New Underground Tortoise Box Design

[Tom]

All sorts of things have led me to this point. RV's burrow. My experience with my tegus and Bert Langerwerf. Several presentations at the TTPG conference last month. My blackthroat monitors. Daisy's pen and my little prototype of this.

This design will allow my reptiles to get under ground and avoid the temperature extremes on the surface and live in a more "natural" way. I'm putting GFI plugs inside each box, so that I can add some heat, if I see a need for it. The idea is to give burrowing species a chance to be safely underground, but still allow me relatively easy access to them on a daily basis. This design eliminates the possibility of flooding or collapse, but yet they are still sleeping on dirt, underground. Both lids will have 1" thick, foil backed insulation. The boxes will be 4x4' and 2' tall with roughly 12" of dirt on top of them. Wood just doesn't rot around here, and I know how to work with it (as opposed to masonry), so that's why I chose it for this application.

 

[Becki]

That's awesome!

 

[68merc]

Not to scale I assume... what's the shaft going to be made of?
How will you keep it from flooding? Just covering the entry will not keep all the water out. If the ground around the top of the box is graded away from center that would be helpful.
My ex-father-in-law built a wine cellar under his raised foundation home, we had one big rain and poof 2' of water in his 12x12 cellar. The neighbors side yard was sloped toward the fence 10' from the cellar. Water traveled under the concrete and through the dirt.
All of it could have been avoided by propper grading.

 

[Balboa]

Very Nice Drawings Tom, you have some skill! Wish I did.

Nothing wrong with wood, but masonry isn't THAT tough

Looks like a good plan

 

[Isa]

Wow Tom!! Very nice plan. Are you going to start building it soon?

 

[Tom]

Not to scale I assume... what's the shaft going to be made of?
How will you keep it from flooding? Just covering the entry will not keep all the water out. If the ground around the top of the box is graded away from center that would be helpful.
My ex-father-in-law built a wine cellar under his raised foundation home, we had one big rain and poof 2' of water in his 12x12 cellar. The neighbors side yard was sloped toward the fence 10' from the cellar. Water traveled under the concrete and through the dirt.
All of it could have been avoided by propper grading.

Here's the prototype.

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Underground-Tortoise-Bunker

I was waiting for a good torrential downpour like the one we just had to test the flooding theory. Even with the whole top exposed and the whole thing down in a hole, the bottom stayed relatively dry. I had to dig down through the substrate to find moisture. Understand we just had 6 days of record-breaking rain, and it was still dry. The cover over the burrow entrance covers about 2' and runs slightly down hill. So unless water starts running uphill, it can't flood from the entrance. I was worried about it funneling down the sides, but my worry was for naught. It stayed dry. This new design will stay even drier. I do intend to slope the dirt away from the above ground lid and pack it down pretty well. And all of these boxes will sit in areas that already drain very well.

Good points for me to consider though. That's why I posted it before I built it. Its nice to have lots of eyes check it out and prevent problems before its even built. Thanks merc.

 

[onarock]

Tom, thats quite a feat of tortoise habitat engineering, but as a contractor, I must warn that your testing of the 6 days of record breaking rain will not get you a permit with your county's planning office. Its called "a hundred year flood inundation" and 6 days of record breaking rain does not qualify. Good luck getting that one by the L.A. County Tortoise Habitat Inspection Office. Ha! Nice drawings. Can we see pics of the real thing when its all done?

 

[moswen]

nice! putting a lot of sand at the bottom of the actual hide would help irrigate i bet... wouldn't hold a ton of water if it did flood under there.

what are you doing about the electricity cord? are you just going to run a buried extention cord all the way out there?

 

[pugsandkids]

I'm a little jealous. What a great idea!

 

[68merc]

Ok... what's the top of the big box going to be made of? Framed in 2x6 to support the dirt ? Im likin the idea. Just hate to see it under built.

 

[Tom]

Tom, thats quite a feat of tortoise habitat engineering, but as a contractor, I must warn that your testing of the 6 days of record breaking rain will not get you a permit with your county's planning office. Its called "a hundred year flood inundation" and 6 days of record breaking rain does not qualify. Good luck getting that one by the L.A. County Tortoise Habitat Inspection Office. Ha! Nice drawings. Can we see pics of the real thing when its all done?

Shhh! Don't tell the LACTHIO about my enclosure. Once its underground and I plant some shrubbery around the entrance portal, and cover the entrance tunnel with dirt, they'll never know its there anyway.

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nice! putting a lot of sand at the bottom of the actual hide would help irrigate i bet... wouldn't hold a ton of water if it did flood under there.

what are you doing about the electricity cord? are you just going to run a buried extention cord all the way out there?

I used peat and coco coir in the prototype and it worked great. Neal uses peat in his too and had no problems to report with his leopards or stars. I don't like sand. The dirt will eventually mix with the peat and coco fiber anyway.

For the electrics, I'm going to mount a GFI circuit on the inside of the box and run Romex through conduit to the surface.

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Ok... what's the top of the big box going to be made of? Framed in 2x6 to support the dirt ? Im likin the idea. Just hate to see it under built.

Planning on 3/4 ply on top of a plywood and 2x4 frame, with four 2x4s running across the top for support. Glad you are watching my 6. Don't you let me underbuild it!