# My Ikea table -> tortoise shelf conversion tutorial



## PeanutbuttER (Dec 21, 2010)

Last week I had this brilliant idea. A couple months back I got a free Ikea-type (I think it's actually the walmart brand technically...) coffee table that someone had tried to turn into a piano bench, failed, and just given away. You can see the holes they put into it on the top there. I've been using it as a stand to put my hatchling enclosure on, but since I live in an apartment and room is tight I finally had the idea to stack it on top of my other enclosure. This is how I did it.

Step 1: Measure for size and get the saw ready to cut it. I scored a line into the table using a screwdriver.







Step 2: Be amazed at how they really do make these tables out of paper. It's a glorified cardboard table. Who knew.






Step 3: Attach some brackets to the table. I used 3. One on the short end and two on the long end that will be sitting on the table. These are just little L-shaped pieces of metal with screw holes in them. They are meant to slip over the edge of the enclosure so that afterwards the tort underneath can't push the enclosure around.






Step 4: (not shown) measure the length the remaining leg needs to be and cut it down to size. I think it took off a couple inches is all. This is actually the point where I took the last picture, so that's the shortened leg you see.

Step 5: install. Place the 1-legged table onto the top of your tort table. Make sure the metal brackets are on the outside of the table. Remember to clear the substrate out from underneath the 1 leg. It should look like this.






Then get things set up again and call it good. Here's my finshed product. I'm still going to rearrange things inside the enclosures, but this is what we've got at this point.











Hope this gives people some ideas  I made 2 cuts and it took less than a half hour.


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## LindaF (Dec 21, 2010)

Nice!


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## Angi (Dec 21, 2010)

I like!


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## coreyc (Dec 21, 2010)

Angi said:


> I like!



Meeeeeeeeeee Tooooooooooo


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## PeanutbuttER (Dec 21, 2010)

Oh good! I'm glad you guys like it. I felt like it was a stroke of inspiration when I had the idea and it has turned out exactly like i had imagined it. Plus, now Kiwi my "underneath" tort has a big dark cave to explore 

And now that I can better walk around them I feel like I can get to my torts better. It makes both of their enclosures more accessible for me.


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## Isa (Dec 21, 2010)

Nice thread!  Thanks!


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## moswen (Dec 21, 2010)

hey, now there's an idea! nice!


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## Balboa (Dec 21, 2010)

Well done man,
always nice to save on space!


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## terryo (Dec 21, 2010)

What a great idea!


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## Candy (Dec 21, 2010)

I love it. The half log almost looks too small in that first picture.  What kind of light (heat?) is that you're using?


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## gummybearpoop (Dec 22, 2010)

Pretty cool! Great way to recycle that unwanted table


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## Cherbear (Dec 22, 2010)

Looks good! What's the silver round thing on top of the small enclosure?


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## PeanutbuttER (Dec 22, 2010)

Thanks for all the compliments everyone!!!



Candy said:


> I love it. The half log almost looks too small in that first picture.  What kind of light (heat?) is that you're using?



Yes, it is getting to be too small but I can't take it away. She loves sitting in it too much 

On the bottom enclosure I have a megaray (which gets dang hot btw) and a big heat cable over the "dark" side. On the above one I have a heat projector and an undertank heating pad. Both the pad and the cables are on light dimming sliders so I can vary the temperature as much as I want and it won't overheat.




Cherbear said:


> Looks good! What's the silver round thing on top of the small enclosure?



That is a grease splatter lid I got at the dollar store. It's like a really fine mesh lid. I cut a hole in the rubbermaid lid and hot glued that in so that I can close off the enclosure to keep humidity in and still be able to heat it with the heat projector.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Dec 22, 2010)

Well done.


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