What are your thoughts? constructive criticism please.

[Eddie R.]

Thoughts on my new tortoises enclosure? Its the Zoo med tortoise house. He has a small basking lamp, along with his uvb bulb fixture. He is also right next to a window that i plan on opening for actual uvb. Hes a 6 month old greek tortoise. T. Ibera

I am also investing in a second zoo med house in an effort to make his cage larger.

Thanks in advance.

 

[tortadise]

Looks pretty good. I would recommend trying to cover most if not all the wire top. For a few reasons. Draft of cool air is the most important. Greeks also need a little humidity, not a large amount like other babies being raised. But being completely open like that can inhibit it to be more difficult to maintain good stable temps and humidity/moisture.

 

[WillTort2]

Hi Eddie,

Welcome to the forum.

How large is your 6 month old tortoise? Because I'm thinking that your tort will need more space.

I'm very concerned about the vertical rock looking structure being a flip hazard for a young tortoise. Tortoises will try to climb anything and that has the look of something that could make them flip on their backs. If unable to right themselves, it can result in death from the weight of their organs compressing their lungs.

Please replace the water dish with a round flat style terra cotta planter base. It provides traction and is shallow enough to be less of a drowning hazard.

Good luck.

 

[Eddie R.]

Thanks for the advice, the tortoise is about the size of my palm. He is actually quite small, i will look into changing the water dish. And as for the rock structure, its an exoterra rock outcrop, it is very light weight and firmly placed in the cage. I do not think he will be able to flip the outcrop by any means. i will have to figure out a way to cover the mesh side, probably an acrylic piece? Thanks again for the advice!

 

[naturalman91]

looks pretty good just kinda small and just know that even if you open the window if there is a screen on the window it renders uvb ray's useless i would also replace the water dish with one like your food dish is it looks like a plant saucer which is best water dishes like the one you have have caused torts to drown flipping while trying to get in or out

 

[tortadise]

Thanks for the advice, the tortoise is about the size of my palm. He is actually quite small, i will look into changing the water dish. And as for the rock structure, its an exoterra rock outcrop, it is very light weight and firmly placed in the cage. I do not think he will be able to flip the outcrop by any means. i will have to figure out a way to cover the mesh side, probably an acrylic piece? Thanks again for the advice!

Aluminum foil works, or could even ziptie a piece of plexi glass to it. Just drill some holes in it and ziptie away. I can see the tortoise in one of the photos. That's an ok size for now for sure. Greeks can grow rather rapid the first few years though. So in a bout a year(possibly 2 max) you will need to upgrade

 

[Eddie R.]

Ill definitely have to invest in the acrylic, the cage is hard to maintain humidity in. And im hoping to get a second one of the zoomed houses this week.

 

[lisa127]

I saw someone use these where they connected two and then they also removed the divider (on both ends) that makes the hide area. By removing the divider it allows a lot more walking space.

 

[leigti]

I connected to the zoo med Tortoise houses to use as a winter enclosure for my adult Russian. Did you water proof the wood in someway? If not it will rot. I put waterseal on mine and then a shower curtain on the bottom and tiles on top of that. I put the tiles on top mostly so my Tortoise would not get down to the plastic, I was afraid she would eat it. I removed the dividers and on the top I removed the solid wooden door and replaced it with plexiglass. I didn't even have to security it just fits perfectly in there on top. The two lights on the right side are mostly to give the enclosure more light, they don't provide that much heat. My house is pretty cold in the winter though.

 

[leigti]

 

[Eddie R.]

I set down a plastic liner before adding the substrate. Thats an awesome looking cage! Cant wait to add the second zoomed house. Btw, did you have to modify the cage before linking them together?

 

[Tort-Rex]

Wow, I actually have the same tortoise house for my Russian, Rex, he loves it.
Yours looks great!

 

[leigti]

I set down a plastic liner before adding the substrate. Thats an awesome looking cage! Cant wait to add the second zoomed house. Btw, did you have to modify the cage before linking them together?

I did have to do a little Jerry rigging. Probably because I bought the cages about a year apart. If you buy them at about the same time they should go together easier. I also switched around the top of the cage because if you hook them together like their designs too, by removing the end panels, then you have one door opening one way and the other door opening the other which did not work when I want to put them against a wall but the wood is relatively soft and the screws are small and easy to remove, I did it all by hand. I don't use power tools because I can't see very well and they scare me

 

[leigti]

I would recommend that you waterseal or paint the inside bottom and halfway up the walls to make sure that it lasts. Especially because the substrate needs to be a little moist. Don't forget a humid hide for your little baby Greek Tortoise. That way the entire thing doesn't have to be really really humid. They need less humidity as they grow up.

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Nice! The water dish looks very deep, and he should more hides to sleep/have shade in.