New Enclosure WIP

[Yelloweyed]

Purchased a 6'x4' gun cabinet (Craigslist $20), reenforced the plywood back with 2"x6" boards and removed the shelf and pegs meant to hold guns.



Cut out spots in the drawer area so the tortoises can get to the wood slider section (use this as a hide). Added tarp as a liner and added coco coir (5 bricks to make it 4-6" deep) to hide area and peat moss (1.5 of large bale) to the remaining area. Peat moss was $13 at Lowe's.






Now working on light/heat stand and decor (plants, more hides, water dish, food area, etc.). Will test temps & humidity after making a "tent" light/heat stand.

Note: have two sulcata tortoises. Will add a block wall to split box into two areas. Considering selling/gifting one of the tortoises. Don't have space for two adult sulcatas - unless we move!

 

[leigti]

Very nice. I'm sorry if you have to rehome one of your tortoises but it's easier now than when they get bigger. Course you could always move to Great find on the gun cabinet. It's amazing how once you have a tortoise you start looking at things differently.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Welcome!

 

[Yvonne G]

That's going to be a very nice indoor habitat. Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[Prairie Mom]

Man, it takes a special person to see a GUN CABINET and think : "oooooh...NIFTY TORTOISE ENCLOSURE!" HA HA

WELL DONE!!!

 

[Yelloweyed]

Almost done! The silver lights are LED (almost no heat) and the lights in the enclosure are 40W flood lights. They're about 8" from their shell and making a basking area of 95 degrees. The 60W CHE (under the black tarp, no lights ever go on in this section) is about 2 feet from their shell and set to 81 degrees by a Hydrofarm thermostat for ambient temp.The area closest to the bottom of the picture has seedlings in trays set on racks so the tortoises can go under if they want. I have garden border edges to separate the two tortoises. Each area is 6'x2'. Humidity starts at 99%

 

[Yelloweyed]

Enjoying sunny SoCal weather right now. They are in an 8'x3' enclosure covered in bird netting. I used black plastic garden border so they don't get stuck in the netting. The plants in the foreground are a third of the plants I've started for their food. All store-bought plants have been removed/washed of the fertilized soil and replanted in peat moss and plain topsoil. All seedlings are growing in the same mixture. My hubby (a school teacher) and I are going to start working on their permanent outdoor enclosure this summer. We'll start during his spring break.