Planning indoor enclosure with adult tortoise

[Draconium]

Hello! this year again im planning to make new indoor enclosure for my tort as ive realized previous one was too short for him. Im living in uk so indoor enclosure is a must on rainy days. Hes over 10 years old, Horsefiled (Russian) tortoise, 6,5 inch long.
Ive planned to buy 4ft x 2 x 1 (48″x24″x8″ );(122cm x 60 x 20) wooden enclosure for him with hide, not sure yet about opening size but in enquiring about it. i do have a lamp, food and bowl...but nothing more than that. Im wondering if anyone knows maybe better options?

Im unable to create my own enclosure as i do not own equipment...i have hammer and nails only.

Any ideas, my fellow adult tort owners, would it be enough size for my tort?
What kind of substrate youre finding the best for your tort? ive used hemp (it was okay,but i wasnt really happy bout it as my tort loves to dig and its not really..diggable) finch (just for short time when he hibernated) and coco coir (got bugs in it and smelled god awful ...).


Im planning to make/buy enclosure which ill have for longer time.

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome. 4x2 feet is about a quarter of the size he needs. You can just use an entire 4x8' sheet of plywood and add walls. Also your walls will need to be taller than eight inches. Russians like to dig into the substrate, so you'll need the substrate to be at least 4-5 inches deep. If the substrate is five inches in an enclosure with 8" walls, your 6" tortoise will climb right over the 3" wall. The walls should be at least 12" over the substrate, so make them at least 16-18" tall.

Over here we have "handymen" for hire that know how to build things and have the tools to do so. Perhaps they have something like that in the UK?

Here is some info for you:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/

 

[wellington]

That enclosure is too small. An adult Russian needs a minimum of a 4x8 foot enclosure. This can be made with nails and hammer.
Buy a piece of 4x8 or 4x10 plywood. Attach sides too it and you have an enclosure.

 

[Yvonne G]

We haven't talked about book case enclosures in a while. Go to yard/garage sales and try to find a used 4 or 5 shelf book case. Take out the shelves, lay it on its back, line it with heavy duty plastic (pond liner?) and there you go, or as you say in the UK, Bob's your uncle!!

 

[Draconium]

We haven't talked about book case enclosures in a while. Go to yard/garage sales and try to find a used 4 or 5 shelf book case. Take out the shelves, lay it on its back, line it with heavy duty plastic (pond liner?) and there you go, or as you say in the UK, Bob's your uncle!!

Haha i just found your answer here:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/ikea-bookshelf-enclosure.9740/
thats actually really good idea, problem is my room is quite small, just 8 foot of space with whcih i can work on (rest is covered by bed) . From my measuring in last hour and half ive managed to find space for around 6 ft and 2....with one place where i can fit 5 x 2 and other 4x3. Ill see what i can do about it, il look around for bookshelves in a weekday

 

[Cheryl Hills]

You can also make it a double decker. That would give you more space.