Moonflwrmama
New Member
Hello all My name is Niki, I inherited a Russian tortoise that was found wandering in the middle of south st in Philly back in 2005 and a person brought him to my mom who worked at a pet supply store nearby. Fast forward and I inherited her about 4 yrs ago when she went away and my then 5yo didn’t want to give her back after my moms 2 week vacation…
unfortunately I kept her in setup she was originally in from my mom which was a rabbit looking cage blue bottom wire top and only this past pandemic year really started researching what was “best” for her. so in April once it warmed up enough here I started making an outdoor enclosure in the abandoned lot we basically took over next to my house for a kids area during covid. I built an above ground garden basically and it’s had three iterations since April 8th.. darn turtle is an escape artist. We lost her last weekend for an entire night me and kids were hysterical. Then she shows up out front on our sidewalk at 945 in the morning sunning herself. Hallelujah. Then came the third change of enclosure. So I think I have it figured out now but she’s stubborn and keeps trying so I’m out there like an eagle to see where she tends to try and escape…Also yesterday after never having a problem with her inside enclosure. Which is on top of a 4 drawer dresser in front of a great sun window she decides to climb out at some point and by the grace of turtle gods she only fell to the top of the trash can instead of the floor but she was upside down and I have no clue how long..? so online forums here I come!! I’ve been reading the back threads about care/enclosures and decided to repurpose the dresser she was in into her actual enclosure and it’s curing right now from waterproof barrier for the inside so I can attach the contractor bags. since I’m on budget and couldn’t afford pvc board I got a thinner plywood and doubled up on it as the bottom of enclosure added some additional supports with lumber I had and found at all these lovely abandoned job sites in my area. Then sprayed a waterproofing barrier all on inside. I’ve got to attach some castor wheels since I’m moving it to our living room and it needs to be a little mobile. I waffled on the plexi glass window in one spot mostly because my scrap plexi wasn’t large enough to cover the original bottom of the dresser which had nothing so I added a single layer of my “bottom” on that side. So that’s enclosure news.
Also plenty of pictures with the long beak since I hadn’t realized it was a problem and took her to the exotic vet and had blood panel and beak and all manner of lovely things done except figuring out his/her sex since vet said only a dna blood work would tell us..so we go by Myrtle/she cuz that was what we named her when we first found her. Any and all advice is welcome. Be mindful of space though 8ftx4ft would be fantastic but we’re in a metro city and I ain’t rolling in the dough?. Also size of new indoor enclosure/dresser is 31x39x15-1/2 high. It was an IKEA dresser we repurposed. And she’s in a clear under bed box at moment.
Myrtle loves pansies/kale/spring mix/endive/marigolds/romaine/garden sage/dandelions/ she ignores the carrots and beets I planted just uses for hiding mostly.
unfortunately I kept her in setup she was originally in from my mom which was a rabbit looking cage blue bottom wire top and only this past pandemic year really started researching what was “best” for her. so in April once it warmed up enough here I started making an outdoor enclosure in the abandoned lot we basically took over next to my house for a kids area during covid. I built an above ground garden basically and it’s had three iterations since April 8th.. darn turtle is an escape artist. We lost her last weekend for an entire night me and kids were hysterical. Then she shows up out front on our sidewalk at 945 in the morning sunning herself. Hallelujah. Then came the third change of enclosure. So I think I have it figured out now but she’s stubborn and keeps trying so I’m out there like an eagle to see where she tends to try and escape…Also yesterday after never having a problem with her inside enclosure. Which is on top of a 4 drawer dresser in front of a great sun window she decides to climb out at some point and by the grace of turtle gods she only fell to the top of the trash can instead of the floor but she was upside down and I have no clue how long..? so online forums here I come!! I’ve been reading the back threads about care/enclosures and decided to repurpose the dresser she was in into her actual enclosure and it’s curing right now from waterproof barrier for the inside so I can attach the contractor bags. since I’m on budget and couldn’t afford pvc board I got a thinner plywood and doubled up on it as the bottom of enclosure added some additional supports with lumber I had and found at all these lovely abandoned job sites in my area. Then sprayed a waterproofing barrier all on inside. I’ve got to attach some castor wheels since I’m moving it to our living room and it needs to be a little mobile. I waffled on the plexi glass window in one spot mostly because my scrap plexi wasn’t large enough to cover the original bottom of the dresser which had nothing so I added a single layer of my “bottom” on that side. So that’s enclosure news.
Also plenty of pictures with the long beak since I hadn’t realized it was a problem and took her to the exotic vet and had blood panel and beak and all manner of lovely things done except figuring out his/her sex since vet said only a dna blood work would tell us..so we go by Myrtle/she cuz that was what we named her when we first found her. Any and all advice is welcome. Be mindful of space though 8ftx4ft would be fantastic but we’re in a metro city and I ain’t rolling in the dough?. Also size of new indoor enclosure/dresser is 31x39x15-1/2 high. It was an IKEA dresser we repurposed. And she’s in a clear under bed box at moment.
Myrtle loves pansies/kale/spring mix/endive/marigolds/romaine/garden sage/dandelions/ she ignores the carrots and beets I planted just uses for hiding mostly.
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