Advice Needed for Outside Enclosure in NYC

[billiondollars]

I have a patio on in my apartment with roof an fence where I want to built custom enclosure for my Sulcata.

The Sulcata is now roughly 860 grams weight and about 20cm in length.

The patio has direct sun light for about 2 hours a day after that it’s still very bright, but not a direct light.

I plan to use baby crib that I have as a ‘box’ and I want to put plastic sheets as walls and floor. Because so have dog and the cat I want the enclosure to be off the ground and with a high walls.

I am looking for advice for light, floor, temperature and other things I should worry about.

Should I be worrying about insects?
Can I use dirt and plant grass or should use bark?

The weather ranges from 19C to 31C over the next few weeks.

Should I try to keep the same thing that I do in the tank, and just get more lamps, or should there be ‘open space’ area?

Thanks!

 

[Maro2Bear]

Greetings.

Don’t worry about insects. Don’t use any topsoil. Continue to use medium grade orchid bark &/or cypress mulch. Grass is good, but won’t live like that. It will get trampled & eaten before it grows & not a good substrate for grass. Augment with other edible plants, BUT your enclosure is just tooo small. A 2 pound 10 inch sulcata needs much more room than a baby crib.

 

[wellington]

Way too small for that size sulcata and will only get bigger. Hope you have plans to get him a yard very soon.

 

[billiondollars]

Greetings.

Don’t worry about insects. Don’t use any topsoil. Continue to use medium grade orchid bark &/or cypress mulch. Grass is good, but won’t live like that. It will get trampled & eaten before it grows & not a good substrate for grass. Augment with other edible plants, BUT your enclosure is just tooo small. A 2 pound 10 inch sulcata needs much more room than a baby crib.

What would be the good size for that? I can make it larger than a crib too, I have enough space.

 

[billiondollars]

Way too small for that size sulcata and will only get bigger. Hope you have plans to get him a yard very soon.

My patio is size of yard (it’s a roof if another building, but fully fenced and roofed)! What would be a more or less adequate size? And should I just build a home with all the heating and stuff and let the rest of the space as is?

 

[Tom]

I have a patio on in my apartment with roof an fence where I want to built custom enclosure for my Sulcata.

The Sulcata is now roughly 860 grams weight and about 20cm in length.

The patio has direct sun light for about 2 hours a day after that it’s still very bright, but not a direct light.

I plan to use baby crib that I have as a ‘box’ and I want to put plastic sheets as walls and floor. Because so have dog and the cat I want the enclosure to be off the ground and with a high walls.

I am looking for advice for light, floor, temperature and other things I should worry about.

Should I be worrying about insects?
Can I use dirt and plant grass or should use bark?

The weather ranges from 19C to 31C over the next few weeks.

Should I try to keep the same thing that I do in the tank, and just get more lamps, or should there be ‘open space’ area?

Thanks!

You asked for opinions and advice, so I will share my thoughts on this with you.

Unless this is an unusually large patio, it does not sound like enough space for a 800+ gram tortoise. I house them in large outdoor pens of around 30x30 feet at this size and go bigger after a year or so.

2 hours a day of direct sun anywhere in the whole pen? That doesn't sound like enough. They need the sun to thermoregulate. They move in and out of the sun and shade to maintain the correct core temp. If its all shade most of every day, that doesn't work.

A baby crib with plastic sheets for walls offers no insulation and sounds much too flimsy for a giant tortoise species. You need a proper night box with a thermostat and safe heating elements in it.

19C is much too cold for a sulcata. No part of the enclosure should ever dip below 27C. They can certainly walk around outdoors when it is cooler than that IF they have a heated night box to retreat to and ample sunshine all day to warm up in. 19C in full shade all day, with a baby crib and plastic sheets will simply not work. The tortoise will get sick.

Tank? A sulcata this size is outgrowing even an indoor 4x8 foot enclosure. Even a large "tank" was too small 600 grams ago.

It sounds to me like you are thinking about accommodations for a smaller tortoise species. I don't know what you thought you were going to do with a giant tortoise in a NY apartment, but you better figure something out fast. This is a species for people who live in warm climates and have ranch style properties with acreage. You are not going to be able to meet the space and housing needs unless your real name is Trump and you have an enormous penthouse apartment with 10,000 spare feet of floorspace. Donald? Is that you???

 

[billiondollars]

Unless this is an unusually large patio, it does not sound like enough space for a 800+ gram tortoise. I house them in large outdoor pens of around 30x30 feet at this size and go bigger after a year or so.

It’s a roof of another building that my building is built on. The patio/backyard has roughly size of a small apartment and it’s fenced and roofed.

That doesn't sound like enough. They need the sun to thermoregulate. They move in and out of the sun and shade to maintain the correct core temp. If its all shade most of every day, that doesn't work.

That’s right, few hours in the morning, I can place necessary lights to supplement more, that was part of the advice I am looking for. I am on the darker side of the building, not sure how much time if sun it gets exactly, but it’s in the first half of the day.

A baby crib with plastic sheets for walls offers no insulation and sounds much too flimsy for a giant tortoise species. You need a proper night box with a thermostat and safe heating elements in it.

I was thinking to use crib not as housing, but as a whole enclosure. By the comments above I already realized it is way too small, so I will use something separate for the housing and designate a larger area for the yard for her to roam.

19C is much too cold for a sulcata. No part of the enclosure should ever dip below 27C. They can certainly walk around outdoors when it is cooler than that IF they have a heated night box to retreat to and ample sunshine all day to warm up in. 19C in full shade all day, with a baby crib and plastic sheets will simply not work. The tortoise will get sick.

There’s nothing much I can do about the weather, but there things I can do for enclosure. Keeping housing it at 36C Celsius at 19C weather I believe is realistic.

It sounds to me like you are thinking about accommodations for a smaller tortoise species. I don't know what you thought you were going to do with a giant tortoise in a NY apartment, but you better figure something out fast. This is a species for people who live in warm climates and have ranch style properties with acreage. You are not going to be able to meet the space and housing needs unless your real name is Trump and you have an enormous penthouse apartment with 10,000 spare feet of floorspace. Donald? Is that you???

Yes, that’s quite a large apartment with a large outdoor space that I am looking to accommodate for the tortoise for the next couple months.