Planning a sulcata enclosure

[jrh]

Hello,

I'm Josh and I've been looking at getting a sulcata for a couple years and just started to get a little more serious about researching them. Thought I would post some of my plans on here to see if I was making any newbie mistakes that could be fixed first...
Background... I'm married with two children and work out of my home but do have to travel once a month or so. We live in Southern Illinois zone 6. What drew me to the sulcata's are their size and there bond's with their owners. My other passion is raising Japanese show koi, we have a large pond and waterfall but the sulcata would be fenced from the pond. I try my best for the koi to thrive just like I would the sulcata... I check on the koi multiple times a day and have an action cam on them as well. I'm fairly DIY capable since we built the pond and filtration ourselves.
The yard: the house is cut into the side of a hill with a walk out basement. The entire yard is 1.75 acres and 1/3 of that is on the hillside. The remaining is grass in a lowland area. There is a creek on the back perimeter of the yard and it does flood the grass a few times each year. It's not a dry creek that floods rapidly, usually after a serious storm the grass will be covered for a couple hours then it receeds. The tortoise main enclosure would be up the hill twenty feet or so on the same terrace as the koi pond. The good news is that since it is in a lowland, the grass and weeds grow very rapidly in the bottom.
In the first picture it is looking down from the upper deck. You can see the yard and tree line in the back where my truck is parked. The other picture is from a couple years ago, the kids forts are no longer there.

 

[jrh]

So for some of my questions...

I was planning on doing a main enclosure of 20x35 with a 10x10 shed with a night box. In the winter I would put up a greenhouse covering on the end of the shed for it to wander out in when its cold but still get some sun. Heaters would be based redundant systems. There would be a gate/board that I could stop them from going down the hill in inclement weather. The lower paddock could be done a couple different ways. I could keep it entirely on the hillside or run a 5 ft wide trough down the hillside and then widen it out to some or all of the flat area. I had other plans to landscape the hillside but I can work around that if the low area is not pheasible.
Question, will the sulcata move itself up the hill ok to go into the night box or would I have to put it in there everynight?
I have many landscape plants on the property so I've been reading up on what is toxic and most of what I have the sulcata can eat flowers or trimmings.
For fencing I saw on another thread where someone recommended treated plywood cut to 16" and 2x4 posts treated. This is the most economical that I've found.
Is there any concern that when the tortoise is on the hill and can look out to greener pastures will that cause them to bulldoze the fence?
How much would a 100lb sulcata eat in a month? We feed our koi around 4lbs a day in the growth season for them, so I don't mind feeding a lot just trying to get an idea... I'm in farm country so getting hay is not hard... just wasn't sure If I would need round bales or not... lol
Also, I know everyone says bigger is better but I want to make sure that the paddock can support the tortoise's feed rate with out over browsing.
I'm sure I'll have more questions as I plan this...

Thanks!!!

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hi Josh

 

[Hugo's Home]

Here is ours. It does have a hill that drops off about 6 ft from the top. Pic doesnt do justice..but it is definatly not as big as yours! Hugo doesnt seem to have a problem climbing up the hills and I suppose it helps strengthen his muscles. At first, he had a somewhat hard time climbing since he came from a flat yard ( would walk a few ft and stop and rest) but now he runs up them lol his summer underground burrow also drops off about 6 ft under ground whith a steep decline. He has no problems with that either. He does sit at the top and look out and over the fence but never rams the fence.. im not sure how far sulcatas can see.. are they near sighted??? Older pic from last june just after it was built.
Lower pic maybe at 3 ft above ground level looking out. ( Hugo grazing in the background.)

Hugo is about 40lbs now. He's had a three string bale of brumuda hay for about 4 months now. Maybe a quarter bale left..he just munches on it occasionally but eats it mostly when he gets mazuri. Maybe 3 cups each serving 2 or three times a week during the winter along with some greens also grazes the dry grass and the winter rye grass. Summer he just grazes the yard with an occasional "treat". Always has cactus pads laying around his enclosure and munches on those. I wouldn't get those huge bales, wont eat it fast enough..We don't even feed those to our cows as they are to cumbersome to move around the ranch and a task to protect from the wind and rain.

Looks like your going to do a great job!

 

[vladimir]

I noticed Vladimir seems to like climbing hills too.

 

[Markw84]

So for some of my questions...

I was planning on doing a main enclosure of 20x35 with a 10x10 shed with a night box. In the winter I would put up a greenhouse covering on the end of the shed for it to wander out in when its cold but still get some sun. Heaters would be based redundant systems. There would be a gate/board that I could stop them from going down the hill in inclement weather. The lower paddock could be done a couple different ways. I could keep it entirely on the hillside or run a 5 ft wide trough down the hillside and then widen it out to some or all of the flat area. I had other plans to landscape the hillside but I can work around that if the low area is not pheasible.
Question, will the sulcata move itself up the hill ok to go into the night box or would I have to put it in there everynight?
I have many landscape plants on the property so I've been reading up on what is toxic and most of what I have the sulcata can eat flowers or trimmings.
For fencing I saw on another thread where someone recommended treated plywood cut to 16" and 2x4 posts treated. This is the most economical that I've found.
Is there any concern that when the tortoise is on the hill and can look out to greener pastures will that cause them to bulldoze the fence?
How much would a 100lb sulcata eat in a month? We feed our koi around 4lbs a day in the growth season for them, so I don't mind feeding a lot just trying to get an idea... I'm in farm country so getting hay is not hard... just wasn't sure If I would need round bales or not... lol
Also, I know everyone says bigger is better but I want to make sure that the paddock can support the tortoise's feed rate with out over browsing.
I'm sure I'll have more questions as I plan this...

Thanks!!!

welcome to the forum, JRH!

It looks like you have some great land to work with there. Let's see if I can answer some of your questions...

I would go bigger than 20x35 with the amount of room you have. I like to make things look nice and giving a sulcata more room will reduce the amount of overgrazing and impact on the area. The more well established grass area - the better. So I would make the lower portion available as part of the enclosure with a nice big "lawn" area for open grazing. A well established lawn area of about 1000 sq ft will provide plenty of grazing and your tortoise will keep it mowed for you without overgrazing. Also include the hillside and plant lots of good tortoise friendly plants that can create hides and browsing. Put in a little grape "vineyard" as grape leaves are one of the best foods and they grow like crazy during the warmer months. Some rosemary to create bushes the tortoise can hide under but they will leave the rosemary alone and not eat it so it makes nice cover and landscaping. For more food options - get some mallow bushes or laventera established. Protect it with a barrier until it is large enough to not bulldoze over and it will provide good food as high as the tortoise can reach and drop lots of nice flowers it can eat. Some blue pea vines are excellent, fast growing food if it will survive in your area. Take an area of the hillside maybe a couple of 10x10 ft sections, and throw out some testudo seed mix and let the 30+ different types of plants grow up. Rotate closing off a section with a movable fence so as one area grows up, you can block off the other to recover - and it will quickly in a week or two.

Your tortoise would live nicely there and you would actually not have to feed it at all during the growing seasons except for treats and personal interaction. It would be self sustaining.

Sulcatas do well with exercise and the hill would be a nice addition to the enclosure. No problem climbing up and down that hill. As long as the fence is a solid barrier that your totoise cannot see over when against it, it will normally not try to push through. It is when they are against something, yet can see through that you can have those issues. Seeing over at a distance is not a problem.

Make a night box that is easy to heat and keep at the right temperatures. A smaller @Tom style night box is best. I would go with a 4x8x2.5 high box. Fully insulated it is easy to heat on the coldest of nights. It would be big enough to also include a basking light in one end to give a photoperiod and basking opportunity during winter months. That would also create a nice rise in daytime temps for those winter months. He would go out to graze on most days, and stay put on the coldest days. If that opened into a protected greenhouse setup, it would allow grazing and feeding year round.

 

[jrh]

Here is ours. It does have a hill that drops off about 6 ft from the top. Pic doesnt do justice..but it is definatly not as big as yours! Hugo doesnt seem to have a problem climbing up the hills and I suppose it helps strengthen his muscles. At first, he had a somewhat hard time climbing since he came from a flat yard ( would walk a few ft and stop and rest) but now he runs up them lol his summer underground burrow also drops off about 6 ft under ground whith a steep decline. He has no problems with that either. He does sit at the top and look out and over the fence but never rams the fence.. im not sure how far sulcatas can see.. are they near sighted??? Older pic from last june just after it was built.
Lower pic maybe at 3 ft above ground level looking out. ( Hugo grazing in the background.)

Hugo is about 40lbs now. He's had a three string bale of brumuda hay for about 4 months now. Maybe a quarter bale left..he just munches on it occasionally but eats it mostly when he gets mazuri. Maybe 3 cups each serving 2 or three times a week during the winter along with some greens also grazes the dry grass and the winter rye grass. Summer he just grazes the yard with an occasional "treat". Always has cactus pads laying around his enclosure and munches on those. I wouldn't get those huge bales, wont eat it fast enough..We don't even feed those to our cows as they are to cumbersome to move around the ranch and a task to protect from the wind and rain.

Looks like your going to do a great job!

Looks like Hugo has a happy place to hang out and grow... Thanks for the insights, especially on the amount of food, that seems very doable.

 

[jrh]

welcome to the forum, JRH!

It looks like you have some great land to work with there. Let's see if I can answer some of your questions...

I would go bigger than 20x35 with the amount of room you have. I like to make things look nice and giving a sulcata more room will reduce the amount of overgrazing and impact on the area. The more well established grass area - the better. So I would make the lower portion available as part of the enclosure with a nice big "lawn" area for open grazing. A well established lawn area of about 1000 sq ft will provide plenty of grazing and your tortoise will keep it mowed for you without overgrazing. Also include the hillside and plant lots of good tortoise friendly plants that can create hides and browsing. Put in a little grape "vineyard" as grape leaves are one of the best foods and they grow like crazy during the warmer months. Some rosemary to create bushes the tortoise can hide under but they will leave the rosemary alone and not eat it so it makes nice cover and landscaping. For more food options - get some mallow bushes or laventera established. Protect it with a barrier until it is large enough to not bulldoze over and it will provide good food as high as the tortoise can reach and drop lots of nice flowers it can eat. Some blue pea vines are excellent, fast growing food if it will survive in your area. Take an area of the hillside maybe a couple of 10x10 ft sections, and throw out some testudo seed mix and let the 30+ different types of plants grow up. Rotate closing off a section with a movable fence so as one area grows up, you can block off the other to recover - and it will quickly in a week or two.

Your tortoise would live nicely there and you would actually not have to feed it at all during the growing seasons except for treats and personal interaction. It would be self sustaining.

Sulcatas do well with exercise and the hill would be a nice addition to the enclosure. No problem climbing up and down that hill. As long as the fence is a solid barrier that your totoise cannot see over when against it, it will normally not try to push through. It is when they are against something, yet can see through that you can have those issues. Seeing over at a distance is not a problem.

Make a night box that is easy to heat and keep at the right temperatures. A smaller @Tom style night box is best. I would go with a 4x8x2.5 high box. Fully insulated it is easy to heat on the coldest of nights. It would be big enough to also include a basking light in one end to give a photoperiod and basking opportunity during winter months. That would also create a nice rise in daytime temps for those winter months. He would go out to graze on most days, and stay put on the coldest days. If that opened into a protected greenhouse setup, it would allow grazing and feeding year round.

Thanks for going into so much detail its greatly appreciated! The winter/bad weather fence area will be the smaller 20 x35 roughly, then there will be a gate board to let him into the larger area during good weather. I like the ideas of grapes, do i have to worry about him eating all the grapes? I can put in plenty of bushes and shrubs that are protected, thats awesome, the above picture is old so there is already 10-15 trees and evergreens planted on the hillside.
I like the idea of the movable fence to section off areas of plant growth. Does it matter if the movable fence is see through? or the barrier around the landscape plants? In other words if they are inside the pen with the tortoise do I need to put in wood and stakes just like the outside fence or can I use welded wire?

For the night box I was going to put in inside the shed or do you think I can get by with just a plastic covered structure/greenhouse and a night box. We do get cold here, my polyhouse covers the koi pond from Nov till mid April. Originally I was thinking 8x10 shed with night box inside of it. Shed heated to around 70 ambient and then the basking light, night box kept inside the shed temp80 -85

 

[jrh]

Here's a better aerial view of my property.
Black line is property Boundary
Blue is the winter/ bad weather fence, which would be opened to the hillside and lower area in good weather.
Red box is proposed shed/greenhouse/night box area, its on a level terrace
Purple/Green/Yellow are proposed options for fence line enclosure routes.
Looking for opinions on which fence route would be best/better. Also if I do the yellow route can it be a see through wire fence since it is a large area or still not recommended...
For reference purple is around 8-10 thousand square feet, Green is around 4-5 thousand and yellow is around an acre, if I did the yellow route then I could let my dogs run in there as well.

 

[jrh]

I've highlighted in green one area of concern, the grade here is around 40-50 degrees, hard to walk up and down on, my wife is concerned he may flip over some how??? Thoughts, it would be easy to not allow in that area if needed.

 

[Markw84]

Thanks for going into so much detail its greatly appreciated! The winter/bad weather fence area will be the smaller 20 x35 roughly, then there will be a gate board to let him into the larger area during good weather. I like the ideas of grapes, do i have to worry about him eating all the grapes? I can put in plenty of bushes and shrubs that are protected, thats awesome, the above picture is old so there is already 10-15 trees and evergreens planted on the hillside.

I like the small winter area with removable section for expanding for warmer months. Easier to maintain and protect to allow some outside time when weather does permit. A sulcata will venture out to graze in quite cold weather if the barn/night box is nice and toasty. Good to have that option.

I protect and stake up grape vines and train the vines the first two years to grow with a nice trunk and then branch out at 24", 30", 36" etc. Creates a nice overhang that tortoise will keep trimmed up as high as he can reach. For me, I find the Thompson seedless and Flame are some of the fastest growing vines with the best leaf production. Many wine varietals aren't as productive, leaf-wise - and we want leaf production!! Check with a local nursery and as for best recommendations in your area with vine vigor in mind.

I like the idea of the movable fence to section off areas of plant growth. Does it matter if the movable fence is see through? or the barrier around the landscape plants? In other words if they are inside the pen with the tortoise do I need to put in wood and stakes just like the outside fence or can I use welded wire?

I use sections of wrought iron fence that are 10' long and 18" high for this. I use 24" steel concrete forming stakes and wire the sections to the stakes with baling wire. It is see through and I don't mind this for this use. They will at times try to graze through the fencing, but with a nice size enclosure, they do not become obsessive about it. I like the look of a see through barrier for protecting plants within the enclosure. I also will use a raised planter bed style in some areas. You can build 2 block high planters around a mulberry tree, for example. Mulberry leaves are also great tortoise food and they are fast growing. The tree doesn't need protection, but the raised bed will give places to grow some nice petunias, gazanias, geraniums, or pansies, or even some dandelion/mallow/plantain seed mixes. It looks nice and while out on rounds you can pick some off and feed to the tortoise. Your kids will love that as well. You could do the same with some watermelon, cantaloupe, or pumpkin vine. As the vines grow, the tortoise will trim it back. The parts above tortoise level could give you a few pumpkins!

For the night box I was going to put in inside the shed or do you think I can get by with just a plastic covered structure/greenhouse and a night box. We do get cold here, my polyhouse covers the koi pond from Nov till mid April. Originally I was thinking 8x10 shed with night box inside of it. Shed heated to around 70 ambient and then the basking light, night box kept inside the shed temp80 -85

I do like your night box inside a shed. You have much colder winters than I deal with. To have a place you can keep relatively warmer and protected is good. It would be tough to heat a greenhouse type structure. The nightbox inside allows a great way to provide the more controlled 80° for the perfect retreat "burrow". Perhaps hang a nice basking light on timer, in the shed outside the night box, that would then give the tortoise a place to come out and bask in the winter.

Here's a better aerial view of my property.
Black line is property Boundary
Blue is the winter/ bad weather fence, which would be opened to the hillside and lower area in good weather.
Red box is proposed shed/greenhouse/night box area, its on a level terrace
Purple/Green/Yellow are proposed options for fence line enclosure routes.
Looking for opinions on which fence route would be best/better. Also if I do the yellow route can it be a see through wire fence since it is a large area or still not recommended...
For reference purple is around 8-10 thousand square feet, Green is around 4-5 thousand and yellow is around an acre, if I did the yellow route then I could let my dogs run in there as well.

Most people seem to agree on not liking see through fencing. I have had good luck with it in a large area and used on one side, not on two consecutive sides where a see through corner is created. Maybe because I broke up the sight lines with pilasters every 10' helped too. I wanted to be able to see the tortoises from my main yard area and the tortoise area was the back of the yard. So I used this design along 100' section that separated the tortoises from the main lawn.



I lived there for 16 years with the tortoises and never had any issues with them pacing the front section or trying to push through the fence. There was also a lot of areas they could rest under bushes and find cover, and that may also had a lot to do with it. An open, boring, bare enclosure is what I believe contributes to this behavior.



With my newer house, I have gone to a different type wall to enclose the sulcatas. Since their enclosure also borders the koi/turtle pond, I have used a block wall that I faced with a faux stackstone tile to make a nice look, but still good viewing from my main area into the tortoise yard. The wall where the tortoise sits is 20" high. I still used a setion of the see through fencing from my old house for a portion with a gate.



With the amount of area you have, I would tend to go with a plan that simply makes the perimeter escape-poof, and have the tortoise roaming my yard in the warmer months. Many used stacked cinder blocks as the walls to enclose an area. You will need to address the dogs as you don't want them to have access to the tortoise unsupervised. So if you leave the dogs out in the yard unsupervised, you need a way to keep the tortoise separate.

I do like the lower, flat section that you have nice grass established. That is such a nice grazing area for the tortoise. I would want to incorporate that in my plans. To sit above and see him grazing below would be great. So I guess I like the yellow selection. OR perhaps 1/2 the yellow with a fenced section for the dogs, and a separate section for the tortoise?? With the amount of room you have and the ideas we are discussing, you will have a pretty self-sustaining tortoise a good portion of the year. In my last house, I rarely fed the tortoises at all. They simply grazed naturally.

I've highlighted in green one area of concern, the grade here is around 40-50 degrees, hard to walk up and down on, my wife is concerned he may flip over some how??? Thoughts, it would be easy to not allow in that area if needed.

Tortoises like to climb and exercise. I like the hills you have. I would only be concerned if you had something at the bottom of that slope that would trap the tortoise against it if he did happen to flip over. Especially on a slope, a tortoise can right itself quite easily. The problem is if they get wedged against something or in a hole, upsidedown. You could make a block wall - planter style - around that slope and protect it. Use it to grow some interesting plants!

I love the project as a fellow, fairly handy DIYer. To be able to get input in the design phase is really a great step you're taking. Hopefully I've given some food for thought to help you with ideas. Let's invite @Tom to join in on the fun and see what ideas he can give. He's used block walls extensively in creating several enclosures on a large piece of land. Also designed plenty of iterations of night boxes and heating solutions...

 

[jrh]

I like the small winter area with removable section for expanding for warmer months. Easier to maintain and protect to allow some outside time when weather does permit. A sulcata will venture out to graze in quite cold weather if the barn/night box is nice and toasty. Good to have that option.

I protect and stake up grape vines and train the vines the first two years to grow with a nice trunk and then branch out at 24", 30", 36" etc. Creates a nice overhang that tortoise will keep trimmed up as high as he can reach. For me, I find the Thompson seedless and Flame are some of the fastest growing vines with the best leaf production. Many wine varietals aren't as productive, leaf-wise - and we want leaf production!! Check with a local nursery and as for best recommendations in your area with vine vigor in mind.



I use sections of wrought iron fence that are 10' long and 18" high for this. I use 24" steel concrete forming stakes and wire the sections to the stakes with baling wire. It is see through and I don't mind this for this use. They will at times try to graze through the fencing, but with a nice size enclosure, they do not become obsessive about it. I like the look of a see through barrier for protecting plants within the enclosure. I also will use a raised planter bed style in some areas. You can build 2 block high planters around a mulberry tree, for example. Mulberry leaves are also great tortoise food and they are fast growing. The tree doesn't need protection, but the raised bed will give places to grow some nice petunias, gazanias, geraniums, or pansies, or even some dandelion/mallow/plantain seed mixes. It looks nice and while out on rounds you can pick some off and feed to the tortoise. Your kids will love that as well. You could do the same with some watermelon, cantaloupe, or pumpkin vine. As the vines grow, the tortoise will trim it back. The parts above tortoise level could give you a few pumpkins!



I do like your night box inside a shed. You have much colder winters than I deal with. To have a place you can keep relatively warmer and protected is good. It would be tough to heat a greenhouse type structure. The nightbox inside allows a great way to provide the more controlled 80° for the perfect retreat "burrow". Perhaps hang a nice basking light on timer, in the shed outside the night box, that would then give the tortoise a place to come out and bask in the winter.



Most people seem to agree on not liking see through fencing. I have had good luck with it in a large area and used on one side, not on two consecutive sides where a see through corner is created. Maybe because I broke up the sight lines with pilasters every 10' helped too. I wanted to be able to see the tortoises from my main yard area and the tortoise area was the back of the yard. So I used this design along 100' section that separated the tortoises from the main lawn.

View attachment 227068

I lived there for 16 years with the tortoises and never had any issues with them pacing the front section or trying to push through the fence. There was also a lot of areas they could rest under bushes and find cover, and that may also had a lot to do with it. An open, boring, bare enclosure is what I believe contributes to this behavior.

View attachment 227069

With my newer house, I have gone to a different type wall to enclose the sulcatas. Since their enclosure also borders the koi/turtle pond, I have used a block wall that I faced with a faux stackstone tile to make a nice look, but still good viewing from my main area into the tortoise yard. The wall where the tortoise sits is 20" high. I still used a setion of the see through fencing from my old house for a portion with a gate.

View attachment 227072

With the amount of area you have, I would tend to go with a plan that simply makes the perimeter escape-poof, and have the tortoise roaming my yard in the warmer months. Many used stacked cinder blocks as the walls to enclose an area. You will need to address the dogs as you don't want them to have access to the tortoise unsupervised. So if you leave the dogs out in the yard unsupervised, you need a way to keep the tortoise separate.

I do like the lower, flat section that you have nice grass established. That is such a nice grazing area for the tortoise. I would want to incorporate that in my plans. To sit above and see him grazing below would be great. So I guess I like the yellow selection. OR perhaps 1/2 the yellow with a fenced section for the dogs, and a separate section for the tortoise?? With the amount of room you have and the ideas we are discussing, you will have a pretty self-sustaining tortoise a good portion of the year. In my last house, I rarely fed the tortoises at all. They simply grazed naturally.



Tortoises like to climb and exercise. I like the hills you have. I would only be concerned if you had something at the bottom of that slope that would trap the tortoise against it if he did happen to flip over. Especially on a slope, a tortoise can right itself quite easily. The problem is if they get wedged against something or in a hole, upsidedown. You could make a block wall - planter style - around that slope and protect it. Use it to grow some interesting plants!

I love the project as a fellow, fairly handy DIYer. To be able to get input in the design phase is really a great step you're taking. Hopefully I've given some food for thought to help you with ideas. Let's invite @Tom to join in on the fun and see what ideas he can give. He's used block walls extensively in creating several enclosures on a large piece of land. Also designed plenty of iterations of night boxes and heating solutions...

Awesome!!! your yard looks like a paradise. It sounds like for the sake of budget, I will go with the purple area for the fencing which will include at least of 1000 sq ft of flat established grass area on the flat part of the hill.
Good news I am in the nursery industry so have lots of access to many types of plants to help with having natural browse and places to hide. Originally I was going to landscape the entire hill, now I think I will just put some strategic plants and raised planters.

 

[jrh]

I took some more photos today since we had a break in the weather. This is the flat terrace area where the shed and winter/bad weather/ fence will be.

 

[jrh]

Here is from the other direction... Other picture is from base of hill shows outline of overall area to be included in the enclosure. There is a stone staircase that goes up and down the middle of the hill.

 

[jrh]

Lets talk fence types... I am currently considering ripping treated plywood to 16" and wood stakes every 8' or 1x6 corral boards "three high"either way leaning on painting it black with horse fence paint. It needs to be both functional and somewhat aestheticaly pleasing. I don't like the drystacked block for this purpose.
The plywood version would cost around 1 dollar per linear foot. and the corral boards would be around 1.80 linear foot. based on the pricing I've found locally. I can get the milled cedar for about a dollar a linear foot as well, great deal on craigslist.
I did find some locally milled eastern red cedar planks I could use and stain... see pic below, but in all truthfulness I believe eventually most of the fence will be visually blocked by plants.
Does anyone see any pros or cons to either of these options or have any other ideas?

 

[Hugo's Home]

Lets talk fence types... I am currently considering ripping treated plywood to 16" and wood stakes every 8' or 1x6 corral boards "three high"either way leaning on painting it black with horse fence paint. It needs to be both functional and somewhat aestheticaly pleasing. I don't like the drystacked block for this purpose.
The plywood version would cost around 1 dollar per linear foot. and the corral boards would be around 1.80 linear foot. based on the pricing I've found locally. I can get the milled cedar for about a dollar a linear foot as well, great deal on craigslist.
I did find some locally milled eastern red cedar planks I could use and stain... see pic below, but in all truthfulness I believe eventually most of the fence will be visually blocked by plants.
Does anyone see any pros or cons to either of these options or have any other ideas?

Cedar boards instead of the treated ply would be my suggestion..should last longer and they are easy to remove and replace. same price and looks nice until plants are established. similar to what kennan does from kamp Kennan on YouTube. I wish I would have done boards instead of the tin but the tin was free and actually I'm noticing now in the winter the tin heats up nice and gives Hugo more heat when he's basking.

 

[jrh]

Progress, I was able to find some cull lumber at a local store enough to build the shed and fencing. The fence will be a a treated 2x4 on the bottom with pine 2x6's on the top. Three high would should give me around 22-24" fence height. I like the look of the wood and when the weather warms we are going to paint it black with horse fence paint. We started the shed today, flooring is treated plywood, R13 batting, plastic barrier, 1 inch foam board, then 1/2 plywood. We also got an exterior door on closeout and it is framed in as well... excited to see progress... should have the shed done mostly by tomorrow, although the low is 10 degrees in the morning so I'm sure that will slow us down...

 

[Stuart S.]

Welcome Josh, looking forward to watching you're process! You have some great land and you're doing it all right ahead of time! Keep it up man!

 

[Melis]

Following this build!

 

[jrh]

Well, the exterior of the shed is done except for paint, I took some pics but it doesn't show the shed, I'll update the thread with a pic later. We did R13 batting in the walls and then 6 mil plastic. The last layer is 1.5 styrofoam board with mylar to reflect the heat back.

for the night box we did another two layers of the styrofoam board on the floor, and will have some on the walls as well. more updates tomorrow...