Help (Where to buy indoor enclosure?)

[Tom]

What was wrong with my answer? Plastic bins have served me and my baby tortoises well for many, many years. No need to build something.

I don't like open tops or having the heating and lighting outside on top. I've tried to do it many times and many ways, and it has never worked well for me. Its a compromise and I don't like the results I get with that method. Its better than a low sided sweater box or tortoise table, but still nowhere near as good as a closed chamber. A closed chamber with a solid top and all of the heating and lighting inside is far superior in every way. It is more efficient, so it saves money on electricity, it allows the use of lower wattage bulbs, which reduces carapace desiccation, and it creates a more stable growing environment, which is much easier to maintain correctly and it generates better results from the growing babies.

Have you ever done a side-by-side comparison? Open topped tub on one side and a proper closed chamber on the other? I'm talking about an open topped tub that has been closed in with foil or plastic or something, but still has the lights outside the enclosure creating that chimney effect. The difference in appearance, pyramiding and growth rate of the hatchlings is striking. Very obvious differences.

 

[Yvonne G]

You obviously haven't read any of my baby enclosure posts. My baby bins are NOT open topped.

 

[John Alford]

what do you guys think about a turtle table as an indoor enclosure for a Greek?

 

[JoesMum]

what do you guys think about a turtle table as an indoor enclosure for a Greek?

No roof for a youngster. Not big enough for a more mature tort

Don’t bother.

 

[John Alford]

Ok

 

[John Alford]

Go to a home improvement or hardware store and buy the biggest plastic bin you can find. Here's what I use:

You can look for it online and the shipping isn't too much because it's light weight. Here's what mine looks like occupied:

View attachment 221397 View attachment 221398

How would we get lights and heating in there?

 

[Tom]

You obviously haven't read any of my baby enclosure posts. My baby bins are NOT open topped.

Did you read my second paragraph? I have read your posts and seen your enclosures.

 

[Tom]

what do you guys think about a turtle table as an indoor enclosure for a Greek?

An open table isn't the best environment for a baby, but it can work fine for an adult as long as it is large enough. If you build a tortoise table by putting sides on a 4x8' sheet of plywood, and use the correct heating and lighting, they can work great for an already grown adult.

 

[WithLisa]

Why not get a cold frame? If you build some kind of base it can be used inside as well as outside and the tort could use it for many years, not just as a hatchling.

 

[leigti]

If you are looking for something to buy rather than build you can try getting garden boxes, they come in kids that include a cover or you could build or make a table type enclosure and put a cover over it. For a hatchling a small enclosure is great but for an adult you want as big as you can get.

Several people here have made pretty good enclosures with the lifetime garden bed kits. You can get them on Amazon, they probably have them over there I would hope so anyway.

 

[John Alford]

I just don’t know what to do, I’m no good at building and I don’t really know anything about lighting and how I would get the lights into a plastic bin

 

[JoesMum]

I just don’t know what to do, I’m no good at building and I don’t really know anything about lighting and how I would get the lights into a plastic bin

You buy reptile lamp stand to hang lamps from like this.


Or you make a wooden frame... or get someone to construct one.

It doesn’t have to look like it was built by a master craftsman. Your tort won’t care. What matters is that the enclosure provides for the needs of your pet.

 

[johnandjade]

Thanks sounds like a plan

feel free to send me a pm

 

[Bass.Isles]

What was wrong with my answer? Plastic bins have served me and my baby tortoises well for many, many years. No need to build something.

I agree. I use deck boxes, because they retain humidity super well because they are the hard plastic, but also have a top/lid that is hooked on/built on and lifts up and down. The deck box I have now is 6ft x 3ft (I know that's small, but she was only like 250 grams when I got her), but next weekend I'm getting a second one and am going to hook them together, now that she is at 5.75 inches and 500 grams lol. So it'll be 12 ft x 3ft.

 

[John Alford]

Do you know any good places in or near paisley f

I agree. I use deck boxes, because they retain humidity super well. The deck box I have now is 6ft x 3ft, but next weekend I'm getting a second one and am going to hook them together, now that she is at 5 inches. So it'll be 12 ft x 3ft. [emoji14]

are they hard to build?

 

[Bass.Isles]

Do you know any good places in or near paisley f
are they hard to build?

The deck boxes? They are pre-built. They are meant to keep pool stuff in, but I found that it's works pretty great. I got mine, used from someone round here in Florida, but you can get em from Amazon, which im pretty sure delivers to Scotland. This is the largest I could find on there, though. It's 5ft long instead of 6ft, like mine. But you're getting a tiny baby, right? it would work for a while, anyway.

Rubbermaid Deck Box with Seat, Extra Large, 120 Gal., 16 cu. ft., Olive Steel (FG5E3900OLVSS) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CFOUEU/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

 

[JoesMum]

The deck boxes? They are pre-built. They are meant to keep pool stuff in, but I found that it's works pretty great. I got mine, used from someone round here in Florida, but you can get em from Amazon, which im pretty sure delivers to Scotland. This is the largest I could find on there, though. It's 5ft long instead of 6ft, like mine. But you're getting a tiny baby, right? it would work for a while, anyway.

Rubbermaid Deck Box with Seat, Extra Large, 120 Gal., 16 cu. ft., Olive Steel (FG5E3900OLVSS) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CFOUEU/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

This type of thing?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keter-Sher...509304538&sr=8-3&keywords=cushion+storage+box

 

[John Alford]

The deck boxes? They are pre-built. They are meant to keep pool stuff in, but I found that it's works pretty great. I got mine, used from someone round here in Florida, but you can get em from Amazon, which im pretty sure delivers to Scotland. This is the largest I could find on there, though. It's 5ft long instead of 6ft, like mine. But you're getting a tiny baby, right? it would work for a while, anyway.

Rubbermaid Deck Box with Seat, Extra Large, 120 Gal., 16 cu. ft., Olive Steel (FG5E3900OLVSS) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CFOUEU/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

I’m new to tortoises so I don’t know much but would I be able to get an accurate temperature from the thermostat through the plastic?

 

[John Alford]

This type of thing?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keter-Sher...509304538&sr=8-3&keywords=cushion+storage+box

Yeah, something like that

 

[JoesMum]

I’m new to tortoises so I don’t know much but would I be able to get an accurate temperature from the thermostat through the plastic?

The thermostat for the CHE goes inside the box with the tortoise

To measure basking temperature accurately you need a temperature gun like this

And for substrate block coco coir like this which you soften with water is good.