My new Tortoise Table with makeshift heated and humidified hideaway.

[alzeal]

Hi everyone here is my tortoise's little mansion (For now until he's huge!!). All parts except for the plexiglass I got at home depot. About $50-60 total cost of construction. Total construction time 1 hour (seriously all i had to do was use #8 1-1/4" woods screws and little 1" finishing nails to piece it together, home depot did all the major cutting, except for the trim of course) My dimensions are 45"x30"x3/4" plywood base board. My walls are 12" high and the "balcony" extends for 12". The supports for the balcony is 6" wide wood boards.
For the Plexiglass its cheaper to just get it done at a local plexiglass fabricator. Cost around $25-30, and its cut to order, no need to worry about cracking the thing, make sure though to use a dremel abrasive tip to make the screw holes for mounting, a regular drill bit will crack the glass. I used 3/8" thickness of the plexiglass, 1/4" would be nicer but about $10 dollars more. ( oh and little 1/2" wood screws to mount it) Also i used a 5/8" half circle trim on all the exposed sides of the wood, just to make it look pretty. I then used a 2x1" board for the frame of the plexiglass.

For the hideaway i just used a old grape container, taped the bottom holes and filled with coir and top soil. Slides right out for easy cleaning and wetting. The heater I used an adjustable heatpad from amazon 17$ 4watt only. Sandwiched it between two pieces of glass. Keeps the hide around 75F. Enjoy and please comment.

 

[gopherhockey03]

Treated wood? And looks really nice!

 

[alzeal]

Thanks, treated wood? you mean the table? Nope just plain pinewood planks from home depot.

 

[Tom]

Very innovative, and nice looking too. Welcome to the forum.

 

[mary t]

Wow. Very nice...

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi alzeal:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

What would you like us to call you?

May we know appx. where in the world you are?

Your idea to sandwich an under-the-tank heat pad between two pieces of glass was a pretty ingenious one. How well does it work?

 

[alzeal]

Hi all, just Al will do, I'm currently residing in southern CA. Actually my sullie's name is Levi...He's my second sulcata. First one was when I was when I went back to the philippines. Finished Med school over there and came back last year. Stayed over there for 9 years. Torts was my first sullie's name, unfortunately couldn't bring him back with me. Lucky for him my parents have a 10 acre lot back home in the province with grass and weeds as the eye can see for him. Still doing well from what I can hear from my relatives taking care of him. At least 100 pds from last I heard. Will post pics of him when I can. Oh and side note, humidity in the philippines is almost 80-100% all the time. His shell is nice and smooth. Unfortunately hear in Cali dry as hell. Trying hard to add as much humidity as I can. Well Thanks for the welcome guys and girls!!

 

[alzeal]

Oh for the heatpad here is my results temp wise. I got the small size 4x5in 4 watt adjustable heat pad at amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002IXQK24/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

Also I made a little update to my levi's hide. I slide a small wood partition and made some plastic drapes. Just to help with keeping heat and humidity. So far my results are on the highest heat setting 80-99% humidity and at least 7-9 degrees F rise over room temps. So right now room temps 68F and around 75F in the hide (would like though around 80). I think though i should've gotten higher watt heatpad, but after all just experimenting. In my opinion its a lot safer and more cost effective. If you want to get one I would recommend largest size heatpad for the space you have, more room to play. Check amazon I think it goes up to 22 watt 8 x 18. Thanks and enjoy!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome.

 

[Linzbragg]

You might want to cover the bottom with a sheet of the stuff that's used to line shower walls. I don't remember what it's called, but I found it at Lowes and uses it on my table. It can protect the wood from all the misting and high humidity.

 

[lynnedit]

'Shower pan liner'? Very good stuff, like pond liner.

Nice enclosure ideas!

 

[Arizona Sulcata]

Looks great! Just be sure to expand soon when he/she gets bigger.

 

[TotallyTank]

You might want to cover the bottom with a sheet of the stuff that's used to line shower walls. I don't remember what it's called, but I found it at Lowes and uses it on my table. It can protect the wood from all the misting and high humidity.

another good thing to protect the bottom of the wood is caoroplast you can get it from art supply places in a 4x8 sheet in lots of colors for like 7 bucks a sheet, i used to use it for my g pigs it is super easy to use

 

[Zamric]

Welcome to the Forum!

Nice table you got there! Just Curious, but did you raise your 1st Sulcata from a hatchling also?

 

[Jacob]

Welcome, Thats A Great Enclosure

 

[alzeal]

Welcome to the Forum!

Nice table you got there! Just Curious, but did you raise your 1st Sulcata from a hatchling also?

Yes i did, he's almost 10years old by now. Really sad I couldn't bring him over from the philippines.

 

[Zamric]

I can't wait to see pics!

 

[morloch]

Hi your table looks great!! Your tort will love it, we used that black paint for truck bed liners, waterproof and non toxic! Works great!!

 

[alzeal]

Hi your table looks great!! Your tort will love it, we used that black paint for truck bed liners, waterproof and non toxic! Works great!!

Thanks nice idea, i just used a vinyl table cloth from the local 99 cents store. Hehe on a budget

 

[alzeal]

Hi all just wanted to post some updated pics of my enclosure. Just put some rocks and made a little cave for my little guy. Also just placed my first batch of sulcata seed mix from sulcatafood.com. This is after about 10 days since planting. I'm planting them in batches in little flats so I can switch them out. I also added an acrylic railing to his basking balcony, Levi kept doing a nose dive and I would find him doing the breast stroke in the air upside down Levi is fast asleep at this time in his little humid hide. I opted to switch out the previous container for a shoe box. Also took out the overhead heatpad and switched to a heat cable underneath the humid hide, the heat cable heats a lot faster and easier to adjust temps. Its hooked up to a dimmer for now. Still waiting for the thermostat controller in the mail. So far I can keep it around 80F. Left my remote probe in there. Levi has really been more active and eating voraciously since I've been putting him in the humid hide. Thanks to Tom of course for the advice about humidity heat and hydration.