (Oct 25, 2012)




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## TortoiseBoy1999 (Oct 25, 2012)




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## leonardo the tmnt (Oct 26, 2012)

Nice enclousure your building


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## RosieRedfoot (Oct 28, 2012)

Bought some fake and real plants. Still working on caulking/painting it! Trying to do at least 2-3 good coats of paint. Then need to figure out the liner and install the control system. 

Here are my plants so far (minus a few out in the living room)


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## RosieRedfoot (Nov 2, 2012)

Updated picture! Need to paint and install doors and front "face plate" type panelling to cover the plywood and provide an insulating air pocket.


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## LuckysGirl007 (Nov 2, 2012)

RosieRedfoot said:


> Updated picture! Need to paint and install doors and front "face plate" type panelling to cover the plywood and provide an insulating air pocket.



WOW!


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## dannel (Nov 17, 2012)

Update?


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## RosieRedfoot (Nov 23, 2012)

It's done! (mostly) My bf is finishing wiring the temp/humidity gauges and hooking them up to the lcd control panel. Buuut here is the planted inside. 

From the right, looking to the left





From the left, looking to the right






So, it was lined with 6mm plastic, and then filled with organic peat moss. I then mixed in some cypress mulch. The plants are in pots in peat moss and the vines and some of the plants are fake. There is a temp/humidity probe on each far end and a waterproof temp probe under the basking area between the slate tiles. 

Under the water I put a cat litterbox and filled it with rocks to keep them contained, and put the water dish on top of that. I can pour water over the rocks to easily up humidity without creating a soggy spot she can get shell-rot in. 

Right now on the left side the lamp up high is just a regular light to keep it lit and warm, and on the right side down lower over the tiles is her MVB bulb. I'll probably be replacing the left side lamp with a CHE and putting in a strip-UVB eventually. 

Buuut thought you guys would like a visual update! 

Doors still need to be put on (one of the plexi-doors is still drying) but it should be all finished by tomorrow!


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## dannel (Nov 23, 2012)

Looks great!


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## RosieRedfoot (Nov 23, 2012)

Thanks! Will take a picture of the outside once it's got the doors tomorrow. 

Here's a front/top view of the left side:





Here's a front/top view of the right side:






The vines hide where the temp/humidity sensors run through the back and down the wall  You can also see the computer fans on the sides that are there to help prevent it from being too stuffy, as well as turn on when it's too hot.


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## dannel (Nov 23, 2012)

Good idea!


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## RosieRedfoot (Nov 23, 2012)

Once she's bigger she'll be getting summer outdoor time as well. This is her winter/night/youth enclosure. Just in case anyone out there was curious. 

I'll also take pictures when she's in it. Sure beats her under bed storage tub!


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## murdocjunior (Dec 14, 2012)

any updated pics?


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## bellyboo (Dec 15, 2012)

RosieRedfoot said:


> It will be going in our third bedroom aka the pet room, lol.



I love this sentence. Ha! Along with our tortoise/turtles we have 3 dogs and 2 cats, so we also have a pet room. 

It looks great! Nice and roomy for sure. she'll love it!


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## Livingstone (Dec 15, 2012)

Nice work.


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## colatoise (Dec 15, 2012)

Very nice!


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