Pancakes and their outdoor enclosure

Berkeley

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May 4, 2014
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I thought I would share a few pics of some of my pancakes in their outdoor enclosure. I no longer have this group, but I'm regularly entertaining the thought of getting a few more again. They are such neat creatures.

I enjoy setting up naturalistic enclosures. I try to replicate the inhabitants' environments (I substitute freely with plants though- many in my enclosures are not actually found in the same places as the animals. I try, but it is often just not feasible....) The enclosure was made of 1x6 decking boards, and was 8x8 feet. Even though the walls were a total of three boards high (17.5 inches), I had a four inch wide cap board along the top just to make sure nobody bailed on me.
Here is a pic after it was recently completed. It began as 4x8.
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I soon decided I liked the look of it, and wanted to give the tortoises more room, so I doubled it. I went to the local stone store and loaded up on fieldstone slabs, as well as the pieces, and two types of gravel, and two grades of sand. Tilled the sand and gravel into the soil, and then stacked the rock on top.

If I were to do it all again, I would lower the walls to two boards (keep the stopper at the top though), plant more grass species, and add a couple of bushes as cover. Having researched more since breaking that pen down, I've got some better images of what the kopjes look like where pancakes are found.

Here's one of the males showing what they do best: wedging themselves into a gap, then sneaking out for a snack.
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Enjoy!
--Berkeley
 

gingerbee

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Wow beautiful!! That's quite the enclosure!!! Thanks for sharing looks like you should get more of these guys!!!
 

bouaboua

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I love it. I love it. I LOVE IT! ! ! ! ! !
 

bouaboua

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And keep more picture coming! ! ! !
 

Berkeley

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May 4, 2014
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Thanks for the kind words, all. I'm glad you enjoyed the pics of the tortoises and their set up. I hope you get some great ideas for your tortoises, Grandpa Turtle! I'll look forward to seeing what you create for yours!
Pancakes are definitely a fun tortoise- I love how small and easy to care for they are! Ah what the heck, I'll probably start building another pen for them. My wife may shoot me, but it'll be worth it, right?.......

--Berkeley
 

Kleinmann_Fan

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Apr 29, 2012
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That's an amazing enclosure, and great photos too.
Anybody who puts that much effort into keeping tortoises should be keeping those tortoises!
I hope you assemble another Pancake group, they deserve such high standards.
 

Berkeley

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May 4, 2014
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297
That's an amazing enclosure, and great photos too.
Anybody who puts that much effort into keeping tortoises should be keeping those tortoises!
I hope you assemble another Pancake group, they deserve such high standards.

Thanks very much, Kleinmann_Fan! I try to make my collection as comfortable as possible. I greatly enjoy the planning and the landscaping of a good enclosure- it definitely pays off for the animal(s).
--Berkeley
 
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