My Old Enclosure

[Tom]

Scooter, Bert and Delores lived in here, at my old house, from about 2002-2007. It used to be filled with red apple, that succulent plant. At the time of this photo, this was just a large outdoor sun/exercise pen and they lived together in an indoor 4'x8'. There were out in it all day almost every day. Shortly after this pic, I added the rubbermaid storage shed as a night/den box and moved them outside permanently. This pen is about 10-12 feet wide and 120 feet long. The corner is a big flat spot on top and if they weren't roaming they'd hang out up there. Never had a problem with them navigating the steep hills.



http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2723/4331177033_bdde4c57c5_b.jpg

 

[terracolson]

nice... I am thinking about a brick wall myself

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Wow, that does look steep! Good thing your torties have such a low center of gravity.

Are they the reason there was no more foliage in the enclosure?

 

[Tom]

Wow, that does look steep! Good thing your torties have such a low center of gravity.

Are they the reason there was no more foliage in the enclosure?

Oh yes. Anything in a sullie pen will be razed in short order.

 

[ChiKat]

I am so jealous of your backyard! What a nice set-up for your little (er, not so little) guys

 

[Tom]

This is just their old enclosure from a few years ago. It was roughly 1200 square feet. Their new one is 6000. And it will continually get bigger as soon as I can get some more bricks! I'm planning on posting pics of the new one, but I'm waiting for a sunny day at early dusk when you get that "magic hour" sunlight. Despite their best efforts to eat everything in sight, all of our recent rain is making the weeds try to come back up.

 

[nickpanzee]

That's awesome!!!

Did you anchor the bricks with anything or are they just stacked?

 

[Tom]

That's awesome!!!

Did you anchor the bricks with anything or are they just stacked?

They are just stacked, but I level the ground under them first and stagger them, to prevent tipping. I thought I'd need rebar stakes, but not so far. My biggest sully is about 40 pounds and the wall just doesn't move.

 

[nickpanzee]

They are just stacked, but I level the ground under them first and stagger them, to prevent tipping. I thought I'd need rebar stakes, but not so far. My biggest sully is about 40 pounds and the wall just doesn't move.

Thanks! I am going to make outdoor enclosures out of cinder blocks too. I was thinking I would have to use rebar stakes. That's very good to know. My tortoises are nowhere near as big as yours. My largest one is a Greek. Though one of my redfoots should be passing her up soon.

Nick

 

[Tom]

They are just stacked, but I level the ground under them first and stagger them, to prevent tipping. I thought I'd need rebar stakes, but not so far. My biggest sully is about 40 pounds and the wall just doesn't move.

Thanks! I am going to make outdoor enclosures out of cinder blocks too. I was thinking I would have to use rebar stakes. That's very good to know. My tortoises are nowhere near as big as yours. My largest one is a Greek. Though one of my redfoots should be passing her up soon.

Nick

Get some half blocks, so you can do the stagger thing. I also like to use any kind of existing solid wall(not chain link or anything see through) as much as possible, so that I can make the enclosure as big as possible. With those two species you'll probably only need to go two blocks high.

 

[Candy]

They got alot of exercise in that space didn't they. Climbing up and down must have tired them out. I myself now want to see pictures of your (what looks like) beautiful big backyard. That was like teasing someone with a cut off picture. The tree looks beautiful and now I must see the rest of it.

 

[ChiKat]

This is just their old enclosure from a few years ago.

Yeah apparently I don't know how to read