Galvanized enclosure

[Melicia]

I am of the opinion that Gogga's enclosure is too small. He has gone from 25g when I got him 22/09/09, to a whopping 34g this morning .

I am considering making the new enclosure out of galvinized sheet metal, as it is something my husband has access to in large quantities.

Has anyone else done this? Will the metal oxidise into the substrate?

 

[GBtortoises]

In the past I have used galvanized stock tanks to house terrestrial turtles for about 5 months out of the year in the winter. The substrate consisted of mulch and moss mixture kept moist. I never saw any adverse or side affects from it. Stock tanks are made to contain water for livestock. I also have known people over the years to use stock tanks to house tortoises too. I've never heard of any problems. I am not certain if galvanized sheet metal is a different level of coating. But any galvanized metal will eventually rust if it is constantly exposed to moisture without air flow to dry it. The galvanized coating is sprayed on, much like paint (only much thicker). Even stainless steel rusts if kept damp with no possible air flow.

 

[Yvonne G]

I knew a guy who built his turtle pens out of those sheets of corrugated galvanized metal. He stood them on their sides and supported them in that position with wooden stakes. They didn't look so very hot (he wasn't very "handy") but they did the job. After many years the part of the metal that was in the ground (I forgot to mention that he buried them about three inches) was looking bumpy and maybe rusty, but they held up pretty good over-all.

Yvonne

 

[GBtortoises]

I think, even buried in the ground it would take many, many years for the metal to rust through as long as it had reasonably good soil drainage.