For a russian the more space the better, so a kiddie pool would probably help out a lot until you can make a big one outside.
Team Gomberg said:I saved the overhead pic. I'll get some pics together and share with you ideas. I'll make it as free stuff as possible
Team Gomberg said:Ok, the internet isn't being very friendly right now. I can't seem to find enough pictures to represent my ideas. If you were close I'd just come over and show you
**sorry for a looooong reply. But I'm really trying to help you and be clear in my explanations.
Here is a rough example of some ideas..
Starting with the elevated area. Look around your yard, friend's yard, the park etc. for some rocks. Not HUGE ones, but lets say a little less than half the size of your tortoise. If you line them up in the "black area" you will have a wall. Add a lot more substrate inside this wall area. Use some water to compact the rocks and dirt tight and as it dries it will be nice and firm. The open area where no rocks are will have a natural slope to it for him to go up and down. Keep in mind this isn't a high second story. It's only a few extra inches. He'll enjoy it. You may need to adjust the basking bulb height though.
I'd put your aloe vera, or any plant really, right at the corner.
Also look for some flat rocks. The flatter the better. Again look around locally for free or you can buy them. I bought some clearance bathroom tiles, wrapped them in a towel and gave one hit with a hammer. They broke very nicely and I laid them in my outdoor pens as a mosiac walkway. This will give some different textures. If you use rock (preferred) they will all be slightly different giving more natural feel. Sink these "walk way" rocks into the substrate so it isn't an obstacle to walk around, rather to walk over.
What is the small saucer in the top corner? A food dish? If so, you wont need it. You can place food on the walk way rocks.
What is the yellow dish under the saucer in the lower corner? Is it needed? My thoughts would be to remove that and just sink the water dish flush with the dirt. If you pull it away from the corner slightly you can put a plant in the corner. I like my dishes out of corners. I find they use them/walk through them more when they aren't tucked away.
About the rocks. Any rocks you find, wash them very well and let them dry before using them. Just in case you aren't sure if the source was safe.
About the plants. You can add some fake ones. I love to use the plant bushels from the Dollar Tree/ 99cents stores. They have a long stem that fans out into 5 or 6 stems of leaves. This is great for sticking into the corner of an enclosure and bending the all the leaves in to make a "canopy". Or you could do a small potted plant.
My thoughts for the larger plant area near the top. A spider plant. It will be a sight barrier, hiding place in one. Make sure he can walk all the around it. He'll always want to know "what's around that corner??"
I hope this helped you some. I know it's really basic but it's so much easier to just DO IT than to try and explain it all to someone online LOL
Here is a picture from one of my outdoor pens. I used some rocks to make a wall just like I tried explaining to you.
Here is a picture from my indoor enclosure. See the flat type rocks sunk into the dirt?
Ok. I need to stop before I keep going on and on and on..
Let me know your thoughts/ questions.
jjsull33 said:It's probably fine, however I am fairly certain it will have a laxative like effect if too much is eaten.