# Indoor enclosure



## Anyfoot (Oct 18, 2015)

I've finally got around to start decorating the inside of my Tortoise house. 3 months behind schedule. 
My plan is listed below. Hence the word plan, plans change. 
1 Build caves
2 Build base for water feature. 
3 Board and seal the ceiling. 
4 Paint everything with chlorinated rubber paint. (3 coats). To seal as a wet room. 
5 Create water feature and bathing area and finish off the upper tier above caves. 
6 Install all lights and heat source.
7 fill up enclosure with soil creating smaller hides too. 
8 add plant life. 
9 add misting systems. 
10 leave it running with heat and light source on full cycles without tortoises for a month or 2. 
11 add tortoises 
12 start on outside area. 

Here are the caves I've created. The substrate(soil) will vary in depths from about 8" to 18"through the enclosure. At the caves it will go down hill into about 8" depth. So just outside the caves it will be 8" deep. It's a squeeze but I can get in the caves to service the heat sources and tidy around. The plan is to use the top area too. So there will be mounded up soil going up either side against the walls. There will be about 12" of soil above the caves. All made safe with natural sandstones as barriers. I'm hoping the heat from the caves will rise and keep this area warm. Maybe for nesting, but also to create different levels of thermal temps in height within the enclosure. 
The floor tapers from the back at the caves to the front where 2 drains leading outside are. The taper us about 12" drop. Needed drainage because its going to be very humid and wet for at least 6 months per year.
Anyway I could go on forever , just need to imagine it painted and with natural stones above and with plant life hanging over the front. 
Nearly forgot, is it true that any plants that eat flies have to be watered with rain water only?


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## Gillian M (Oct 18, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> I've finally got around to start decorating the inside of my Tortoise house. 3 months behind schedule.
> My plan is listed below. Hence the word plan, plans change.
> 1 Build caves
> 2 Build base for water feature.
> ...


That's a lovely enclosure!! Well done. But it must have been expensive, right?


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## Anyfoot (Oct 18, 2015)

Gillian Moore said:


> That's a lovely enclosure!! Well done. But it must have been expensive, right?


Yep building was a bit more than expected.


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## Alaskamike (Oct 19, 2015)

Nice work. I love seeing how people create environments. You should work for a zoo !  
Post more pics as you go ...


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## ZEROPILOT (Oct 19, 2015)

Very nice indeed. It looks like something professionally done. Like a zoo exhibit!


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## Anyfoot (Oct 19, 2015)

I Just used old bricks,rocks,stones and breeze blocks to construct, then splattered with cement. Quite enjoyable, daughter loved it, very messy. 
I went to one of our local zoos to see how they made them. 
This is it part built. On the left you can see my 1st attempt at adding texture, found it better just to lightly smooth over with a very wet brush.


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## Gillian M (Oct 20, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> I Just used old bricks,rocks,stones and breeze blocks to construct, then splattered with cement. Quite enjoyable, daughter loved it, very messy.
> I went to one of our local zoos to see how they made them.
> This is it part built. On the left you can see my 1st attempt at adding texture, found it better just to lightly smooth over with a very wet brush.
> View attachment 153050


Great work-well done! *Please* post more pics of enclosures. Oli's is being made and I want to give the guy an idea of a suitable enclosure. Thanks very much.


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## Prairie Mom (Oct 20, 2015)

This is spectacular!!! I love everything you build! I can't wait to see how this progresses. What an inspiration!


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## Anyfoot (Oct 20, 2015)

Prairie Mom said:


> This is spectacular!!! I love everything you build! I can't wait to see how this progresses. What an inspiration!


Thanks mom, and keep those different avatar photos coming. .


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## Anyfoot (Oct 24, 2015)

This weekend I am putting up a 2nd layer of insulation on the ceiling. Then board and seal it. 
Then hopefully do a bit more on the water feature.


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## johnandjade (Oct 24, 2015)

great looking project look forward to seeing the occupants enjoying


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## Anyfoot (Nov 14, 2015)

Ceiling is insulated and boarded. 
Walls and ceiling have two coats of rubber paint on, and just done first coat on front of the caves. Man this paint makes you feel high.


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## SarahChelonoidis (Nov 14, 2015)

This project is so inspirational.


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## Yvonne G (Nov 14, 2015)

Oh my! What a neat project. Simply awe inspiring. I can hardly wait to see it finished and inhabited.


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## Prairie Mom (Nov 14, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> Ceiling is insulated and boarded.
> Walls and ceiling have two coats of rubber paint on, and just done first coat on front of the caves. Man this paint makes you feel high.
> 
> View attachment 155591


Looking Fantastic!


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## Alaskamike (Nov 14, 2015)

Wow. That's as nice as any zoo. Lucky torts !


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## Anyfoot (Nov 14, 2015)

And to keep myself busy whilst sad reality programmes are on TV, I have been having a go at creating a barrier for my slope up to the top level of the caves with bamboo and twine. Very frustrating at 1st. Got the hang of it now. This is 4' long with gaps about 4" max, so my smallest sub adult cant fall through it. Made of 2" diameter bamboo. 
You can see on the right there is one piece missing, my plan is to fix one here when it's in situ, but make this one look as if it comes from the floor and through the ceiling.(about 7ft) Then grow a plant up this one. Was thinking a Swiss cheese plant.
Does anyone know if I will be OK using a Swiss cheese plant?


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## Prairie Mom (Nov 14, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> And to keep myself busy whilst sad reality programmes are on TV, I have been having a go at creating a barrier for my slope up to the top level of the caves with bamboo and twine. Very frustrating at 1st. Got the hang of it now. This is 4' long with gaps about 4" max, so my smallest sub adult cant fall through it. Made of 2" diameter bamboo.
> You can see on the right there is one piece missing, my plan is to fix one here when it's in situ, but make this one look as if it comes from the floor and through the ceiling.(about 7ft) Then grow a plant up this one. Was thinking a Swiss cheese plant.
> Does anyone know if I will be OK using a Swiss cheese plant?
> View attachment 155595


Ooooooh! That's going to look so cool!!! Swiss Cheese plant is also called "Splitleaf Philodendron" or "Monstera deliciosa.*" *This website lists oxalates as being the only issue... http://www.tortoise.org/general/poisonp.html - The plant would look so good in there! <chanting can be heard across the internet> Do it...Do it...Do it!...


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## Anyfoot (Nov 14, 2015)

Prairie Mom said:


> Ooooooh! That's going to look so cool!!! Swiss Cheese plant is also called "Splitleaf Philodendron" or "Monstera deliciosa.*" *This website lists oxalates as being the only issue... http://www.tortoise.org/general/poisonp.html - The plant would look so good in there! <chanting can be heard across the internet> Do it...Do it...Do it!...


Thank you so much. I am going to need help when it comes to plant selection and location off you guys. Hint hint. I was hoping to plant plenty of stuff that they can pick off at will, also grow weeds,clover, etc for ground cover, then have plant boxes on the walls to grow stuff they can't devour instantly. Thinking also to grow a grape vine up some mesh on one of the walls. I have somebutterfly palms for cover too. Would hibiscus plants flower indoors in a tropical climate?


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## Prairie Mom (Nov 14, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> Thank you so much. I am going to need help when it comes to plant selection and location off you guys. Hint hint. I was hoping to plant plenty of stuff that they can pick off at will, also grow weeds,clover, etc for ground cover, then have plant boxes on the walls to grow stuff they can't devour instantly. Thinking also to grow a grape vine up some mesh on one of the walls. I have somebutterfly palms for cover too. Would hibiscus plants flower indoors in a tropical climate?


I'm growing quite a few things indoors experimentally for the first time. I think that a room like you're creating is breaking new ground Many of us will be watching you to see how it all works. 

I tried growing a small young grape vine last year. It was doing well under my fluorescent grow light, but then one of my cats got to the plant (mine eat anything green) and it never recovered. I plan to try it again soon. I'm growing hibiscus inside for the first time and have wondered that too.

@Yellow Turtle01 & @Odin's Gma does your hibiscus flower indoors?


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## Anyfoot (Nov 14, 2015)

Prairie Mom said:


> I'm growing quite a few things indoors experimentally for the first time. I think that a room like you're creating is breaking new ground Many of us will be watching you to see how it all works.
> 
> I tried growing a small young grape vine last year. It was doing well under my fluorescent grow light, but then one of my cats got to the plant (mine eat anything green) and it never recovered. I plan to try it again soon. I'm growing hibiscus inside for the first time and have wondered that too.
> 
> @Yellow Turtle01 & @Odin's Gma does your hibiscus flower indoors?


Well the aim is hopefully to have insulated it that well that once i get it to the right ambient temp I require it won't be too expensive to run. It's never going to be cheep to run, but neither is my existing tort room. Also the ultimate goal would be never have to buy food again. Not saying its possible, but I'm going to give it a shot. This should offset some running costs. Fruit is not a problem from may to November. Plenty of wild fruit trees around here. I also have an apple,plum and cherry tree in the garden. Need to get a fig tree, although I know where there is one on a river bank in the middle of nowhere.


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## Prairie Mom (Nov 14, 2015)

You're right. It will never be cheap, but I think you're onto something when you talk about not having to purchase as much food. That definitely will help compensate. I always have a million grow lights inside every winter and people have belittled what I do by complaining that the energy costs outweigh the cost of what I'm growing etc. I've actually found that to be untrue. Mainly because once the lights go up, we become really strict about saving electricity every where else. I even unplug ovens, computers, etc when they're not being used so even the tiny electronic clocks on microwaves, stoves, etc are not draining any energy.

If you haven't seen this thread, you should check it out. A member in Germany named "Jemo" posted some smaller photos of his aldabra room that are really cool. http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...old-weather-people-do-it.107671/#post-1003313 Some day I want my indoor tortoise room to be a combination of what Jemo has and what you are creating here. I admire your work so much! Now, go dig up that fig


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## Anyfoot (Nov 14, 2015)

Prairie Mom said:


> You're right. It will never be cheap, but I think you're onto something when you talk about not having to purchase as much food. That definitely will help compensate. I always have a million grow lights inside every winter and people have belittled what I do by complaining that the energy costs outweigh the cost of what I'm growing etc. I've actually found that to be untrue. Mainly because once the lights go up, we become really strict about saving electricity every where else. I even unplug ovens, computers, etc when they're not being used so even the tiny electronic clocks on microwaves, stoves, etc are not draining any energy.
> 
> If you haven't seen this thread, you should check it out. A member in Germany named "Jemo" posted some smaller photos of his aldabra room that are really cool. http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...old-weather-people-do-it.107671/#post-1003313 Some day I want my indoor tortoise room to be a combination of what Jemo has and what you are creating here. I admire your work so much! Now, go dig up that fig


Just looked at that thread. Nice glass house
I considered using water pipework like that coming from a gas central heating boiler. I was going to run it outside under the ground too. But could have got too complicated with gas. The more pipework you need, the bigger the gas boiler needs to be, and you have to involve the gas authority's. Gas is about a third of the price of electric over here. The way I have done it I thought at a later date I could add solar panels to the roof. I've just seen tortadises thread today, about moving, he mentioned solar in that. I'll pick his brains further down the line. Lol. 
Also taking it even further, what's to stop me growing stuff for us humans too (grapes,oranges,cucumbers,tomatoes) you get the idea. The more I can grow, the better food source is, less air to heat up and humidity is kept easier. Win win I hope. 
Also in this room I'm hoping to create an area for juveniles and incubation. So if the ambient is lets say 80f, there's not that much more heat required for controlled areas at lets say 84f/86f. Your effectively using 1 huge source for every aspect of torting. At the moment I have 8 lights or heat sources plus a large gas central heating radiator keeping temps up. Not growing anything edible and my room is getting damaged with humidity, big time, and I believe no matter what, you can not provide the correct floor inside your home, unless you are willing to put a deep layer of substrate in the floor. Basically do what I'm going to do, but in your house. My tort room is warm, floor is insulated and fairly warm, however it's not a good texture for the torts to walk on. It's constantly trying to spray there legs apart. Not good for the torts health. Worries me a lot. I put some fake grass mats down for now, just to get me by. I can take then up and clean easy. But its not right. 
Into the future and beyond. Yeah I watch kids programmes too. Lol


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## Rutibegga (Nov 14, 2015)

This is so cool!


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## Odin's Gma (Nov 14, 2015)

Prairie Mom said:


> @Yellow Turtle01 & @Odin's Gma does your hibiscus flower indoors?


Apparently even when I try to stop them.
I DRAMATICALLY pruned Mr. Hibsicus just a couple weeks ago after leaving him outside after a frost, with the intent of scaling him back without the guilt of chopping off all of those beautiful, healthy branches (I just can't bring myself to do it, I have tried!)
So, I left it out through the first big frost and, as expected, all the leaves dried and fell off (I saved them all for tortoise hay additive!) It was much easier to chop off the branches when they appeared dead, and it brought him down to a more manageable size for bringing in and out of the house twice a year. He was up around 7 feet after the summer and in a 24 inch pot, EEK!
Now he is still in the huge pot, but only around 4 feet:



And coming back like gangbusters with a couple of tiny flower buds!




YAY!

And, BTW @Anyfoot , HO-LEE-SMOKES! I am loving your project! You've got my creativity wheels spinning!


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## Anyfoot (Nov 14, 2015)

Odin's Gma said:


> Apparently even when I try to stop them.
> I DRAMATICALLY pruned Mr. Hibsicus just a couple weeks ago after leaving him outside after a frost, with the intent of scaling him back without the guilt of chopping off all of those beautiful, healthy branches (I just can't bring myself to do it, I have tried!)
> So, I left it out through the first big frost and, as expected, all the leaves dried and fell off (I saved them all for tortoise hay additive!) It was much easier to chop off the branches when they appeared dead, and it brought him down to a more manageable size for bringing in and out of the house twice a year. He was up around 7 feet after the summer and in a 24 inch pot, EEK!
> Now he is still in the huge pot, but only around 4 feet:
> ...


Thank you. I bought 3 hibiscus a couple of weeks ago. Only £2 each. End of season sale. They are about 18" high. So if I bring them indoors the leaves will grow back.


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## Odin's Gma (Nov 14, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> Thank you. I bought 3 hibiscus a couple of weeks ago. Only £2 each. End of season sale. They are about 18" high. So if I bring them indoors the leaves will grow back.


They sure will! This is the second time in the years since I have had Mr.Hibiscus that I left him out after the first big frost and both times he has come back with a vengeance! The tiny one (as of yet unnamed) that spent all summer outside and last month was moved into the greenhouse, has already produced one flower so far. It's only about a foot high but has acclimated beautifully so far. Had a few leaves yellow and drop, but was fine after that.


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## Prairie Mom (Nov 16, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> Just looked at that thread. Nice glass house
> I considered using water pipework like that coming from a gas central heating boiler. I was going to run it outside under the ground too. But could have got too complicated with gas. The more pipework you need, the bigger the gas boiler needs to be, and you have to involve the gas authority's. Gas is about a third of the price of electric over here. The way I have done it I thought at a later date I could add solar panels to the roof. I've just seen tortadises thread today, about moving, he mentioned solar in that. I'll pick his brains further down the line. Lol.
> Also taking it even further, what's to stop me growing stuff for us humans too (grapes,oranges,cucumbers,tomatoes) you get the idea. The more I can grow, the better food source is, less air to heat up and humidity is kept easier. Win win I hope.
> Also in this room I'm hoping to create an area for juveniles and incubation. So if the ambient is lets say 80f, there's not that much more heat required for controlled areas at lets say 84f/86f. Your effectively using 1 huge source for every aspect of torting. At the moment I have 8 lights or heat sources plus a large gas central heating radiator keeping temps up. Not growing anything edible and my room is getting damaged with humidity, big time, and I believe no matter what, you can not provide the correct floor inside your home, unless you are willing to put a deep layer of substrate in the floor. Basically do what I'm going to do, but in your house. My tort room is warm, floor is insulated and fairly warm, however it's not a good texture for the torts to walk on. It's constantly trying to spray there legs apart. Not good for the torts health. Worries me a lot. I put some fake grass mats down for now, just to get me by. I can take then up and clean easy. But its not right.
> Into the future and beyond. Yeah I watch kids programmes too. Lol



I got your Buzz quote I too am interested in Solar panels. Yvonne G also has some and chatted about it a while back. She said it took quite a few years to regain the cost of installation and equipment. I'm sure in the long run, it's worth it. I think your temp plans for your multiple tortoise endeavors sounds great. It will be neat to see how everything works out.

As for growing human food. Pollination is he biggest issue. I've seen that plants can get huge indoors if given the space and lighting. Last year, I even managed to accidentally fertilize some "early girl tomatoes." I've been looking into "Parthenocarpic seeds" which do not require ferilization. Supposedly every flower will grow and produce fruit. I recently found one seed company in the US that has a full line of Parthenoccarpic tomatoes that I want to try out next year's winter season. I'll post how it goes in the garden chat.

I think it's good that you will be putting down a thick substrate. It seems more natural and will serve for easier clean ups. Good luck with your continuing project! Sorry to keep hogging your thread I find it all very interesting.


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## Anyfoot (Nov 16, 2015)

Prairie Mom said:


> I got your Buzz quote I too am interested in Solar panels. Yvonne G also has some and chatted about it a while back. She said it took quite a few years to regain the cost of installation and equipment. I'm sure in the long run, it's worth it. I think your temp plans for your multiple tortoise endeavors sounds great. It will be neat to see how everything works out.
> 
> As for growing human food. Pollination is he biggest issue. I've seen that plants can get huge indoors if given the space and lighting. Last year, I even managed to accidentally fertilize some "early girl tomatoes." I've been looking into "Parthenocarpic seeds" which do not require ferilization. Supposedly every flower will grow and produce fruit. I recently found one seed company in the US that has a full line of Parthenoccarpic tomatoes that I want to try out next year's winter season. I'll post how it goes in the garden chat.
> 
> I think it's good that you will be putting down a thick substrate. It seems more natural and will serve for easier clean ups. Good luck with your continuing project! Sorry to keep hogging your thread I find it all very interesting.


Hog away, doesn't bother me. Think I mentioned this before. I got into growing a lot of veg a few years back. Went a bit mad with it actually, I grew over 100 Roma plum tomatoe plants one year. Froze them, then dropped in boiling water. Skinned plum tomatoes, just like the tin says. Lol. 
Anyway, you can get plenty all female veg plants. Cucumbers, tomatoes. Have a go at growing zucchini. I got in undated with them one year. Have s go at growing Romanesco broccoli. It's easy and right nice. 
Purple broccoli and kale will be good in your climate. I was never successful at sprouts, everytime they blew. My favorite too. 
Oh forgot, there's no such thing as off topic in my threads too. Knowledge is knowledge. 

I grew loads of different squashes one year. Ended up with one plant that I'm convinced was an hybrid. It produced 19 squashes about the size of a rugby ball. Lived off homemade soup for weeks. Lol. 
I'm going to get back into it after this project. 
Now, plants and flowers, I know nothing about.


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## Anyfoot (Nov 16, 2015)

Prairie Mom said:


> I got your Buzz quote I too am interested in Solar panels. Yvonne G also has some and chatted about it a while back. She said it took quite a few years to regain the cost of installation and equipment. I'm sure in the long run, it's worth it. I think your temp plans for your multiple tortoise endeavors sounds great. It will be neat to see how everything works out.
> 
> As for growing human food. Pollination is he biggest issue. I've seen that plants can get huge indoors if given the space and lighting. Last year, I even managed to accidentally fertilize some "early girl tomatoes." I've been looking into "Parthenocarpic seeds" which do not require ferilization. Supposedly every flower will grow and produce fruit. I recently found one seed company in the US that has a full line of Parthenoccarpic tomatoes that I want to try out next year's winter season. I'll post how it goes in the garden chat.
> 
> I think it's good that you will be putting down a thick substrate. It seems more natural and will serve for easier clean ups. Good luck with your continuing project! Sorry to keep hogging your thread I find it all very interesting.


Well I just had to Google parthenocarpic. Am I understanding this right. It's a seedless friut?


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## Yellow Turtle01 (Nov 17, 2015)

Prairie Mom said:


> I'm growing quite a few things indoors experimentally for the first time. I think that a room like you're creating is breaking new ground Many of us will be watching you to see how it all works.
> 
> I tried growing a small young grape vine last year. It was doing well under my fluorescent grow light, but then one of my cats got to the plant (mine eat anything green) and it never recovered. I plan to try it again soon. I'm growing hibiscus inside for the first time and have wondered that too.
> 
> @Yellow Turtle01 & @Odin's Gma does your hibiscus flower indoors?


Nope. A couple weeks after I bring mine in any flowers left die and all the seed pods drop. THey usually shedall their leaves too, but they always grow back.

Gosh, Anyfoot! This looks great.


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## Lyn W (Nov 17, 2015)

Only just seen this Craig - it's looking fantastic!
Your torts are going to love that!


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## Anyfoot (Nov 17, 2015)

Lyn W said:


> Only just seen this Craig - it's looking fantastic!
> Your torts are going to love that!


I hope so. I may move in yet. Lol.


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## Lyn W (Nov 17, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> I hope so. I may move in yet. Lol.


How about putting some bunks in the corner and offering a B&B Tort Experience?
That will help with the costs!!!


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## Prairie Mom (Nov 18, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> Well I just had to Google parthenocarpic. Am I understanding this right. It's a seedless friut?


Yes, I'm pretty sure that's the case for all the fruit/veg grown this way. The only experience I have eating them is seedless watermelon and grapes from the store. In the US seedless watermelon and grapes outsell seeded ones so much that they cost almost the same price in the grocery store as seeded varieties.

I've known nothing about these seeds until very recently and I'm still trying to find sources where I can buy them. I attended a local gardening conference on pollinators and encouraging garden biodiversity. (I mentioned it in the garden chat a while ago http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...ts-and-people-♫-♫.104546/page-66#post-1080148) One of the speakers gave an interesting talk about pollinating crops. In my area many gardeners use hoop tunnels and greenhouses even through the hottest part of the summer to deal with our difficult climate, but doing this can make it challenging to get crops pollinated. He mentioned that bumblebees do better than other bees when living captive in structures. They are not aggressive and less likely to continually bash themselves to death against windows. He also spoke about using parthenocarpic seeds for growing indoors or inside structures.

The seeds were never mentioned to replace veg outside (this was a conference about helping pollinators after all!), but they can be a very viable option for indoor gardening. I can't imagine tomatoes without the seeds, but I'm going to try it next winter after I use up more of my seeds this winter and next summer. I have so many lights going and other things growing that I would love to expand on the human garden indoors as well. These type of seeds would also really open up what can be done in cold frames too.


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## Anyfoot (Nov 18, 2015)

Prairie Mom said:


> Yes, I'm pretty sure that's the case for all the fruit/veg grown this way. The only experience I have eating them is seedless watermelon and grapes from the store. In the US seedless watermelon and grapes outsell seeded ones so much that they cost almost the same price in the grocery store as seeded varieties.
> 
> I've known nothing about these seeds until very recently and I'm still trying to find sources where I can buy them. I attended a local gardening conference on pollinators and encouraging garden biodiversity. (I mentioned it in the garden chat a while ago http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/garden-chat-photos-for-torts-and-people-♫-♫.104546/page-66#post-1080148) One of the speakers gave an interesting talk about pollinating crops. In my area many gardeners use hoop tunnels and greenhouses even through the hottest part of the summer to deal with our difficult climate, but doing this can make it challenging to get crops pollinated. He mentioned that bumblebees do better than other bees when living captive in structures. They are not aggressive and less likely to continually bash themselves to death against windows. He also spoke about using parthenocarpic seeds for growing indoors or inside structures.
> 
> The seeds were never mentioned to replace veg outside (this was a conference about helping pollinators after all!), but they can be a very viable option for indoor gardening. I can't imagine tomatoes without the seeds, but I'm going to try it next winter after I use up more of my seeds this winter and next summer. I have so many lights going and other things growing that I would love to expand on the human garden indoors as well. These type of seeds would also really open up what can be done in cold frames too.


What do you mean. "So many lights going"?


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## Prairie Mom (Nov 18, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> What do you mean. "So many lights going"?


grow lights sorry! Every winter I grow a lot indoors and since I've adopted my sulcata, I grow food for her as well.


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## Anyfoot (Nov 18, 2015)

Prairie Mom said:


> grow lights sorry! Every winter I grow a lot indoors and since I've adopted my sulcata, I grow food for her as well.


 Try Mushrooms. No lights needed for some types. I've never done it. But my dad grows them in his shed in the dark.


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## Prairie Mom (Nov 18, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> Try Mushrooms. No lights needed for some types. I've never done it. But my dad grows them in his shed in the dark.


I'd love to


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## AnimalLady (Nov 19, 2015)

This is so awesome, i sooo cant wait to see the tort in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Anyfoot (Nov 22, 2015)

Just a quick update. 
All painting is finally finished(phew). 
Next is to finish of my water feature and the top tier of the caves. 



Below is my Colosseum so my males can do gladiatorial battles. Na only kidding, This is the base for my water feature, I'll fill the middle in with any old rubble and then sculpt the pond area. The reason its got gaps in the base is to aid drainage for the rest of the enclosure. 



The top horizontal stone is not fixed in place. The idea is to have a water pipe up top that will drop onto the slab(collecting oxygen) run down the slab onto the fixed vertical stone cascading into the pond area. At the other end of the pond it will weir into a xxxx gallon container through a pump and filter, and back to the top. If I do it correctly I'm hoping the floating poops can be netted out of the container and the submerged pump will deal with the smaller sinking particles of dirt. 
This will be topped up from a storage tank that will be supplied from the water mains. I'm hoping in doing this the water temp should never be too cold and never have too many additives they add to water for human consumption. At this stage I don't know what the top up rate will be, hoping about 5% top up a day, this will be trial and error. If I lose lets say between 2 and 4 gallon a day on average I'll pump in 4 gallon a day, there will be an overflow going to the internal drains to cope with excess water. 
All the substrate will be level to the pond height. The pond at its limits is 6x5ft in size. 
Looks a bit bare at the moment, you need to visualise it with plants in the pond and draping off the waterfall area. I'll probably have a palm on either side of the water fall too. Hoping I can grow water cress somewhere.


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## SarahChelonoidis (Nov 22, 2015)

This is going to be so stunning when it's all done. I love that you've shared this building process.


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## Anyfoot (Nov 22, 2015)

SarahChelonoidis said:


> This is going to be so stunning when it's all done. I love that you've shared this building process.


Hi Sarah. Thank you. I'm hoping others will attempt making caves, the imagination can run wild with design, and its made of old rubbish. I had to use lintels for strength on top tier. But without them, about £20 in total.
I even thought of doing a stand alone cave that was heated, and on top of the cave have a dip that holds water. The water would evaporate from rising heat to create a constant himudity.(volcano look) I also wish I had moulded plant holding areas to the front of the cave. I could have had fly trapping plants growing out of the cave walls. 
Anyway, can you help me with how algae grows. I had a debate with a friend the other day about this. I always thought that algea only grows with the source of uv. My friend says its the opposite. He says uv kills algea. Confused. 
I may not get it due to having flowing water. Although some on rocks would look good. 
Thanks again.


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## SarahChelonoidis (Nov 22, 2015)

UVb (and UVc) inhibit photosynthesis and result in decreased algae growth. UV can't penetrate especially far into water with a lot of organic material in it though, so it doesn't do as much to control algae in heavily planted or murky waters. For growing algae, visible and maybe a little UVa is all that's required. You'll have the light for algae growth in this set up, but the water movement will hopefully limit it.


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## keepergale (Nov 22, 2015)

They make UV lights with a water flow thru a tube in the center exposing the water to the light to kill a algae that lives as cells in the water not on surfaces.
You are correct fly trap type plants need rain water,deionized or distilled water.


Your project is amazing.


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## Anyfoot (Nov 22, 2015)

Thank you both. Do you know what the relation is between hay and killing algea. 
Over here farmers have built a lot of commercial fisheries for match fishing on their land. 
If any of them develope an algea problem, they put huge bales of hay in the corners of the fishing ponds go control the algea.


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## Yvonne G (Nov 22, 2015)

I think it's barley straw. It doesn't work all that well:

https://www.btny.purdue.edu/Pubs/APM/APM-1-W.pdf


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## theguy67 (Nov 22, 2015)

Ahh, I found your project you were talking about. Looks nice!

I wouldn't worry about the algae. If you keep the pond full, and allow it to cycle, you may have a bloom, but everything will balance out. Algae needs only a few things in order to grow; light, heat, source of carbon, a source of phosphorus (phosphate), and a source of nitrogen(nitrate). If you remove one of these things, you will inhibit it's growth, so if you DO have persisting problem, attack one of the before mentioned. Aquatic plants (grass, reeds, lilies, etc.) will compete with algae for nutrients. They also sell filter media, such as phosban, that absorbs phosphates and silicates (as well as others).

My pond, as you've seen, is in direct sunlight during the hot Texas summers. Once I filled it up, and allowed it to cycle, the algae died back completely. A little stayed behind, but enough to give it a "pond look". I also had plants in the river section. Every once in a while I'll have minor algae blooms, but they aren't very severe. If you don't have a large grow light directly over the water, your algae shouldn't be bad.


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## Anyfoot (Dec 6, 2015)

Quick update
The pond base is finished, so next on that is to make a mould so I can poor the pond and sculpture it to the desired shape. I packed it down with clay before I put a layer of sand on. Does anyone know what is the best material to make the actual pond with? What is Portland cement? 




On the caves I put a double layer of heavy duty stainless mesh, on this will be a layer of stones that can't fit through any of the mesh, then soil up to the height of the stone wall(12" deep). This will provide drainage through into the caves and let the heat rise up from the caves into the soil. I'm hoping I can control the temps below and in the soil above with trial and error to the desired temps.
I would like to be able to incubate eggs in this area as natural as possible but still with temp control. I've also added the pain of toughened glass I found in my garage , hoping I can study eggs from below ground and watch how it happens naturally. Unfortunately this double glazed pain of glass has white strips built into it. 
You can see on the wall I have left gaps, I want to grow creeping plants out of these holes that hopefully will cover quite a lot of the rocks, and the join between painted caves and wall. If anyone can help me with what kind of plants will cling to the rocks and thrive in warm and humid it would be much appreciate. I also need to build a barrier on here so it is tort safe, thinking of using 2" bamboo for that.


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## Anyfoot (Dec 12, 2015)

Things are not happening as fast as I would like due to the constant barrage of Xmas shopping I have to endure. . Only kidding I enjoy toy shops. 
So my wall is all set and secure. I've put a Polly pipe down into each cave so I can run a cable and a probe to each cave. 
Just put broken rocks on for first layer. Next is to fill up with soil. Some weight going to be in here, especially when wet. I calculated about 1.5ton of soil. Each of my reinforced beams I used are rated to 3.6tons, so with the load spread out it should be no problem at all. .


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## Yvonne G (Dec 12, 2015)

I'm a little confused. The last pictures are the tops of the caves? Will you have tortoises up there too? I'm thinking your dirt will eventually sift down through the rocks and you'll lose it.


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## Pearly (Dec 12, 2015)

Wow, I've peaked at your project couple of times and to me it's huge and overwhelming, but wonderful at this same time. I envy people with means and skills to do stuff like that. Thank you for sharing your work and ideas


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## Anyfoot (Dec 12, 2015)

Yvonne G said:


> I'm a little confused. The last pictures are the tops of the caves? Will you have tortoises up there too? I'm thinking your dirt will eventually sift down through the rocks and you'll lose it.


Yes the torts will go above too, via a ramp on the right hand side. I'm going to put a layer of clay in first out of the garden then soil on top of that. Totalling about 12" deep. 
I want the heat from below in the caves to rise up into the soil, I also want the water from above to be able to drain through into the caves. 
Do you think that is enough to stop any sieving? Dawn thinks I should put a plastic sheet over the mesh I put rocks on. But I was worried about stagnent soil. It's going to rain in here quite a bit at times.


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## Odin's Gma (Dec 12, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> Yes the torts will go above too, via a ramp on the right hand side. I'm going to put a layer of clay in first out of the garden then soil on top of that. Totalling about 12" deep.
> I want the heat from below in the caves to rise up into the soil, I also want the water from above to be able to drain through into the caves.
> Do you think that is enough to stop any sieving? Dawn thinks I should put a plastic sheet over the mesh I put rocks on. But I was worried about stagnent soil. It's going to rain in here quite a bit at times.


Try weed-block fabric. I don't know if that's the actual name, but I have used it in outdoor gardening projects. Keeps the weeds from poking up through it, but lets the moisture through.

Found it!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004G2Z6A2/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20


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## Yvonne G (Dec 12, 2015)

ah...now I see it.

I know you've already put in a lot of effort adding the rocks up above the caves, but I think it would be in your best interest to try lining the area with the weed block stuff Gma told us about. Just the slight movement of the tortoises walking up there will cause the dirt to filter down through the rocks and you would eventually have it all in the caves instead of up above.

I can't wait to see this project all finished. Forget about Christmas shopping and get with the building, would ya?


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## Anyfoot (Dec 12, 2015)

Odin's Gma said:


> Try weed-block fabric. I don't know if that's the actual name, but I have used it in outdoor gardening projects. Keeps the weeds from poking up through it, but lets the moisture through.
> 
> Found it!
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004G2Z6A2/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20


 Good idea. 
Damn. Why didn't I think of that. I have a roll of that in the shed too. I'll move the rocks, put that down first then lay the rocks back on. Thank you.


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## Anyfoot (Dec 12, 2015)

Yvonne G said:


> ah...now I see it.
> 
> I know you've already put in a lot of effort adding the rocks up above the caves, but I think it would be in your best interest to try lining the area with the weed block stuff Gma told us about. Just the slight movement of the tortoises walking up there will cause the dirt to filter down through the rocks and you would eventually have it all in the caves instead of up above.
> 
> I can't wait to see this project all finished. Forget about Christmas shopping and get with the building, would ya?


 Will do Yvonne. I should have done that in the first place. This also means I won't have to bother with the clay layer, which I didn't really want to do anyway. 
Thank you.


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## Pearly (Dec 12, 2015)

"Weed fabric" may work well or any other biofriendly screen of fine gauge. Fine enough not to let the dirt particles wash through and big enough to be water-permeable, kinda like a water filtration system. You project is so awesome I can hardly wait to see next next stages


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## Odin's Gma (Dec 12, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> Good idea.
> Damn. Why didn't I think of that. I have a roll of that in the shed too. I'll move the rocks, put that down first then lay the rocks back on. Thank you.


I can't speak for you, but in my case sometimes I miss the obvious solution because I am too excited to get to the next phase of the project, and with your project I would be beyond excited! SO cool!


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## Twan777 (Dec 16, 2015)

Great setup..


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## Anyfoot (Dec 18, 2015)

Just thought I'd show you what lighting I'm going to use in my enclosure. I've just received them today.
I need the blue spectrum for vegetation to grow, and the red spectrum for plants to flower and fruit. I also need the day light look for torts. 
Soooooo, I've opted for LED's. These don't give off any heat at all. Each LED light is only 10watt, I've got 10 units(about £10 each), these 10 lights will cost me about £60 per year on for 12hrs a day to run. They are IP65 grade, which means they are fully water proof. The only thing I'm a bit worried about is that they may be too bright. If so I can always replace the glass covers with frosted glass. 
Can anyone explain to me why those coil bulbs burn torts eyes?

Anyway the lights I've bought all have red/blue LED's, 6 red and 3 blue. Im going to replace 5 out of the 10 units with natural day light LED's to give me HOPEFULLY a good average lighting system to cover all life in my enclosure. On top of this I have natural window light and I will also have 2 UVB's on for 4hrs a day. 


Below are some photo's of the unit. 







Unit in pieces and the new LED's


You can see 3 Blue LED's lights down the centre and 3 red LED lights down either side of the Blues. 


And here you can see the replacement day light LED chip.


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## Prairie Mom (Dec 18, 2015)

Great! I haven't used the LEDs before but more and more people are trying these out. I've used grow lights and "daylight" fluorescent strips. They're pretty bright too, you can eventually diffuse the lights with vines and other cool plants. You're so creative, I'm sure you'll come up with something fabulous to make us "ooooh" and "awwwhhhhh"


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## Anyfoot (Dec 19, 2015)

Today's job was to remove the rocks, lay down a double skin of weed blocker then replace rocks, then we filled it in with soil that I've had piled up in the garden for about a yr.  It's was soden and clumpy due to our rainfall. When it dries a bit I'll level it off more. Plenty of worms and weeds in this soil, so god knows what will pop up in time. 
I've used 2" diameter bamboo as the barrier. Dont know how long that will last in the soil. Torts won't be able to knock them over and to stop them digging them out I'm thinking I should put a line of flat rocks down on the inside of bamboo. Then grow small rock creeping plants between bamboo to finish it of. I made one bamboo cane go to the ceiling. I'll grow something up that. I'll also have plants growing over and out of the wall. I'm going to twine some horizontal bamboo across the gap above the window. Hopefully this is an area where the torts will dig down to lay eggs. If not I'll cheet and move some to this area. So I need to get the ground temps correct here. Looks a bit bare at the moment without any foliage. I'll also get plants trained to grow around the window to make it less inconspicuous.


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## Yvonne G (Dec 19, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> Just thought I'd show you what lighting I'm going to use in my enclosure. I've just received them today.
> I need the blue spectrum for vegetation to grow, and the red spectrum for plants to flower and fruit. I also need the day light look for torts.
> Soooooo, I've opted for LED's. These don't give off any heat at all. Each LED light is only 10watt, I've got 10 units(about £10 each), these 10 lights will cost me about £60 per year on for 12hrs a day to run. They are IP65 grade, which means they are fully water proof. The only thing I'm a bit worried about is that they may be too bright. If so I can always replace the glass covers with frosted glass.
> Can anyone explain to me why those coil bulbs burn torts eyes?
> ...




Maybe you can wire them up on different circuits so you can turn a couple on individually. That way if it's too bright, you can turn a bank or two off.


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## Anyfoot (Dec 19, 2015)

Yvonne G said:


> Maybe you can wire them up on different circuits so you can turn a couple on individually. That way if it's too bright, you can turn a bank or two off.


Great minds think alike. Yeah in 2 banks. Also I thought this way if all lights are not too bright at night I can turn 1 bank off 1 hour before the other bank, hoping that eventually the torts register this and head to bed when 1st bank goes off.


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## hingeback (Dec 19, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> Today's job was to remove the rocks, lay down a double skin of weed blocker then replace rocks, then we filled it in with soil that I've had piled up in the garden for about a yr.  It's was soden and clumpy due to our rainfall. When it dries a bit I'll level it off more. Plenty of worms and weeds in this soil, so god knows what will pop up in time.
> I've used 2" diameter bamboo as the barrier. Dont know how long that will last in the soil. Torts won't be able to knock them over and to stop them digging them out I'm thinking I should put a line of flat rocks down on the inside of bamboo. Then grow small rock creeping plants between bamboo to finish it of. I made one bamboo cane go to the ceiling. I'll grow something up that. I'll also have plants growing over and out of the wall. I'm going to twine some horizontal bamboo across the gap above the window. Hopefully this is an area where the torts will dig down to lay eggs. If not I'll cheet and move some to this area. So I need to get the ground temps correct here. Looks a bit bare at the moment without any foliage. I'll also get plants trained to grow around the window to make it less inconspicuous.
> View attachment 159122
> View attachment 159123
> ...


How deep is the substrate for them to dig and lay eggs?


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## Anyfoot (Dec 19, 2015)

hingeback said:


> How deep is the substrate for them to dig and lay eggs?


12"/30cm.


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## Anyfoot (Dec 24, 2015)

Merry Christmas all. 

Now got the ramp done up to top tier. 
Few things I still need to do on this part. 
I need to mill some channels in the ramp for grip, its quite steep but will be OK, ive noticed that reds love climbing to high points. 
Got to secure the gap at the top of the ramp and think I'll fasten a planter down on the windowsill. I'm also thinking I should coat all the twine with something clear to protect them. 
The base at the bottom of the ramp is about 16" high, the substrate here will be 12" deep, so I'll landscape a taper from the base to the substrate, making it safe. 
There is s cave/hide under the base too, trying to create as much space and areas to keep them entertained. 
I calculated I'm going to need about 8ton of soil in here. Not looking forward to that day. Lol. 
I'm not happy with the bamboo just stuck up on left hand side above the caves, any ideas to create a different barrier here anybody please. I thought maybe some Terracotta tubes and the odd rock instead, I could grow stuff out of the tubes. Maybe even one of the Terracota pots you get with holes in the side to grow strawberries in and a broken pot on its side with a plant in it. It doesn't look right at the moment. Need to mix the look up a bit, and bamboo in the soil will only give me about 2yrs of life. 
The ramp BTW is made of railway sleepers that are 100% naturally eco treated. I have about 15 sleepers spare from doing the front garden. 
A couple of other ideas I had on space saving is, I have 2 oak barrels in the garage (20 & 55 gallon)from my wine and cider making days, I was thinking I could make hides out of them but also somewhere for us to sit on and chill out. Will the oak be OK near torts. 
Also I want to grow fig,grape and passion fruit in here. Fig and grape I will grow up the walls on plastic mesh. For the passion fruit I was thinking of hanging from the ceiling some plastic mesh so I can train it to grow up that in the middle of the enclosure. Thoughts!


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## hingeback (Dec 24, 2015)

It's beautiful... Maybe at the cave barrier you can use another piece of rock? A big piece placed horizontally above the two tall ones then secure it. My second Idea is coconut husk wall or something and add money plants on top or use mesh for vines. My third Idea is adding a curved shelter from the top of the glass/plastic sheet to the original wall. Something like this:


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## Anyfoot (Dec 24, 2015)

hingeback said:


> It's beautiful... Maybe at the cave barrier you can use another piece of rock? A big piece placed horizontally above the two tall ones then secure it. My second Idea is coconut husk wall or something and add money plants on top or use mesh for vines. My third Idea is adding a curved shelter from the top of the glass/plastic sheet to the original wall. Something like this:
> View attachment 159740


 Thanks. I meant the bamboo on the far left. I should have re posted this photo. 
I think I'm going to put a rock In the gap like you suggested though.


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## hingeback (Dec 24, 2015)

No logical ideas yet, but your enclosure just make me keep on thinking of rocky roofs...(like another cave with a very big opening). Merry Christmas by the way


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## Wherethetortiroam (Dec 24, 2015)

Lol I've found too that Torti love stairs.


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## Anyfoot (Dec 28, 2015)

Now the chaos of Xmas has subsided I'm starting to put my LED lights up. 
These light give of zero heat, hence the very low wattage. All 10 lights are a total of 100watt. 
50% daylight LED
17% blue spectrum LED
33% red spectrum LED. 
Plus there will be daylight through windows and 2 x 160watt UVB lights for 4 hrs/day.


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## Momof4 (Dec 28, 2015)

This is so awesome!!! 
I can't wait for it to be up and running with your torts in there!! 
Probably not as much as you do!


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## Pearly (Dec 28, 2015)

What a fantastic project!!!!! I have really enjoyed all the visuals. If I had a handy bone in me I't try to emulate at least some parts of it but I don't so our babies stay in their warm humid tank until they outgrow it, and once grown move out to the garden full time at which point their Mom (my daughter) will have saved enough $$$ to pay someone to build nice heated house for them. But you over here, have done very impressive work so far


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## Anyfoot (Dec 29, 2015)

Pearly said:


> What a fantastic project!!!!! I have really enjoyed all the visuals. If I had a handy bone in me I't try to emulate at least some parts of it but I don't so our babies stay in their warm humid tank until they outgrow it, and once grown move out to the garden full time at which point their Mom (my daughter) will have saved enough $$$ to pay someone to build nice heated house for them. But you over here, have done very impressive work so far


 You could do something like this on a smaller scale in a shed. I intend to for my hingebacks at a later date.


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## Anyfoot (Dec 29, 2015)

Mmmm. Does this look like too much red light on left hand side. I can change and add more daylight LED's. It's pitch black outside now, so there is no light coming in through windows.


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## hingeback (Dec 29, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> Mmmm. Does this look like too much red light on left hand side. I can change and add more daylight LED's. It's pitch black outside now, so there is no light coming in through windows.
> View attachment 160324


Wow, I feel that lighting goes quite well with the theme. Is it bright during daytime and do you want the nighttime to be nighttime for them(not with the daylight led) so that it is more natural?


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## Anyfoot (Dec 29, 2015)

hingeback said:


> Wow, I feel that lighting goes quite well with the theme. Is it bright during daytime and do you want the nighttime to be nighttime for them(not with the daylight led) so that it is more natural?


 These lights will be from 7am to 8pm.


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## Anyfoot (Dec 31, 2015)

Worked on the pond area today. 
It should end up 3" to 3.5" deep at its deepest point. So if any torts get flipped in there they can't drown. 
When it's all set I will sand a part of the lip to create a wier into a filter system. I may just smooth it all out with sander too.


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## hingeback (Dec 31, 2015)

Reminds me that I have to work on my pond... What did you use to cover the pond in the 2nd and 3rd picture?


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## Anyfoot (Dec 31, 2015)

hingeback said:


> Reminds me that I have to work on my pond... What did you use to cover the pond in the 2nd and 3rd picture?


It's just sand and cement mix. Hoping it doesn't crack as it dries out. We will see. Drying it slowly should help to not crack.


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## hingeback (Dec 31, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> It's just sand and cement mix. Hoping it doesn't crack as it dries out. We will see. Drying it slowly should help to not crack.


When we were building her enclosure wall I also used some of the remaining sand and cement to try and make a food dish. The second day it cracked all over... How is cement cured? I hear it all the time. They said curing it will prevent cracking?


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## Anyfoot (Dec 31, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> It's just sand and cement mix. Hoping it doesn't crack as it dries out. We will see. Drying it slowly should help to not crack.


 Should have added, if you look in the 1st photo you can see the mix is not over wet, when concrete dries out it shrinks as the water evaporates, so less water in the first place means less shrinkage which should mean less chance of cracking.


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## hingeback (Dec 31, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> Should have added, if you look in the 1st photo you can see the mix is not over wet, when concrete dries out it shrinks as the water evaporates, so less water in the first place means less shrinkage which should mean less chance of cracking.


Ok, I think I got it. My dad just ask me to keep on spraying water when he was mixing. We didn't even follow any ratio for the cement and sand.


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## Anyfoot (Dec 31, 2015)

hingeback said:


> When we were building her enclosure wall I also used some of the remaining sand and cement to try and make a food dish. The second day it cracked all over... How is cement cured? I hear it all the time. They said curing it will prevent cracking?


 I'm no expert at all in this field. I think the term curing in cement basically means drying out slowly. If it dries fast in the heat of the sun there is more chance of cracking, I think. In your climate you could cover what ever you do with a sheet of wood to cast a shadow and stop the intense sun heat. 

I'm dreading looking at mine when it dried. Lol.


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## Anyfoot (Dec 31, 2015)

hingeback said:


> Ok, I think I got it. My dad just ask me to keep on spraying water when he was mixing. We didn't even follow any ratio for the cement and sand.


1 part cement to 4 parts sand. Add water to consistently required. That's what I was told from a builder.


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## hingeback (Dec 31, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> I'm no expert at all in this field. I think the term curing in cement basically means drying out slowly. If it dries fast in the heat of the sun there is more chance of cracking, I think. In your climate you could cover what ever you do with a sheet of wood to cast a shadow and stop the intense sun heat.
> 
> I'm dreading looking at mine when it dried. Lol.


In the evening the temps drop below 30C. We left it to dry at night, so should be the water.


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## Markw84 (Dec 31, 2015)

Anyfoot said:


> 1 part cement to 4 parts sand. Add water to consistently required. That's what I was told from a builder.


To cure concrete like this without aggregate the best way is to cover it with wet burlap or some sort of cloth that will hold in the moisture. Concrete does not harden by drying - it actually a chemical reaction. 4 parts sand to 1 part cement will actually not be waterproof. that's about the ratio used for stucco and also gunite - which then needs a plaster coat to make waterproof. A plaster coat is normally about 2 sand to 1 cement and mixed with a latex additive I buy at Home Depot in one gallon jugs. You mix the plaster coat wetter than normal concrete so you can spread it on about 1/4 - 1/2" thick. Perhaps you are planning on coating your pool with a waterproof epoxy like I think you used in your other areas. Obviously that would work well and then no plaster coat is needed.


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## Markw84 (Dec 31, 2015)

Also - I really LOVE the work you are doing here. I think you saw my pictures of my backyard environments - so we are kindred spirits in being somewhat handy and loving to make things the best possible. This tortoise house is fantastic.


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## Anyfoot (Dec 31, 2015)

Markw84 said:


> To cure concrete like this without aggregate the best way is to cover it with wet burlap or some sort of cloth that will hold in the moisture. Concrete does not harden by drying - it actually a chemical reaction. 4 parts sand to 1 part cement will actually not be waterproof. that's about the ratio used for stucco and also gunite - which then needs a plaster coat to make waterproof. A plaster coat is normally about 2 sand to 1 cement and mixed with a latex additive I buy at Home Depot in one gallon jugs. You mix the plaster coat wetter than normal concrete so you can spread it on about 1/4 - 1/2" thick. Perhaps you are planning on coating your pool with a waterproof epoxy like I think you used in your other areas. Obviously that would work well and then no plaster coat is needed.


 My plan was to coat with the water proof chlorinated paint too, however my fear was that it may scratch off over time with the tortoises nails and plastrons rubbing. I was not aware of what you have just suggested and it sounds a better idea. 
So what you are saying is when this is set hard I can put a 1/4" thick layer of 2:1 ratio with latex addative in. If I do this are the tortoises ok walking directly on that,
And yes, what you have created is out of this world.


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## Anyfoot (Dec 31, 2015)

@Markw84 

Is this the stuff? 

http://www.diy.com/departments/mapei-flexible-additive/38137_BQ.prd

Thanks again.


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## Markw84 (Dec 31, 2015)

This is what I used for my pond. It is a Sika product. I don't see where the one you found says it's for concrete, but it is an acrylic fortifier. Normally you most see it used as an additive for thinset for tile. If improves the bond and makes it more impervious to water penetration.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/SikaLate...PIPHorizontal1_rr-_-205116870-_-202521398-_-N

This would create the same surface you end up with in a swimming pool. So yes, a little abrasive but not bad at all. You may just want to go with an epoxy paint, or perhaps a paint on rubberized coating made for fish ponds. Those are made to seal well and shouldn't rub off. That stuff is a little pricy but you have a small area there.


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## Anyfoot (Dec 31, 2015)

Markw84 said:


> This is what I used for my pond. It is a Sika product. I don't see where the one you found says it's for concrete, but it is an acrylic fortifier. Normally you most see it used as an additive for thinset for tile. If improves the bond and makes it more impervious to water penetration.
> 
> http://www.homedepot.com/p/SikaLate...PIPHorizontal1_rr-_-205116870-_-202521398-_-N
> 
> This would create the same surface you end up with in a swimming pool. So yes, a little abrasive but not bad at all. You may just want to go with an epoxy paint, or perhaps a paint on rubberized coating made for fish ponds. Those are made to seal well and shouldn't rub off. That stuff is a little pricy but you have a small area there.


 That is what I painted everything with, rubberized chlorinated paint, pond and swimming pool grade. I have enough of the grey colour left to paint the pond. That was my original idea. Would you still go with painting it then. And yes its very expensive £54 a tin. Ive used nearly 8 tins . Well actually I got it at half price, but still extortionate price, and a nightmare to paint on when cold, And if you roll it too fast it starts spinning like a spiders web. Ok that's my moan for today. Would you paint it if you were in my shoes? Thanks Mark.


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## Markw84 (Dec 31, 2015)

Yes, that would definitely be my choice. I would have done that if I didn't have a 1000 sq ft pond to cover. Be careful about applying if too cold - it may not set properly. With your setup there, turn on some of the light and heat the place to the 70s for your painting. It will go much easier and come out better.


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## Anyfoot (Dec 31, 2015)

Markw84 said:


> Yes, that would definitely be my choice. I would have done that if I didn't have a 1000 sq ft pond to cover. Be careful about applying if too cold - it may not set properly. With your setup there, turn on some of the light and heat the place to the 70s for your painting. It will go much easier and come out better.


Lol, thanks. I discovered that whilst doing ceiling. Oh and the first time I used it I didn't put a mask on. Pink elephants everywhere. Cheers.


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## Legmaker72 (Dec 31, 2015)

Wow....that's just amazing....


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## DutchieAmanda (Jan 19, 2016)

Any news on your enclosure? Looks great so far!


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## Anyfoot (Jan 19, 2016)

DutchieAmanda said:


> Any news on your enclosure? Looks great so far!


 Waiting for the pond to fully set so I can paint it is holding me back a bit. Should be able to paint that this weekend. 
Last weekend I put the heat panels up in the ceiling and started to fill it up with soil near the caves. 
I'll take photos and update this coming weekend. Thanks for asking.


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## Anyfoot (Jan 25, 2016)

Update. I got roped into decorating my youngest daughters bedroom, so that took some of my time up. That said the pond took some drying out anyway. 

So I now have heat panels connected up to seperate stats(in case one fails others will be OK) 
The panels are 320w far infrared(fir) this means they work in a spectrum below 500°c. These actually only work at 90°c. So will take a while to heat up, but once up hopefully will maintain heat level at a low cost, these are attached to proportional stats. 
Ive got a 200w CHE in each cave at the back. Stats for them are in the post. 
I've coated the pond once with chlorinated rubber paint, Will do again this week. You can see where the wier will be into a filtration tank. 
I've also started to fill it up at the back with soil. This is a right pain, no option but do it bit by bit in rubber tubs, can't even use a wheel Barrow. To many steps up the garden. I'll fill it up then put a layer of top soil on. The caves will only be about 4 to 6" deep so they don't lay eggs in there. 
I've taken the bamboo barrier out on left hand side of upper level, wasn't happy with that and need to re-think.


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## hingeback (Jan 25, 2016)

Nice, can't wait for the waterfall and pond.


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## Anyfoot (Jan 30, 2016)

Back ache day today. 
Pond is painted.
Started filling in with soil from the back. 
I need to do the water features filter system soon, so I can fill in the soil level around the front of pond too. I'll finish the whole enclosure with a layer of topsoil, so I can sow weed and grass seeds in areas. 
I've decided to just put 4 to 6" of top soil in the cave areas, hoping they don't lay eggs in there. 
Just got my stats today for caves, so I will wire them in soon.


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## Lyn W (Jan 30, 2016)

Looking great Craig!
So much hard work and love in this project.
Can't wait to see the torts in there.
Does your family remember what you look like?


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## Adao (Feb 5, 2016)

I have no words to describe how amazing this project is... an inspiration! Cant wait to see the final results!


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## Pearly (Feb 7, 2016)

Adao said:


> I have no words to describe how amazing this project is... an inspiration! Cant wait to see the final results!


Wow Craig!!!! Wish we lived closer, I'd definitely ask for your ideas in exchange for some things I'm good at doing


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## Sara G. (Feb 7, 2016)

This is absolutely stunning! I can't wait to see the finished product either!


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## kelii (Feb 8, 2016)

This project is amazing and very inspirational. Is this in a basement, or it's own building?


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## Anyfoot (Feb 8, 2016)

kelii said:


> This project is amazing and very inspirational. Is this in a basement, or it's own building?


Its own building, but if you were willing to dedicate the full basement to your torts the same could be accomplished.


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## Anyfoot (Feb 13, 2016)

I've now connected all the stats in for the 200watt CHE's in the caves.
I keep gradually hauling the soil in bit by bit. 
2 right hand caves now have topsoil in. 

I've started on the water feature too. 
I decided to use a waterbutt stand upside down for the pump area. I moulded a weir with cement and chicken wire. 
Today I connected it all and did my first trial. 
There was some water seeping from the sides of the waterfall, only half the weir was lapping water over the edge and right at the front of the pond the water level was to close to the pond edge when I turned the flow up. So I amended all that and will have the 2nd test tomorrow. 
The idea is to get enough flow that hopefully the poop will go over the weir into a filter.(filter not yet fitted) 
For the waterfall leaks I just moulded cement to create barriers. 
For the weir I just sanded it until what I think is correct then repainted it. 
For the front of the pond I sanded paint off, applied more cement. When its dried I will sand it again then re-paint. 

If you look at the video of 1st trial you can see my errors, this was with the valve open about a 3rd of its capacity. 

I will be building some sort of platform or bridge over the pump tank so torts can walk over it, but so I can still get to it for maintenance. 

Oh yeah, check the lodger out on back wall. A garden snail name Gary.


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## fritz269 (Feb 18, 2016)

Omg, I love this..wish I had the room to do something like this. my only comment is the pond looks a little shallow...depends on the tort i guess.


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## Anyfoot (Feb 18, 2016)

fritz269 said:


> Omg, I love this..wish I had the room to do something like this. my only comment is the pond looks a little shallow...depends on the tort i guess.



Good comment too. I've pondered on this for a while. (No pun intended. Lol ). 

It's 4" deep at its maximum. I turned my smallest tort over to make sure he could servive upside down in 4" depth. 5" was pushing it. 
My worry is how fast it will evaporate when it's hot in there. 

Worst case scenario is I have to build the sides up deeper. Hope not though. Time will tell. 

Thanks.


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## Sheldon the russian tortoise (Feb 22, 2016)

This. Is. Amazing.


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## Anyfoot (Feb 23, 2016)

Not much new to see with the eye.
Got all soil in.
I seeded almost everything with grass, white clover, red clover, crimson clover(in patches) dandilions,broad plantain,narrow leaf plantain and 5 types of edible wild flowers.
Put a few plalms in. One white and one red grape vine (hoping these grow along the cave fronts). One hibiscus in the middle, and a type of fig tree that should, hopefully grow up the wall. 
I'll keep adding plants as we go. 
Going to have window boxes on the walls to to grow stuff. 

Next I need to finish of waterfall and wier area. Also need to some how put some grip on that ramp. 
Still a bit to do yet. But thought I could let it start growing for now.


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## Taylor T. (Feb 23, 2016)

Such an incredible enclosure! You can just see the effort and care that went into bulding this.


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## hingeback (Feb 23, 2016)

Just asking how will you keep the weeds and clover under control? Also the enclosure is looking so beautiful up to now!!!


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## Anyfoot (Feb 23, 2016)

hingeback said:


> Just asking how will you keep the weeds and clover under control? Also the enclosure is looking so beautiful up to now!!!


I'm hoping it gets out of control, my fear is they will eat and trample on everything. We will see. I'd like to get the weeds etc quite high so as they walk through they collect humidity as they brush against the weeds/grass. I will also have areas with just mulch. 
If it does get out of control then I will be doing some indoor gardening.


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## gamera154 (Feb 23, 2016)

Cani live with you


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## DutchieAmanda (Feb 23, 2016)

It looks amazing! Will be even better with the torts in there, curious how they will like it


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## Lyn W (Feb 23, 2016)

Looks fantastic Craig! You have done a superb job and thought of everything!
I can see a new career on the cards for you as international tortoise home designer and landscaper,
and your own TV prog - 'Grand Designs for Torts'
When can Lola and I move in?


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## TechnoCheese (Feb 23, 2016)

'"""""""" """""""""
_______ _______
/. ( ) \. /. ( ) \
\_______/. \_______/


__________________________
/ __L__L__L__L__L__L__L__ \
|. |
|. |
|. |
|. |
|. ______|
\. / (. /
\_________________L ______/

Whoa... That


Is one cool tortoise enclosure


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## spud's_mum (Feb 23, 2016)

Wow. 
Now that's way you call an enclosure!


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## Pearly (Feb 24, 2016)

Looks great!!!! It's been really cool to watch it grow and take shape. I'm very happy for you that you've been able to do this


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## NDevon (Mar 8, 2016)

Just read all of this, it's stunning! What are the 4 black boxes on the walls we can see in pictures - 3 on back wall one above window, yellow and white wires going in/out? At first I thought they were speakers, do your tortoises like to DJ in the evenings?


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## Anyfoot (Mar 8, 2016)

NDevon said:


> Just read all of this, it's stunning! What are the 4 black boxes on the walls we can see in pictures - 3 on back wall one above window, yellow and white wires going in/out? At first I thought they were speakers, do your tortoises like to DJ in the evenings?


Yeah, their favorite is 'wet wet wet'. 

They have got thermostats in them. The yellow wires will go to the mains. The white wires come from heat panels. The boxes are to keep water and humidity out of the stats.
I've got the heat on at the moment trialing it out. Seems OK. May need another heat panel. Not sure yet. I'm getting about an ambient of 24c. Caves are 27c to 29c. I need another area around the 30c mark near the opposite end to caves for juveniles in tables. Bare in mind it's still -1 to -3c at night here. 
I planted loads of seeds a couple of weeks ago so have kept out of there for a bit. Got a guy coming soon to wire it up to house and get running water in there.


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## NDevon (Mar 8, 2016)

Oooh I bet there are loads of songs they would love, got me thinking now!

Is 24 about the right level for the ambient temperature? What sort of heaters are you having to use to achieve that with minus 3 outside? And what sort of power does it take to achieve that temperature?

I'm thinking way ahead and coming up with ideas, I'm interested in the concept of heating a large volume of water in a tank (insulated, not a glass aquarium) and possibly using solar energy to generate some of the heat, then pumping the warm (ideally very warm) water through the soil, so a little like an underfloor heating system. The other idea is somehow heating a large volume of heavy material that holds heat well, maybe earth, maybe clay, so that it releases the heat overnight. 

No idea if it can work, just having fun coming up with ideas really!

Please keep posting pics and updates, it's a great read and you should be very proud. When do you hope to get the tortoises in?


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## Anyfoot (Mar 8, 2016)

NDevon said:


> Oooh I bet there are loads of songs they would love, got me thinking now!
> 
> Is 24 about the right level for the ambient temperature? What sort of heaters are you having to use to achieve that with minus 3 outside? And what sort of power does it take to achieve that temperature?
> 
> ...


 Power wise, I don't know yet. But I have 1880watts in there at the moment. This won't be on permanently, they are all on proportional stats which means instead of on or off they drip feed electric. Supposedly keeps a more ambient accuracy and results in cheaper to run. 
I'm aiming to get the ambient to about 27c.
The heat panels are infrared and only operate at 95c +/-5. In each cave I have a 200watt. Directly under the CHE's I've got it at 30c at tort level. 

I considered running hot water pipes up from the central heating system in the house. But would have gone into mega bucks. Boiler not powerful enough. Also I'm not sure how accurate the temps would be using water. Water takes time to cool, and heat, not sure how it would work battling with weather temps.


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## NDevon (Mar 8, 2016)

I don't think it would be practical to take the pipes out of the house connected to central heating, as you said very costly and would need a big boiler. I'm looking at warm water through pipes as a way of getting the base temperature up, so instead of needing aor heaters to take the temperature from near zero it's heating from a higher level, reducing costs and less strain on the heaters. No idea how practical it is as I said.

Under 2k is much lower than I thought you would say, and if it's not all on at once that's not going to cost a fortune to run. I saw how well you insulated the roof, and obviously having the large amount of soil in is going to help retain heat. The brick built hides should hold a lot of heat too. 

Are you planning any comfy seating I there so you can sit and enjoy the tortoises? Not very 'natural environment' but I think I'd be out here all the time!


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## Anyfoot (Mar 8, 2016)

NDevon said:


> I don't think it would be practical to take the pipes out of the house connected to central heating, as you said very costly and would need a big boiler. I'm looking at warm water through pipes as a way of getting the base temperature up, so instead of needing aor heaters to take the temperature from near zero it's heating from a higher level, reducing costs and less strain on the heaters. No idea how practical it is as I said.
> 
> Under 2k is much lower than I thought you would say, and if it's not all on at once that's not going to cost a fortune to run. I saw how well you insulated the roof, and obviously having the large amount of soil in is going to help retain heat. The brick built hides should hold a lot of heat too.
> 
> Are you planning any comfy seating I there so you can sit and enjoy the tortoises? Not very 'natural environment' but I think I'd be out here all the time!


 I agree on your aspect with hot water as a background heat then topped up with heaters. If you can heat water with gas it's cheaper still. 
I originally thought I'd need 2.3k of wattage. Think it's heading that way. I should be able to get a lower tariff too when using more wattage. 
Building this has made me appreciate space or lack of a lot more. This is 300sq ft, and I can't do everything I intended doing. Yes I need to have an area so we can chill and just watch our torts. Beats watching EastEnders and Corry. Lol. I'm hoping they are in in the next couple of months. Dawn wants her room back.


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## NDevon (Mar 8, 2016)

Should have made the pond into more of a pool, then you could have enjoyed a swim in there too! Did you have to build the structure from scratch too or have you converted something? You've probably said somewhere in the thread but don't remember seeing it.


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## Anyfoot (Mar 8, 2016)

NDevon said:


> Should have made the pond into more of a pool, then you could have enjoyed a swim in there too! Did you have to build the structure from scratch too or have you converted something? You've probably said somewhere in the thread but don't remember seeing it.


Look at this thread. Let me tell you, cleaning 2500 bricks is no fun. 

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-new-tortoise-site.111412/


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## omarnegron (Mar 9, 2016)

Anyfoot said:


> Not much new to see with the eye.
> Got all soil in.
> I seeded almost everything with grass, white clover, red clover, crimson clover(in patches) dandilions,broad plantain,narrow leaf plantain and 5 types of edible wild flowers.
> Put a few plalms in. One white and one red grape vine (hoping these grow along the cave fronts). One hibiscus in the middle, and a type of fig tree that should, hopefully grow up the wall.
> ...


Wow!!!


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## NDevon (Mar 10, 2016)

Anyfoot said:


> Look at this thread. Let me tell you, cleaning 2500 bricks is no fun.
> 
> http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-new-tortoise-site.111412/




Amazing work, your tortoises are very lucky and you should be very proud. It's so nice to see so many people on here who care so much for their animals, too many people want to stick them in the smallest space possible and leave it at that, I love to read about people looking to push the boundaries and seeing how much space they can possibly provide the tortoises.


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## julietteq (Mar 10, 2016)

Amazing...simply amazing. Most professional zoo's would be envious of your enclosure !


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## NDevon (Mar 13, 2016)

Just been reading this again, I can't see if you said how big the room is - what size is it?

And he heat panels, I've found them ranging from around £60 to £150 each, what sort of price did you pay? I always worry with electrical stuff, such a risk of buying something that doesn't work, if something is too cheap I wonder if it's not up to the job, but not sure what sort of price these should be.


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## Anyfoot (Mar 13, 2016)

NDevon said:


> Just been reading this again, I can't see if you said how big the room is - what size is it?
> 
> And he heat panels, I've found them ranging from around £60 to £150 each, what sort of price did you pay? I always worry with electrical stuff, such a risk of buying something that doesn't work, if something is too cheap I wonder if it's not up to the job, but not sure what sort of price these should be.


Room is 4x6m. Went for longer than wider to get a better heat gradient hopefully. With the upper tier on caves I've managed to get about 300sq ft. 
The heat panels were £115 without ceiling brackets. From warm4less. 320watt. They do bigger like 580watt but my stats are only 600watt. So thought that was a bit close to the bone. Also each panel is on its own stat incase something goes wrong with one they don't all go down. Obviously a powercut would still be a nightmare. Although we've not had a powercut in the 3 yrs I've been here.


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## NDevon (Mar 13, 2016)

Nice size. I'm pondering some kind of good quality but temporary building - posh shed I guess - until I can do a big build. 

Those prices seem very reasonable, I like that they can go on pulsing stats as well. Plus they look good and are very unobtrusive. 

Power cuts are a real problem for me. Our power goes out regularly, we have trips at least once a day and most days it happens a few times, this isn't too bad if everything resets correctly when it comes back on as it's never off for long when it trips. We do have a fair few longer outages that are not local - the trips are down to the complicated mains on the farm, but the outages tend to be caused by something in one of the nearby villages down the line that knocks it out. I'd guess we have had 3 since Christmas Eve that have lasted hours, it went at 4pm Christmas Eve and we were told it wouldn't be sorted until Boxing Day, luckily it was back on later in the evening or it would have been BBQ turkey!!

The guys are getting new generators in the milking parlour but we can't tap into that really, not sure I want to start delving into back up generator systems, last time I looked the costs made me shudder. I guess if things were well insulated it shouldn't be too bad if it went out, it's rare that it's out for more than a day. 

I hadn't even thought of power cut implications until you mentioned it...... Urgh!


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## NDevon (Mar 14, 2016)

Apologies if I missed it, but are you using any UV lighting in there? Not sure I have the time to read it all again just for that, it's easier to ask!!


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## Anyfoot (Mar 14, 2016)

NDevon said:


> Apologies if I missed it, but are you using any UV lighting in there? Not sure I have the time to read it all again just for that, it's easier to ask!!


 My UVB not in yet. It's the last thing I'm putting in. I need to know where plants establish and where the torts go the most for best uvb position. I'm going to use 160watt mega Ray. These project uv for up to 8ft. I will have them on a timer from 10am to 2pm.


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## NDevon (Mar 14, 2016)

Ahh yes I remember you mentioning the Mega Ray - anything that sounds like a space gun must be good!


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## Anyfoot (Mar 14, 2016)

NDevon said:


> Apologies if I missed it, but are you using any UV lighting in there? Not sure I have the time to read it all again just for that, it's easier to ask!!


My UVB not in yet. It's the last thing I'm putting in. I need to know where plants establish and where the torts go the most for best uvb position. I'm going to use 160watt mega Ray. These project uv for up to 8ft. I will have them on a timer from 10am to 2pm.


NDevon said:


> Ahh yes I remember you mentioning the Mega Ray - anything that sounds like a space gun must be good!


 160watt Mega Ray ZOO is the 8ft projection. Normal 160watt Mega Ray does 3ft. 
Hopefully if that works out ok I can put the misting system below the level of all my lights and heat panels.


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## NDevon (Mar 14, 2016)

Off the shelf misting system or making something yourself? They done seem to get great reviews all the sets I can find online, same with foggers. I like the idea (in a large room like yours) of using a garden irrigation system, they last for years and are so easy to customise.


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## Anyfoot (Mar 14, 2016)

NDevon said:


> Off the shelf misting system or making something yourself? They done seem to get great reviews all the sets I can find online, same with foggers. I like the idea (in a large room like yours) of using a garden irrigation system, they last for years and are so easy to customise.


 Not 100% which way I'm going with that yet. I looked at MistKing. I've also seen in our local butterfly house they use a standard irrigation system. I wanted originally to have a holding tank with overflow on it going outside. But with rain coming in off the roof, and also piped to mains on a buoy for dry periods. Trouble is apparently rain water can block up the nozzles over time. So I think mist King with mains only. Our water is not hard water either.


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## Anyfoot (Mar 14, 2016)

Anyfoot said:


> Not 100% which way I'm going with that yet. I looked at MistKing. I've also seen in our local butterfly house they use a standard irrigation system. I wanted originally to have a holding tank with overflow on it going outside. But with rain coming in off the roof, and also piped to mains on a buoy for dry periods. Trouble is apparently rain water can block up the nozzles over time. So I think mist King with mains only. Our water is not hard water either.


Nearly forgot, also I don't want to be spraying cold water.(just to make the maths simple). If I had a 200ltr tank and sprayed 20ltr in the enclosure daily. 90% of the water would be at room temp in the tank with a 10% top up mixed in of cold fresh water. 
This way I won't be spraying cold water but also replacing with fresh water constantly. Well that's the theory. 
If I did use the rain water idea, the temperature would be out of my control, unless you get more complicated with heating elements. Not worth it.


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## Anyfoot (Jul 2, 2016)

Finally got my adults in the new enclosure,Still some minor things to complete in here, I'm going to put a double set of vinyl curtains on each of those doors so they can go in and out as they please without loosing to much heat from indoors. Getting things to grow is proving hard, but I think its irrelevant anyway, they've only been in there 2 hrs and eaten or demolished all weeds. Think I'll have to go to plan B for food plants, grow stuff out of reach. I could have squash growing out of window boxes trailing down for example. The grape vines,fig tree and hibiscus just need to develop more, that hibiscus does keep blooming from time to time. Flowers look almost to good to feed. 
Sprinklers are on a timer. 

Anyway, here's a few photos


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## Anyfoot (Jul 2, 2016)




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## JHat (Jul 3, 2016)

It looks wonderful. Thanks for all the pictures.


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## julietteq (Jan 1, 2017)

OMG..this is the best enclosure ever. Most zoo's could take an example from you. Any more updates maybe?


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## jorg (Jan 4, 2017)

How did you made that pond? Do you have pictures from the build-off?


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## Anyfoot (Jan 4, 2017)

jorg said:


> How did you made that pond? Do you have pictures from the build-off?


I thought I had put it in this thread. I'll have to dig out some photos when I get a minute. Ha that's a laugh, 'when I get a minute'. 
I'll have a look later @jorg.


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## Anyfoot (Jan 4, 2017)

jorg said:


> How did you made that pond? Do you have pictures from the build-off?


The latest photo is not that up to date but here you go. It's a constant battle getting them not to eat the foliage, so I'm now in the process of finding out which plants they don't like so I can put them in there. Yes you heard me correctly, I'm looking for plants they have no interest in. Lol. Up to now I found one they won't eat. They just trampled on it instead. . Funny animals these redfoots, make me laugh. They ain't as daft as we think.


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## julietteq (Jan 4, 2017)

I am in love with your enclosure...can I hire you to make me one just like it


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## Slow and steady (Jan 5, 2017)

I just happened across this thread. Absolutely spectacular. It's warming to know there are people out there who pour their souls into these simple little creatures we love.


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## TortsNTurtles (Jan 6, 2017)

Amazing!!!


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## Anthony P (Jan 7, 2017)

Best I've ever seen


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## leigti (Jan 7, 2017)

As far as plants that are safe but that they don't like, have you tried herb plants?


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## Lyn W (Jan 8, 2017)

It really is incredible Craig.
Only one thing missing I think - a nice comfy bench so that you can spend hours just sitting in there watching them!


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## Anyfoot (Jan 8, 2017)

As far as plants go, the reasons I have problems are, they eat them and trample on them, lighting, humidity, and plant feed. I can stop the eating,trampling and I've sorted out the lighting a bit better, although I am still better growing plants that don't require full sun and like humidity, for example that money tree is growing very very well for now which is native to SA I believe. 
If the plants survive tortoise stampedes they grow to certain size then stop, this has to be because they have used up all the nutrients out of the original compost they were in. I've noticed my fig plant has stopped at about 5ft and leaves are falling off. I'm guessing eventually my money tree will stop growing too. 
So it's down to feed, over time, feces,urine,leaf litter and the rotting of orchid bark and Cyprus mulch will all add to the natural cycle of nutrients going back into the soil, not to forget the bugs/insects in their. 
What I'm thinking is to stick a tube down to the root ball of each plant, so I can feed down the tube. But what would be safe to feed? Do I just put a mix of nutrients in the tube and keep watering them, over time they should drink the nutrients with the water I periodically add to the tube.


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## Yvonne G (Jan 8, 2017)

It might be ok to dig some fish emulsion into the soil??????


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## Kapidolo Farms (Jan 8, 2017)

WOW, just looked at this thread. Tortoise poop water can be a good fertilizer. WOW.


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## Anyfoot (Jan 8, 2017)

Will said:


> WOW, just looked at this thread. Tortoise poop water can be a good fertilizer. WOW.


Cheers Will, this was on my list of thoughts, and will definitely be the best and most convenient answer to my problem.


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## KevinGG (Nov 13, 2017)

Great job. Is this just a spare room in your home? Very cool [emoji41]


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## Anyfoot (Nov 13, 2017)

No it's a separate building in our garden.


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## Cheryl Hills (Nov 21, 2017)

Anyfoot said:


> And to keep myself busy whilst sad reality programmes are on TV, I have been having a go at creating a barrier for my slope up to the top level of the caves with bamboo and twine. Very frustrating at 1st. Got the hang of it now. This is 4' long with gaps about 4" max, so my smallest sub adult cant fall through it. Made of 2" diameter bamboo.
> You can see on the right there is one piece missing, my plan is to fix one here when it's in situ, but make this one look as if it comes from the floor and through the ceiling.(about 7ft) Then grow a plant up this one. Was thinking a Swiss cheese plant.
> Does anyone know if I will be OK using a Swiss cheese plant?
> View attachment 155595


Would love to get some bamboo. It is hard to find and exspensive.


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## Anyfoot (Dec 27, 2017)

Today I changed my ambient lighting from LED to standard IP65 strip lights. I now have 3 x 36w strip lights(4ft) instead of 10 x 10w Colored LED's. I originally used red,blue and white LED's in hope plants grew and flowered. It failed. It's a lot brighter now so I'll give it another shot with some new plants, I was planning on putting 4 strip lights in but there is no need. 
Not impressed with LED's in general. They have a life span of supposedly 30000 hrs. Load of beep. Ive changed no end of LED chips. The same system also comes in the new machinery we have at work and they are so temperamental. Chip LED's get thumbs down from me. Booooooh. 
Hope everyone had a good xmas and holiday.


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## dwright27 (Jan 4, 2018)

I just found this thread and holy moly!! This is AMAZING and I'm incredibly envious!


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## ColaCarbonaria (Jan 7, 2018)

Simply Awesome. Wow.


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## Anyfoot (Sep 10, 2018)

@T Smart 
This is a view from outside.


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## T Smart (Sep 10, 2018)

Anyfoot said:


> @T Smart
> This is a view from outside.
> View attachment 251144
> View attachment 251145



WOW.... This is truly amazing! One of the best indoor/outdoor setups I've ever seen. Thanks for sharing!


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## Yvonne G (Feb 12, 2019)

@Anyfoot : How is the tortoise room holding up? Plants staying alive? Water feature working as you had hoped?


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## Anyfoot (Feb 12, 2019)

Yvonne G said:


> @Anyfoot : How is the tortoise room holding up? Plants staying alive? Water feature working as you had hoped?


 I’ll get some photos for you. Keep saying I will and never have time. Really busy this last yr with work and DIY. 
I’ve given up on plants, they destroy and eat everything except palms. 
The pond is good and still works fine. I changed the water circulation to something more simple. Still got the same pump, but it pumps out into fine poly pipe into a hanginging basket that has coir lining in it. This then filters back into pond. I just change the hanging basket coir liner every month or so


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## juli11 (Feb 13, 2019)

Everything for your Redfoots?


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## Anyfoot (Feb 13, 2019)

juli11 said:


> Everything for your Redfoots?


Yes pal. Need to build another for rads at a later date.


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## juli11 (Feb 13, 2019)

Anyfoot said:


> Yes pal. Need to build another for rads at a later date.



Than you should buy some more so it worth it to build another enclosure


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## AKTurtle1106 (Nov 11, 2019)

Just have to say WOW! What an amazing housing you have for your tortoise. I think Raphael wants to move there LOL


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## julietteq (Nov 11, 2019)

Amazing, pristine, fabulous I have no words for this. Such dedication ! Can you give us some updated photos?


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## ZEROPILOT (Nov 11, 2019)

Craig, what an AMAZING job you've done.
And you've done it in a pretty inhospitable environment for Redfoot.
Everytime I watch one of your posts, it makes me want to do more with my own enclosure.


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## Blackdog1714 (Nov 11, 2019)

I love how all your hardwork payed off. Cleaning the bricks made this structure blend right in. How your neighbors must react when you tell them it a tortoise fairy land! Awesome


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## Anyfoot (Nov 11, 2019)

I keep saying I’ll get some updated photos but never get around it. I’ve got a bit of tidying up to do and refresh some stuff. On the whole it’s the same as it was at the start, minus the plants. Plants just get eaten so I’ve given up on them. 
The bloody things just keep breeding if I don’t keep on top of egg collection. I dread every day that I’ll find another clutch surfaced. Don’t need any more babies and good homes are hard to find over here. Think I scare most potential owners off TBH. I’m considering extending this tort house with a conservatory type area. So they can use that area in the winter months. Believe it or not we have a lot of cold clear sky winter days that a conservatory would benefit from winter IR to semi warm it up naturally whilst my tort house would be the heated refuge for them to retreat to when too cool. 

I just have too much DIY ing in my house to do at the moment and for the last couple of yrs, Hopefully my house will be complete mid summer then I can get back to concentrating on tortoises.


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## Blackdog1714 (Nov 11, 2019)

Anyway for you to set up some grow tubs up out of there reach so you could start cycling them. Say like six planters that you could start about one week from each other. So as one gets to eaten another is alomost ready to go down. I have some window box planters that are 36 inches long but only 8 inches wide. You could start them on the walls . Otherwise for any plants just start them in PVC pipe 4" or larger to protect them from being eaten sorta of like a safety collar so they can grow up and out. Otherwise not to bad of a problem to have after ALL THE HARD WORK you already did. I mean DAMN DUDE REALLY! and i like to say "Torting ain't easy"


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