Enclosure confusion

[Turbothehermtort]

Hello, I’m a very new here and have some questions regarding buying/making a new enclosure for our Hermann tortoise. Most enclosures for sale on Amazon/wayfair/etc. are made of cedar panels and every thing I have read says that cedar is extremely toxic. Now is this just cedar shavings/bedding or cedar in all forms?Some say if it is kiln dried/treated it should be fine? And others say to seal the wood first however I am worried that the sealant won’t be enough or is toxic in itself. And others are using plastic/tarps to cover the wood or use plastic tubs as enclosures but I also worry about heating the plastic. It is definitely cheaper to buy an enclosure off one of these sites however I cannot/will not risk my baby’s life in order to save a few bucks. What would be the best way to go about building/buying a new enclosure? Please any advice/tips are appreciated, thank you so much in advance.

 

[Tom]

Easiest and cheapest to build your own. Get a sheet of plywood and some 2x4s, add walls and legs, add a means to hang the lights and heat from over head, and you are good to go. Nobody sells anything large enough on Amazon or in pet stores.

Give this a read through:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

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[NamedNut]

I second Tom’s advice.

You can build an adequately sized tortoise table for about the same as you can buy an inadequately sized piece of junk off Amazon or at the local pet store.

If you don’t have a saw a lot of stores that sell wood will also cut it for you if you give them the dimensions. Then you could assemble it for as cheap as a $8 hammer and a $10 box of nails.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

DIY is definitely more the way to go! Some folks even use book cases so long as the sides are deep enough with the substrate in!

Perhaps you’ll find some ideas in here

Enclosure inspiration

Howdy folks! Hope everyone is well! As you all know, I’m a big fan of making threads that cater more towards visual learners like myself, I’ve really been wanting to create a thread full of adult enclosure inspiration for a while now, I’ve managed to find some great references over time! I do...

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Feel free to check this one out too, it covers correct equipment(uvb, heating bulbs, lighting etc), sizing(you can get away with smaller indoors if you can build a larger outdoor space when weather permits), appropriately maintaining the humidity, safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything, and a really handy diet link to check out!

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

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Lastly, this one here is good to go over and keep on hand, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

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Hope they help!!