- Joined
- Jul 16, 2014
- Messages
- 29,057
- Location (City and/or State)
- South Eastern Florida (U.S.A.)/Rock Hill S.C.
At every yard sale and flea market I visit. I'm looking for things I can re purpose for my animals.Reuse and hardware stores are great. In fact, the tortoise table in the video is an old Sauder book shelf with Wooster Big Ben paint pans dropped in for the burrow pits. The legs are Ikea legs from an old table., the shelf is an old closet shelf, and the poster frames are old Ikea frames. We joke that our basement is the "Room of Requirement". We built the table when she was 10 after someone accidentally dropped a bag of softener salt down the stairs and smashed the 150G terrarium .
I totally get that the forum is all about optimal care and what is best for the tortoise. I think that's great. So am I. Please also understand that this is not just about cost, time, or the practicality of having or cleaning up after a messy tortoise in your home (it's pretty much all of the above coupled with everything else families have to deal with).
The real question is whether the typical family is capable of caring for such a difficult animal optimally in an artificial environment for 80+ years and my guess is no. Even with the best of efforts, there will be mishaps which could be devastating for the tortoise (such as the ballast problem on our tube UV). At the very least, breeders should make it clear that owners will require a 4' x 8' pen located somewhere in their home that contains dirt, mulch, or grass and will require a very tight 20-degree temperature tolerance along with proper humidity, bedding, diet, etc., for a long, long time (ours did not).
Over the 20 years that I have cared for our tortoise, I have just about every product/method you mentioned and the set up I have shown in the video is what worked for our family. That is why I felt a need to share it on the forum as forums are for sharing our different perspectives. Thank you for your feedback and assistance. Here is a video of our tortoise:
Some see a bookshelf. I Also see a useful framework.