Tortoise Enclosure (inside)

[fabfourgirl1964]

I wanted to make my own indoor enclosure of wood, but decided to make an outdoor one instead. I'm going to make it like a raised garden bed and use netting over the top. This will be only for sunny daytime hours! For nighttime and winder days, I will keep my Russian Tortoise indoors in a 50 gal. tub. I've attached a photo of it. Now to concentrate on the outdoor enclosure. I can't seem to find substrate without any chemicals, manure and such! What do you people use? Let me know what you think? Thanks!

 

[Jacqui]

I am sorta confused between the thread title and what I think I am reading, so please help me out. Is this substrate question for an inside or an outside enclosure?

 

[wellington]

I'm a little confused also. Where's the picture of the outdoor enclosure. For the outdoor enclosure, if you need substrate. Use plain dirt. Or take up some of your yard sod and use that or dig dirt put of your yard to use, if you can't find plain dirt.
Is that what you were looking for, substrate for your outside raised tort table?

 

[jessrich87]

I use organic peat moss. And your inside enclosure looks nice. Good luck with the outside one.

 

[fabfourgirl1964]

Sorry for the confusion. My question was about the substrate for the outdoor enclosure. I have lumber left over from a few raised garden beds we built. The backyard has an automatic sprinkler for the lawn, so I can't put the Tortoise enclosure there! I've decided to build it off to the side, near our fence where we have river rock. There is heavy plastic under the rock. If I built the enclosure there, it would be a secure bottom to the enclosure. I can add dirt and edible plants! The yard is pretty well landscaped with rocks and bark, so I can't to go digging it up. I thought I could add bags of soil on top of the river rock, but I can't find anything that doesn't have chemicals or fertilizer in it! What type or brand names of soil have you found to be safe?
I appreciate all the info you can give me on this. Thanks!

 

[fabfourgirl1964]

RE: Tortoise Enclosure

Sorry for the confusion. My question was about the substrate for the outdoor enclosure. I have lumber left over from a few raised garden beds we built. The backyard has an automatic sprinkler for the lawn, so I can't put the Tortoise enclosure there! I've decided to build it off to the side, near our fence where we have river rock. There is heavy plastic under the rock. If I built the enclosure there, it would be a secure bottom to the enclosure. I can add dirt and edible plants! The yard is pretty well landscaped with rocks and bark, so I can't to go digging it up. I thought I could add bags of soil on top of the river rock, but I can't find anything that doesn't have chemicals or fertilizer in it! What type or brand names of soil have you found to be safe?
I appreciate all the info you can give me on this. Thanks!

 

[lynnedit]

A raised bed is a very good solution. See if you can make it at least 4' x 8', that is an easy size, but you can go larger if you have the wood. 'L' shapes are nice, torts like going around corners, lol.
The base could be the gravel over the landscape fabric (which is permeable to water, right?).

Do you have businesses that sell landscape supplies like compost/mulch, etc.? We have one nearby that sells a 'three way dirt', and it is made for raised beds. It is a combination of decomposed fir, sand and soil, so it drains really well. They deliver, or you pick up an amount with a truck.
Our Home Depot sells bags of organic topsoil; the main criteria is no vermiculite, fertilizer, weed preventives, or dye. I think the brand in our area is 'Earthgro', or something like that.
So if there are bags of soil w/o fertilizer that smell 'earthy', they are probably fine.
All you really need for the outside is untreated garden soil. And, of course, you won't need to fill up the raised bed, just backfill 12" or so.

Also, if you have extra gravel, you can pile that up in a couple of areas to make hills. The gravel can stay exposed, as it will warm up more quickly than dirt.