Updated Indoor Enclosure

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Seiryu

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Well, I finally found some pure cypress mulch and changed out the coco coir I had been using. It's cheaper and the tortoises don't drag the stuff everywhere like the coco coir did. So far they don't have any objections to the change.

Pic heavy, sorry!

Here's Sif (7 month old Leo) enjoying her Endive, Escarole, Turnip greens, and radicchio.
Cypress4.jpg


And Thor (18 month old Leo), the tortoise garbage disposal eating the same.
CypressThor5.jpg


Full shot. Sorry, it's in a bedroom and it was really hard to get good shots. So I had to take many shots to show the entire thing well.
CypressFull1.jpg


The enclosure is 6x4 ft. And it can be split into 2 halves. One side is 2x4, and the other 4x4. I usually only close it during feedings, otherwise Thor tries to eat all of Sifs food before she can finish! Here is the 2x4 side.
Cypress1.jpg


The opening between the 2 sides.
Cypress3.jpg


She has 2 hides, but really loves the cinderblock one. This is the side Sif is on if I split to feed them.
Cypress2.jpg


Here is the 4x4 side. You can see a red brick paver I put in there as well. It's there to help keep their nails filed down as well.
CypressThor1.jpg


Here is a shot of the bridge I made and some more cinderblocks they can climb through. The bridge also serves as a hide underneath.
CypressThor3.jpg


The backside of the cinderblocks. They can go through them, no dead ends.
CypressThor2.jpg


And another hide on Thors side.
CypressThor4.jpg


And then an opuntia cactus and aloe vera plant that seem to be doing well. I have a huge growlight over the entire enclosure as you can see as well for more light.
AloeCactus1.jpg


I will be making some more changes to it once I get some grass/weeds growing for the winter. Where Thor's water dish is, will be a container I'll be placing that will have some goodies. And I plan to have 2 going, so I can rotate them all winter.
 

Balboa

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I like it!

great plan with the plant trays

I like how there's lots of obstacles around, kinda random, to help prevent boredom.

About the only thing I see missing would be humid hides, but not everyone's onboard with that one I guess :)

Great Job!
 

Seiryu

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Balboa said:
I like it!

great plan with the plant trays

I like how there's lots of obstacles around, kinda random, to help prevent boredom.

About the only thing I see missing would be humid hides, but not everyone's onboard with that one I guess :)

Great Job!

The hides are 99% humidity. The entire substrate is moist and is never below 70%. Right now the substrate humidity is about 80%, in the hide is maxed at 99. Guess I should have mentioned that.
 

Balboa

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aaahhhhhh I getcha
awesome!
I'm curious now though, so what's the ambient humidity in the room? The hides just look pretty open to me, I might be totally off, but I find it hard to keep a high hide humidity without keeping them somewhat closed up, but that might just be my experience differing.

What I really should be saying is, how are you checking the humidity in the hides? I found out the hard way myself that if you leave an electronic hygrometer in a high humidity spot they tend to get full of water, and always read 99.9%, even though that may not be the case. And then sometimes they stop working all together :)

Just hoping you're actually achieving your goals and not making the same mistakes I have.
 

Seiryu

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Balboa said:
aaahhhhhh I getcha
awesome!
I'm curious now though, so what's the ambient humidity in the room? The hides just look pretty open to me, I might be totally off, but I find it hard to keep a high hide humidity without keeping them somewhat closed up, but that might just be my experience differing.

What I really should be saying is, how are you checking the humidity in the hides? I found out the hard way myself that if you leave an electronic hygrometer in a high humidity spot they tend to get full of water, and always read 99.9%, even though that may not be the case. And then sometimes they stop working all together :)

Just hoping you're actually achieving your goals and not making the same mistakes I have.

I have a digital hygrometer. Which I assume is working as when I move it from area to area, it changes. And it's also been calibrated.

Ambient room humidity is 55-60%. If I take it out of that particular room, it goes down to 40% or so. If I put it on the substrate it reads 80%. If I place it inside the hide, it reads 99%. If it was not working, I doubt the numbers would change as they do.

The hides are somewhat open, but they are a good 7" deep. And I always add more water the hides. Thanks for the concerns though. I've been through all this when I joined over a year ago :).
 

Balboa

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Man gotta admit I'm jealous. Humidity is no where that nice to me lol
 
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Maggie Cummings

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Rob, where did you find your cypress mulch, if you don't mind me asking...
 

Seiryu

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maggie3fan said:
Rob, where did you find your cypress mulch, if you don't mind me asking...

An English Gardens, is there something wrong with it?

Lowes, Home Depot and a few other garden shops had cypress mulch, but it wasn't pure. It had cedar/pine as well.
 
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Maggie Cummings

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Seiryu said:
maggie3fan said:
Rob, where did you find your cypress mulch, if you don't mind me asking...

An English Gardens, is there something wrong with it?

Lowes, Home Depot and a few other garden shops had cypress mulch, but it wasn't pure. It had cedar/pine as well.

No, you said "pure" and because the big box stores don't carry any without pine or cedar and I am always asked where to get it because I use and recommend it. I just wanted to know where to say to get it from...
 

Seiryu

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maggie3fan said:
Seiryu said:
maggie3fan said:
Rob, where did you find your cypress mulch, if you don't mind me asking...

An English Gardens, is there something wrong with it?

Lowes, Home Depot and a few other garden shops had cypress mulch, but it wasn't pure. It had cedar/pine as well.

No, you said "pure" and because the big box stores don't carry any without pine or cedar and I am always asked where to get it because I use and recommend it. I just wanted to know where to say to get it from...

Ya, english gardens was the only place I found (called the number on the bag to make sure too).

I was told maybe trying more northern cities of Michigan (2+ hours away) might have it, but no guarantee.
 
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