Hatchling enclosure

[Anyfoot]

Today I've made an enclosure for my hatchlings within my Tortoise house. So the heat and humidity is already there.
I've made it out of anything I could get my hands on that was laying around in the garage so not to cost me anything.
It's 4ft x 3ft. Still a bit more work to do, need to add a uvb strip light and some hides, I'm going to put plants on top of the hides so it creates shade from the window light, plus they won't be able to eat them.
I've made it with drainage in mind, so I can use a misting system without things getting boggy.

Frame made from old would.



Double layer of stainless mesh



Built sides up. You can see I run out of wood for top layer, so bodged it up.


Layed on a layer of weed membrane and then a layer of stones.


Filled up with garden soil then a layer of coir with some orchid bark. Plenty of worms in there.
Added a couple of palms and I'll train the grape vine to grow around the enclosure. Plants on the windowsill are to go on the hides, were on offer, 50p.


Final inspection passed by the seniors.

 

[Yvonne G]

Very nice! Looks like it also gives the seniors another place to gather and feel safe. How long will you be keeping the babies?

 

[Anyfoot]

Very nice! Looks like it also gives the seniors another place to gather and feel safe. How long will you be keeping the babies?

Yeah, it also doubles up as another hide for the adults, the sun shines through the small door underneath too, they love looking out of that door, trouble is winter is coming, so looking is all they can do now .
I want to raise the babies for a few months, probably at least 6 months. I have another area that my juveniles are in, at some point I may need to put them in that area.
I've not sold any babies yet, I'm just in the process of selling on 9 of my hingeback babies in groups of 3's, think Ive found some good homes. This is new to me and a worry.
Wasn't sure whether it was worth it or not to advertise any of my babies on here being in the uk.

 

[Gillian M]

Beautiful! A well done job @Anyfoot . Congrats!

 

[Ed mitch]

Great job!

 

[Anyfoot]

Nearly finished, need to make a stand for my uvb strip, will get some wood from work tomorrow for that, this will hang over the feeding slates.
Instead of laying the plant pots on there side, I've cut a hole in them and sunk them deep in the substrate, but so I can just get my hand in the hides. This way I can stand new plants on top of the hides, hopefully waiting for them to mature and be pesticide free if any was used, this way also allows for foliage shade without taking up floor space. The hides have spaghnum moss in them.
I've seeded in some areas with grass and millet, this will help maintain humidity at ground level without being too wet.
There's a patch in the back corner with moss too. So they have, coir, moss, slate, grass and orchid bark for terrain. Also the enclosure substrate is not just level, there's slight hills for them to walk up and down. Just testing the temps and humidity at the moment. It's 82/84f and about 90%.

 

[Gillian M]

Beautiful! A well done job @Anyfoot . Congrats!

Nearly finished, need to make a stand for my uvb strip, will get some wood from work tomorrow for that, this will hang over the feeding slates.
Instead of laying the plant pots on there side, I've cut a hole in them and sunk them deep in the substrate, but so I can just get my hand in the hides. This way I can stand new plants on top of the hides, hopefully waiting for them to mature and be pesticide free if any was used, this way also allows for foliage shade without taking up floor space. The hides have spaghnum moss in them.
I've seeded in some areas with grass and millet, this will help maintain humidity at ground level without being too wet.
There's a patch in the back corner with moss too. So they have, coir, moss, slate, grass and orchid bark for terrain. Also the enclosure substrate is not just level, there's slight hills for them to walk up and down. Just testing the temps and humidity at the moment. It's 82/84f and about 90%.
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Love the plants!

 

[wellington]

Nice job.

 

[Ed mitch]

Great enclosure, could I asked what plants are you using? Thanks

 

[Anyfoot]

Great enclosure, could I asked what plants are you using? Thanks

2 palms, 2 Christmas cactus and 2 others. Lol. I forgot name of them. Will look when I get home, the no name plants are not edible, but they can't reach them either. I'm actually going to put some large terrocota plates under those 2 to catch falling flowers. Also plates will act as a shelf to hide under.

 

[Tom]

Very innovative. Great use of space. I like it.

What species of hatchling is going in there?

 

[Ed mitch]

Thanks, trying to get ideas for my little ones

 

[Anyfoot]

Very innovative. Great use of space. I like it.

What species of hatchling is going in there?

Redfoot. Thanks Tom, I'm trying to utilize as much space as possible in here. Also I won't have the costs of running vivariums doing it this way.

 

[Anyfoot]

Thanks, trying to get ideas for my little ones

The 2 flowering plants are 'flaming Katy'. According to the Tortoise table it's a do not feed. Grows in low light though.
I'm fast discovering that putting edible plants in my adult section is not the way to try and create a mini jungle. I keep adding plants and to the slaughter they go, I'm gradually finding plants they just are not interested in. Hopefully these flaming Katy"s can go into adult section next year when all danger of pestercides that the shop may have used has gone.

 

[Anyfoot]

You can see the millet seed is already growing after 3 days. If you look carefully you can see water droplets that they hold from the humidity. The grass will take longer to grow. I'm liking using the millet because it serves as a mini Savannah for them, they gather water on the carapace as they walk through it, they can hide in it and they eat it. In my viv it was lasting about 2 weeks and grew to about 2" high max. Every couple of weeks I just add fresh seed, and its cheap, not cheep.

 

[Anyfoot]

You can see the millet seed is already growing after 3 days. If you look carefully you can see water droplets that they hold from the humidity. The grass will take longer to grow. I'm liking using the millet because it serves as a mini Savannah for them, they gather water on the carapace as they walk through it, they can hide in it and they eat it. In my viv it was lasting about 2 weeks and grew to about 2" high max. Every couple of weeks I just add fresh seed, and its cheap, not cheep.

Huh seems I forgot to attach the photo. Doh.

 

[Anyfoot]

Today I knocked together a stand for the uvb strip light. It's over the feeding area set at 10" from the torts so they get uvb whilst eating.
The controller and timer are in that waterproof box.
I also found some wood to do top layer a bit higher.
I'll be putting them in here early tomorrow.

 

[Ed mitch]

Show us when they are in!!!

 

[Anyfoot]

So today we put our hatchlings in their new enclosure, the grass and millet has grown well, maybe to well, I'll see how they go.

 

[TheSulcata]

It looks cool!