Table questions

Hey guys, I'm moving into my new house next week and there's no fence so I'm thinking about building a table for my 1.2 of Eastern Hermanns. I was curious if anyone has done anything similar and what was used for materials as well as dimensions. All 3 are adults.

Adampomp said:

Hey guys, I'm moving into my new house next week and there's no fence so I'm thinking about building a table for my 1.2 of Eastern Hermanns. I was curious if anyone has done anything similar and what was used for materials as well as dimensions. All 3 are adults.

Click to expand...

And keeping them indoors? You would need a room for 3 mature Hermann’s, not a table... they need a minimum of 4’x8’ EACH

You’re better building out a secure outdoor enclosure.

Adampomp said:

Hey guys, I'm moving into my new house next week and there's no fence so I'm thinking about building a table for my 1.2 of Eastern Hermanns. I was curious if anyone has done anything similar and what was used for materials as well as dimensions. All 3 are adults.

Click to expand...

I just got two Hermann hatchings so I've been reading a lot about their care. But directly taken off of Chris Leone's Hermani Haven site regarding housing adult tortoises:

"Housing larger juveniles and adults indoors is possible especially during the winter. By using the “tortoise table” method, an 8x4 foot rectangular enclosure out of ply wood can easily be constructed. This will house a trio of adult tortoises in the 4 to 6” range for part of the year but as always, going as big as possible is best."

I find his care page incredibly useful. The link is: https://www.hermannihaven.com/t-hermanni-care-sheet. It's also pinned to the top of the Hermann forum as well. I used Redwood for my enclosure but you could also use Cedar. I would definitely get my lumber over at a lumber yard then at Home Depot because it's less expensive. Chris mentions using plywood which would be significantly cheaper. Good luck with your tortoise build.

One thing to remember about wood - you don't want to use aromatic oil wood like cedar. I'm not sure about redwood. I've always used plywood in my table builds. It lasts long enough to grow the babies out of it and outside. I've got a couple that are 4 years old and show no signs of rot. But then, I line them with plastic sheeting.

tgirl23 said:

"Housing larger juveniles and adults indoors is possible especially during the winter. By using the “tortoise table” method, an 8x4 foot rectangular enclosure out of ply wood can easily be constructed. This will house a trio of adult tortoises in the 4 to 6” range for part of the year but as always, going as big as possible is best."

Click to expand...

Especially for a group of the bigger Eastern Hermanns, in my opinion the minimum should be more like 8x14 foot. For each tortoise.
So why not build a fence instead of a table?

Thanks for the input guys, it's our first house so it's a significant expense anyway so I'm trying to minimize cost until we get our tax credit next spring when I can build a fence and get the outside enclosures up and running

Yvonne G said:

One thing to remember about wood - you don't want to use aromatic oil wood like cedar. I'm not sure about redwood. I've always used plywood in my table builds. It lasts long enough to grow the babies out of it and outside. I've got a couple that are 4 years old and show no signs of rot. But then, I line them with plastic sheeting.

Click to expand...

Good to know about cedar. Those 2 woods were what they suggested at the lumber yard when I told them I was building a tortoise enclosure. Glad to know plywood works well.

@Yvonne G what do you build your outdoor enclosures with? Do you use plywood for that as well?