New member from North Texas, DFW area

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sandrah

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I am eagerly awaiting a (or some) rescue turtle coming at the end of this month and have had expert help building the habitat under a tree. (He also recommended this forum) I'm retired so am able to keep a close eye on all my animals and have a reptile happy petsitter who checks on my 'babies' when we take a short 4-day mini-vaca. And have a vet specializing in reptiles and birds to help should the need arise. He even sees chickens!
I have backyard chickens (who were very curious but not allowed in the lattice enclosure) and, previous to the hens, a large male rescue iguana whom we loved his 14 years with us. Reggie, our large rescue dog learned to respect the iguana and now the hens and is careful around them. The turtles will always be supervised if allowed to play in the backyard. I'm eagerly anticipating their arrival.
Have already found this forum very helpful and discovered some Texas turtle folks who will surely become great resources for me.
I've attached a pic to show the habitat so far.
IMAG1758.jpg if this doesn't work, I'll try to post from a URL.

topic I can repost elsewhere if needed:
My problem with my habitat is the west part of it will get afternoon sun, where the terra cotta pot hide feature went (because of roots from tree above in other non-digable spots) and I'm looking for something big as an understory planting. I'm considering a hardy hibiscus, I have a 2' chrysanthemum plant, but thought a sun-loving fern would drape over the pot, cooling its surface.
What's the opinion? If I need to post these questions elsewhere, that's cool, just let me know. I have several weeks before the mystery tortoise(s) arrive.
 
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tortadise

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Welcome! If your going to use that pen with the dog in the backyard. I would suggest beefing up the supports just in case the dog gets curious. It takes seconds for a disaster to happen. We have had many many horror stories of dogs and tortoises gets mixed in with a bad end result. Looks pretty good though. Any chance at all finding out before hand what kind of tortoise it is? They are require different needs. A sulcata or leopard would not do so well in this enclosure. They need lots of grazing and walking room. Hope you find out soon.
 

sandrah

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Thanks. We won't let the dog out unsupervised for some time after turtle arrives. He's eager to please and is kind to my hens and was respectful to my iggy also. I will watch him, tho. No, I'm clueless on what is coming. I'll just have to plant turtle specific plants afterward. We have the time to do it right, so basically will wait. Thanks for that info.
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Sandrah, and welcome to the Forum!

Its a beautiful habitat, but I'm afraid it won't be big enough for more than one small-sized tortoise or a box turtle.
 

Minority1

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emysemys said:
Its a beautiful habitat, but I'm afraid it won't be big enough for more than one small-sized tortoise or a box turtle.

Agreed. I also want to add that that the soaking pan seems pretty deep for a small sized tortoise. I would try to find something with lower sides to climb over and back out.
 

Zamric

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Welcome to the Forum!

The pen looks good and if you had a yearling Sulcata or Leopard, it's not a bad size but your waiting on a rescue which means the one you get will probably 3-5 years old and to big for that size. However, you could always add more panal and make the ring bigger.

BE FORE WARNED!!! if you get a Sulcata, you will need to beef those wall up! Sulcatas= Bulldozers and they dont like to be Fenced in!

BTW I am also from the DFW area.... Garland to be more accurate.
 
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