More pictures from today: heavy:

[Millerlite]

Well its been pretty hot around here, around high 80s and 90s during the day. I been turning on the mist and the tortoises are loving it. The plants in the enclosure also are getting even bigger. The tortoises have been outside in there enclosure for a few weeks now and doing great. Here are some pictures.

First are a few of the enclosure and you can see how the plants have grown, even a rainbow, lol

Also i had a draining problem and made the water collect on one side and it makes a pool, here is the pool now.

Now for the tortoises: They love to keep an eye on me, and are always keeping a close eye on what i'm doing.

Mmmm.. food:

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Here are the rest:

Watching me:

and then a random picture of my dog shadow thats 16 year old husky, old guy:

 

[Yvonne G]

I just love those evil eyes!! What are you going to do about the lid when the plants get bigger? Good lookin' set-up for your Manouria tortoises.

Yvonne

 

[chelonologist]

sweet enclosure, happy torts

 

[Candy]

Love your tortoise pictures. The enclosure is quite nice and I see that just like Dale your's likes mushrooms. I bet Shadow is not enjoying this heat spell is he?

 

[tortoisenerd]

Wow that's so beautiful!

 

[terryo]

What a GREAT enclosure. They all look so happy.

 

[jlyoncc1]

Looks great! They must feel like they are in the jungle!

 

[Isa]

Wow so nice pictures . I really love the enclosure, it is sooo nice. Your little friends must be very happy in it

 

[raYchiLL]

Love it I wish I could deck out my enclosure like that but my soil is mostly clay so barely anything grows =/ !!!!! Your Husky looks good for bieng 16 I must say lol!!

 

[Millerlite]

Thanks.. Yeah our soil was pretty clay like, I put a few layers now its pretty fertile. as for my husky, he looks good, but he sleeps a lot, and you can tell hes old, lol. But when you do go outside he always still wants to play.

 

[Yvonne G]

Love it I wish I could deck out my enclosure like that but my soil is mostly clay so barely anything grows =/ !!!!! Your Husky looks good for bieng 16 I must say lol!!

Dig up a patch of your clay soil, turning it over and breaking up the clods. Then sprinkle some purchased top soil over the area and take your shovel again and "stir" it up, incorporating the top soil and the clay together. You could also use sand. It would be a good idea to add some gypsum while you are turning the soil. Gypsum helps break up the clay and aids in draining.

What happens with heavy clay soil (reason nothing grows) is it packs down so hard that there is no longer any oxygen in the soil. All plants' roots need oxygen to thrive. So by turning and tilling the soil, you are adding oxygen back into the soil, then the purchased top soil (can be purchased at any home improvement or garden store) will help to keep it lighter so it won't pack down again.

Yvonne

 

[Millerlite]

Yeah, here in california we have pretty packed dirt on the ground, I took a tiller to my enclosure before i even put the sides up, then i put the side in for the enclosure, then i made the slope for drainage, then a bag of top soil, then a bag of moss. I guess its working pretty good because plants are thriving and wild mushrooms are growing which is a good sign of fertile soil.