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jjsull33

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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.
 

hunterk997

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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 ;)

Awesome! Thanks!
 

Levi the Leopard

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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 :D
**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..
16c8cnt.jpg


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.
ad0pxj.jpg


Here is a picture from my indoor enclosure. See the flat type rocks sunk into the dirt?
2q2ms0z.jpg


Ok. I need to stop before I keep going on and on and on..

Let me know your thoughts/ questions.
 

hunterk997

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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 :D
**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..
16c8cnt.jpg


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.
ad0pxj.jpg


Here is a picture from my indoor enclosure. See the flat type rocks sunk into the dirt?
2q2ms0z.jpg


Ok. I need to stop before I keep going on and on and on..

Let me know your thoughts/ questions.

This is awesome. Thank you. I'm going to try to do all of this. These are great ideas, and they seem they can be bery amusing to a tortoise. We have spare tiles, and plenty of flat rocks. I'll start on this tonight and hopefully upload an update picture. Thank you so much!
 

hunterk997

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Just got tons of rocks. Flat and slightly bulky. And I got another spider plant ready to go in. ImageUploadedByTortForum1371167334.596659.jpg
 
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hunterk997

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Just have to find one more plant. How does it look? I tried to follow your setup exact. ImageUploadedByTortForum1371168919.360043.jpg
ImageUploadedByTortForum1371168967.969904.jpg ImageUploadedByTortForum1371168989.434007.jpg ImageUploadedByTortForum1371169012.137037.jpg
There are rocks by the water dish that match your design, the plant just over shadows them. I hope it's okay! Thank you, I love this new set up!


Oh, I just noticed that you meant in the drawing for the platform to have sn opening... Is it okay that it doesn't? It's elevated all the way around.
 
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luvpetz27

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Looks a lot better!! :)
Great advice and help you got from Team Gomberg!!!
 

Joanne

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My tortoise has become a bit inactive. Think I will jazz up his enclosure a bit too. I'm going to start putting his food on his second storey too so he has to search for it!
 

Levi the Leopard

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So far so good.

If the plants you put in can be ones overflowing the pot that's better. Then he will have foliage to dig through, too.

The pathway rocks are good sunken into the dirt. Add some more so it's a nice and full rock path :)

The elevated area, don't sink those rocks into the dirt. Set them lined up in a "wall" so if he was outside the hide he should literally have a wall of rocks next to him. Then the only mound of dirt he would climb is the
one spot lacking rocks. The wall of rocks will hold up the extra dirt. Make sense?

Hope you notice a change in activity levels.

Good job trying to make a great home for your tort!

Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app
 

hunterk997

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Yeah, I fixed the rock wall, and made it an actual wall now. I need slightly bigger rocks, which I got. I have noticed a lot of activity change! She came out at about 12 today and ate some more aloe
After eating a portion of her food I placed on the platform like you recommended. I out some on two other rocks as well. She explores more now too. I have one last question though, she has been eating a lot of aloe. Is it okay? She has eaten about half of it already
 

jjsull33

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It's probably fine, however I am fairly certain it will have a laxative like effect if too much is eaten.
 

hunterk997

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jjsull33 said:
It's probably fine, however I am fairly certain it will have a laxative like effect if too much is eaten.

Yeah, this morning she showed this to me... Very messy clean up.
 

hunterk997

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Okay, one more problem. She has almost completely destroyed tye aloe. I had to take it out before she completely ate it. Should I put it back in and will she leave it until it grows back? Or let it regrow? There are only three or four leaves left... And if I should leave it out what else could I out in place temporarily?
 

Levi the Leopard

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Aloe in abundance will lead to runny poop.
I personally like to use fake plants indoors. You get the look without the destruction.
Dollar tree/ 99cent stores have lots to choose from.

Either do fake plants or get some real plants that she won't eat. Spider plants and ferns are good options. Get ones that overhang the pots.

You could also try Pony tail palms planted directly into the dirt.



Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app
 

hunterk997

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Yeah I'm getting one of those fake ones you described ar the dollar tree tomorrow. How does this look for now?ImageUploadedByTortForum1371247747.053533.jpg ImageUploadedByTortForum1371247770.123024.jpg ImageUploadedByTortForum1371247800.583688.jpg ImageUploadedByTortForum1371247840.618452.jpg the last one is like a "door matt" to her hidey hole. I drew a small tortoise on it just to add a little personality :)
 
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Levi the Leopard

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Coming along nicely!

The plants will make a huge difference too.
The rocks look great!

What I like about the dollar store plants is you can sink the long stem onto the ground and it doesn't take up floor space. The leaves are all up high enough for the tortoise to walk under it like a canopy.

:) you're doing good :)

Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app
 
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