Tortoise Room FINISHED!!!

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Tortoise

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Well today was the final day for the tortoise room in the basement. Its been a long project and we are almost ready to move the tortoises to their new enclosures.

My husband built a new room and made 5 large enclosures and because we only had a 10 ft by 9 ft space available we built two pens on one side and three shallower pens on different levels.
The two pens have plexi glass fold down doors too.
The substrate is all in so hopefully tomorrow the residents will start to move in!
the pens are all 8 feet long by 3.5 feet wide.
We used a rubber coating product called FLEX(there is another similar product here called Liquid Rubber too) to waterproof the plywood then a few coats of latex paint on top.I am confident the pens can withstand any amount of humidity now.

I hope too with a closed space like this we can keep up the humidity and temps more easily than in our open plan living area.The Hermanns will remain upstairs as I would miss having some tortoises in our living space as they are fascinating to watch-beats any TV.:)


Well we have several feet of snow outside still but at least the indoor accommodation has been upgraded and will help pass the time until we can all spend hours outdoors.

Thanks



 

wellington

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WOW, fantastic job. You must be so excited. You and your hubby did a great job. Don't forget pics of the torts enjoying their new mansions:)
 

mike taylor

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Thats cool! Where did you get the water poofer from.
 

Tortoise

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Thanks- I am really excited its been keeping me awake at night and with the eggs too!!:)
My husband is wonderful and I will be eternally grateful for his talents and patience with my tortoise obsession.
I did get aquainted with a few power tools(love the palm sander) to help but I'm a novice so did all of the waterproofing and painting mostly.

It was a good project and I'm excited to move the tortoises tomorrow,The hinge back boys are in already so I am so happy they all get much more space.

Summer project here is permanent large enclosures outdoors instead of my multiple moving enclosures-can't wait to get that underway if we ever melt!!
Thanks
Louise


Hi Mike
The waterproofers are from Home Hardware.
They sell two types Liquid Rubber and Flex-we used Flex because that is what they had in stock.
A friend of mine used Liquid Rubber and was really happy with his pens too.
http://www.homehardware.ca/en/rec/i...e-67n/Ntk-All_EN/R-I2035580?Ntt=liquid+rubber
http://www.homehardware.ca/en/rec/i...pqfZ67l/Ne-67n/Ntk-All_EN/R-I1817003?Ntt=flex
You can apparantly use it to waterproof enclosures enough that you can keep aquatic turtles in them like an aquarium.
 

bigred

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Fantastic job, looks like hubby has some skills. I think you should be a little EXTRA nice to him :D Looks like you guys spent some quality time on that project
 

Tortoise

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Haha yes he was vulnerable in the presence of me with power tools!!!
I'll be extra nice I promise!!
 

karmeleon

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Very nicely done. You have to be a little more creative here in Canada with our Northern climate.
 

Cowboy_Ken

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Great room. I encourage the making of reptile rooms because its easier to spot control temps if the room is already warm. On a side note though, most human habitats are not designed with high levels of humidity in mind. Humans tend not to like it too humid. Introducing high humidity to a room verses individual habitats can have a negative effect on building materials such as mold growth. I seem to remember something about this being an issue with a syndrome in humans affecting the respiratory system.
 

argus333

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ya looks great. what tortoises are going to live there?
 

Tortoise

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Thanks for the comments, it will be easier for us this way and the pens are bigger than the existing ones so all tortoises get an upgrade.
WE were often too hot in our living space as the temps are up to benefit the tortoises and I didn't open the windows much to prevent draughts.
Argus333 we will have Red foots in there on the bottom left pen.
I have two trios of Russians that I recently got so I am pulling the males out and joining the 2 pairs of females together in the top left pen.
The Russian boys will share a divided pen on the right so they remain apart and away from the females as I believe its better this way.
The pancakes get a pen on the right in the middle and the lowest pen will have the Hinge boys-again divided so they get half the pen each.
The hinges and red foots are on the lowest levels as it will be darker there and they won't mind lower light.
My Hermanns won't fit into my room so I have chosen to leave them up in our living space so we still have some tortoises to watch on that level too.
Could have done with a little more space for a room but this is much better than nothing.
Thanks again
Louise
 

KMS

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Amazing...What do you use for supports for the middle section of each level?
 

Jacqui

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Looking great Louise!! You and your hubby do awesome work together.
 

Zamric

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Nicely Done!:)

...tho, I too am courious about how the middle tier and top tier are supported in the middle.
 

Tom

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These are super cool. That room is a tortoise lover's dream! Very well done.
 

Tortoise

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I'll try to explain how we made them regarding the supports etc.Thanks for the comments everyone, I love it in there although its too hot for humans-not sure on room temps overall yet keep playing with them.

My husband made a frame of 2x4 (i think ) with widths of those running along the base.We then covered these frames with plywood and vertical pieces and ply sides.
Oh I wonder if you are asking about the supports to hold them up on the main structure?
Well the bottom levels were easy-they sit on floor.The middle and top pens sat on extra wood pieces glued and screwed to the outer frame(four posts with the step type pieces in place, we then rested the levels on those pieces(looked like stilts) whilst we screwed the enclosure to the outer frame posts.It was heavy work and took 1 adults and 3 kids to hold them up, whilst the other screwed in the screws on each corner.
Not sure if I explained that clearly enough?
I know they hold my weight as I had to lie in them to paint them.
Also what you cannot see in the photos are separating dividers within pens that can be tilted and pushed out if necessary yet stay in place on the vertical

If this isn't clear I can take photos?
BONUS part is my red foot male has been totally ignoring the females(including the most beautiful cherry female I bought last fall) until we put them into their new pen-now he has woken up ......
Pancakes doing the same-its seems to have gotten a few of them excited.
Louise


Thanks Tom, I keep going in there to take a look as we have well, a few unfinished projects going on here at all times and this one was started and finished fairly consistently. (with some pushing from me of course!!!)
Its hard to believe its done!
I was worried about the stacking enclosures and how accessible they would be etc but as long as I have a stool to see into the top pen of right its really good and better than I anticipated.
Not bad for a 10ft by 9 ft room that originally was a pokey junk collecting patch of basement.


Cowboy_Ken said:
Great room. I encourage the making of reptile rooms because its easier to spot control temps if the room is already warm. On a side note though, most human habitats are not designed with high levels of humidity in mind. Humans tend not to like it too humid. Introducing high humidity to a room verses individual habitats can have a negative effect on building materials such as mold growth. I seem to remember something about this being an issue with a syndrome in humans affecting the respiratory system.

I really hope we don't get humidity issues.We used all the semi gloss type paints that withstand moisture better on walls and door
and tried to enclose the room well.There is one outside wall and 3 inside walls involved.
The ceiling is the suspended type.
We put in a sub floor too that should allow air movement, then we put on the vinyl no glue flooring.
Thanks
 

lynnedit

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So well thought out! The plexiglass hinged sides area nice touch. I agree with your plans for your Russians.
 
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