Ideas for indoor enclosure?

[pandacakes]

With cold weather in Oregon approaching in no time (SAD!), I'm trying to figure out a new indoor arrangement for my leopard tortoise Ziggy. Right now he is in a large 50 gallon aquarium and I want something larger for him as he won't be able to be outside in a month or so.

I was thinking of getting these (and lining the bottom with something waterproof under the cypress mulch that I use):
http://zoomed.com/db/products/EntryDetail.php?EntryID=245&DatabaseID=2&SearchID=5

I am not mechanically savvy at all, so building anything is out... otherwise I would love to build him something. I was reading and you are able to put two of the tortoise houses together, so that would give him an area of 6' by 2'.

Does anyone have an opinion of these tortoise houses? Or have any better option?

OH! And whatever I do, it has to have a solid screen top of some sort as I have two cats who would likely fall in lol

 

[chase thorn]

i think they are great! but just a tad bit pricey! book shelves work great as well!

 

[PEEEETE]

I used a shallow cement mixing tub from Lowe's and some Coco substrate along with a regular tupperware for a hide. It cost me about $20 total for the entire enclosure. Then about $6 worth of annuals that are edible, and Pépe is super happy now.

They have bigger ones, too if you are looking for something longer, but I liked how shallow this one was.

 

[pandacakes]

I wish I could do something like that! I love the plants My cats would go nuts with anything open topped though

 

[Madkins007]

Building a habitat from scratch is not that difficult, and can be done rather cheaply.

You can make a cheap, large space by just using your existing floor as a start.
- Figure out where and how large. Let's assume you are going to do a 6'x4' in a spare room up against a corner.
- Get 2 4' and 2 6' boards, at least 16" wide (cheap plywood is fine). Use screws and reinforcing brackets (angle irons) to screw them together into a rectangle and slide it into place. it does not have to be super strong or rigid.
- Get some rigid foam insulation, at least an inch thick, and cut it to fit inside the space.
- Rig lighting and overhead heat either from wall-mounted hangers (like plant brackets), or build a simple rack- a board going up on each side and a smaller one going across to hang things from. (A handy friend can make this easily.)
- Take a blue tarp or other heavy-duty strong plastic and line the whole thing with it- folding it to fit the corners tightly. Staple it in place on the top or outside of the boards.
- If you are going to add heating cables, etc., install them now per directions. You may need to use some additional material under the cables to protect the tarp.
- Dump a few inches of hardwood mulch in, set a big water dish in place, add hides and plants.
- Turn everything on and let it run a couple days- check how it is going before adding the animals.

 

[lynnedit]

Great advice for setting up an indoor enclosure.
If you are worried about your cats, and the idea of making a screened top is out, then I do think 2 zoomed enclosures hooked together would work very well. You might want to line them even if they don't advise it (heavy duty shower curtain or similar, folded up the sides and stapled at the upper edge). I do seem to remember that someone mentioned they were not as impervious to water damage as they should be. Then you have your built in screen.
If you have a handy friend to make a screen, then the floor (I like that one) or bookcase enclosure ideas work well.

 

[Jacqui]

You said your not able to do building, but not sure how basic you really could go. Could you handle cutting into plastic totes? You can use the lids that come with them and cut the centers out. Then using even just zip ties, cover the holes in the tops with a piece of wire (which could even be cut for you by the hardware store). To make them larger, you can actually cut holes in the sides and connect two or more together.


Or you could use something like a black rubber sheep water tank, then make your own lid by just connecting sections of PVC piping together and then using zip ties once more, your can attach the wire.

 

[flkustom]

I agree with the above post, you could easily get two 55 gal rubbermaids and make them attached, and save yourself about $160 than it would cost for the wooden zoo med ones. A simple screen could be made in no time with some rabbit/chicken fence. I guess it depends on how much you want to spend

 

[Jacqui]

. I guess it depends on how much you want to spend

Also how much the looks of the end product matter.

 

[pandacakes]

Thank you all for your advice The biggest issue with building is tools for sure. I don't have any at all lol The rubbermaid tote idea is great! They always have huge ones for crazy cheap around christmas time Now that I have a head full of new ideas, I have been thinking about lighting a lot!

 

[Kolorbl1nd]

I used a shallow cement mixing tub from Lowe's and some Coco substrate along with a regular tupperware for a hide. It cost me about $20 total for the entire enclosure. Then about $6 worth of annuals that are edible, and Pépe is super happy now.

They have bigger ones, too if you are looking for something longer, but I liked how shallow this one was.

I have the same containers. I have two with a ramp going down to the other one!

 

[Clownspur]

I use the zoomed tortoise house for the time being and its a really quick setup. If u go on amazon they sell for $80 and u can sign up for amazon prime (FREE TRIAL)and get free shipping. just an idea on cutting cost.