New Enclosure Construction

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elainea

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Well everybody, I recently moved into a new house. Along with the chaos of moving I threw in the construction of a new enclosure for my growing tortoise since space is now available!

By the recommendation of some of y'all here, I am turning a bookshelf into a tortoise table. If any of you are curious, here's the deets..

This beauty is now in the corner of my living room. On its back, of course. PS: if any of you ever consider doing this, this bookshelf requires "some" assembly and a construction partner is preferable. I had none.

Well after basically creating my own instructions save for the main frame, I went about making the creation more sturdy and/or water resistant.

Silicone caulk was my main tool in sealing edges.

Next I used an epoxy finish. My main point in telling you all of this was to ask:

Once this resin has cured for 72 hours, it will be harmless, correct?

I'm assuming so since it's made for dining tables and what not. And I got the silicone + resin ideas from here.

Let me know what you guys think or if you have any suggestions/feedback!
 

lynnedit

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Yes! How about a pic?

Seriously, all of the products you mention are perfectly safe, but you need to wait until all fumes are completely gone. That could be 3 days, or it might be a week. Odor gone, tort in new home!
Sounds like it is going to be nice.
 

kbirt27

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Thanks for the idea on the bookshelf. I am trying to figure out the start of a new enclosure. Today was a 20% off sale at Big Lots so I grabbed a couple shelves to work with as a start.

My question for you is are you using the back that comes with the shelf as the floor of your enclosure or did you use something more substantial for your floor? I'm thinking it may need a ply wood floor. I'd love to see photos if you have any.
 

elainea

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I'm using the back it came with! We probably got the same bookshelf. My tort isn't a digger, if he was, I'd definitely get a plywood back. But I siliconed it to death and put on a rather thick coat of epoxy to beef it up!

I should be doing some more epoxy this week, and will definitely take some pictures. I'm missing spots in my epoxy right now, it just doesn't look too great!

Do y'all know where I can get smallish tortoise friendly plants for the corners etc?
 

Yvonne G

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The only suggestion I have is for you to use a plastic liner instead of depending upon the epoxy. With live plants in there, and watering them to keep them alive, a plastic liner will ensure no leakage. Shower curtain liners are less than $5, or you can buy a small roll of 4mil sheet plastic. If you're careful, and make neat hospital corners, then either duct tape or staple it at the edges, it will look nice and be effective.
 

kbirt27

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There is a thread within this Enclosures forum titled "Ideas!?" that gives some good info on where to get plants. In short the more experienced than I am people say most places get plants from the same suppliers so where to buy doesn't make a difference unless you have an organic nursery near you. There are some other ideas on that thread you might peek at. I am not an expert by any means so I won't try to sound knowledgable on the subject but I thought I'd point that thread out to you since it might already address your question.
 

elainea

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Thanks everyone! So far spiffy loves it and is very much more active.

I'm having one problem though. She's obsessed with one of the corners of the room, and keeps tipping herself over trying to scale the walls there. It's happened 2-3 times in the past few hours. Luckily I'm home and can hear the commotion and help, but I start school in two days and won't be around all day. What can I do to prevent this from happening?
 

lynnedit

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Put a triangular piece of wood just above her height in that corner, above her reach. In case she still tips, then put a couple of flatish rocks near the base of the corner. if the fall on an uneven surface, they can generally right themselves.
They really are determined sometimes.
 

collinmcd

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I love it! Looks almost identical to mine!
 

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Jacqui

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Sounds like it has been endorsed by the best source, your tortoise. :D :tort:
 
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