Eastern Box Turtle Outdoor Pen Upgrade

[Tccarolina]

It stopped raining, so I snapped some pictures of my pen upgrade inbetween football games.
I've been working on this upgrade since Christmas. I enlarged the pen, split it into 5 subpens, and added a pond to each sub-pen. Each pond pours into the next, ending in the original pond, where it is filtered and cycled back.

This will allow me to maintain separate color groups.

 

[Yvonne G]

Wow! That's absolutely beautiful! Quite a bit of thought and work went into it. I'd love to see it again in the spring when everything is green.

 

[dmarcus]

Wow thats pretty cool...

 

[Irwin4530]

^
Jealous

 

[jkingler]

Nice! Awed by your handiness and ingenuity. You've got some very spoiled shellkids.

 

[lynnedit]

Nicely, nicely done!

 

[Tccarolina]

Thanks, everyone! I had to poach a 6 foot slice of the Greek pen to make this work. I've wanted to have 5 separate EBT pens for a long time, but I just couldn't seem to make it work out right. But I'm pleased with how this is working so far. Each of the 4 long pens are 3 feet wide, except for the one closest to the wall. It's 3 1/2 feet wide to give them a little more early morning sun. About half of the turtles are hibernating under the leaf pile in pen 3. The rest are at the far end in the corner behind the original pond.

Basically, the new pens have 4 parts. A flat shady feeding area with a hide in the front, a pond (the ponds will have shade cloth over them before summer arrives), a strawberry patch, and the full sun bare dirt area with a hide (this hide will always be filled with leaf litter) where they will nest.

I put the rock path in so I can safely maneuver around the pen without causing soil compaction or stepping on vegetation or turtles. It runs through the strawberry patches, but they will grow among the rocks as well.

The 1/2 inch sprinkler tubing runs under the lips of the wall, and behind the back wall. 1/4 inch tubing runs along the top of each of the wire fences. I will be able to water in any pattern I could possibly need this way. I haven't added any sprinkler nozzles yet, though.

I fenced off a small plot to grow opuntia cactus for the golden greeks.

 

[DixieParadise]

Wow and Wow...that is a great enclosure. I need to do something for my EBT, just haven't decided and still have to finish the big pen for my YF.

 

[terryo]

Amazing!! Around the pond area...is that sand? You are so organized. Beautiful!

 

[Tccarolina]

Amazing!! Around the pond area...is that sand? You are so organized. Beautiful!

Thanks, and yes, it is sand. I don't want them tracking mud into the pool area.
The pools are pretty deep. I shaped several ridges into the steep sides so they can get traction to climb out. I needed them deep in case I ever decide to make each pool independent with its own filtration. If they struggle at all climbing out, I'll fill the bottom of the pools with sand to make them shallower. The sand will become part of the biological filtration in that case, so it would still be a win.

I've never used hides with my EBT's, other than drift wood. Now they have a shady hide and a sunny hide in each pen. I'll probably keep both supplied with leaf litter, so they can regulate proper humidity in my dry climate.

Each pen will be able to hold a male and up to 5 females, though I'll probably try to keep them as 1:4 groups or less.

Steve

 

[ShadowRancher]

This is so amazing, I'm really impressed. It has to be the perfect enclosure/breeding setup...once Ive settled the new torts I have coming in and have my post-grad job figured out I think a couple boxers might be on the menu we always had them wild when I was little and I always tried to feed them when I found them in the woods such cuties

 

[DriveWRX]

That's fantastic!
I would love to make something like that for my turtles and tortoises.

But I have one question...
How would you keep predators, like raccoons and opossums, from getting into the enclosures?

One summer, I had a raccoon attack and lost a few turtles. And that was with mesh tops covering them. I'm so paranoid now that I have been keeping everything inside for quite awhile now. I know keeping turtles and tortoises outside is better form them, but I afraid of more attacks.

Around here I see raccoons, opossums, stray cats, fox and coyote.

 

[Tccarolina]

That's fantastic!
I would love to make something like that for my turtles and tortoises.

But I have one question...
How would you keep predators, like raccoons and opossums, from getting into the enclosures?

One summer, I had a raccoon attack and lost a few turtles. And that was with mesh tops covering them. I'm so paranoid now that I have been keeping everything inside for quite awhile now. I know keeping turtles and tortoises outside is better form them, but I afraid of more attacks.

Around here I see raccoons, opossums, stray cats, fox and coyote.

Fortunately, I only have to deal with the occasional stray cat. I have thought about what I'd do if I needed to enclose the pen. That's partly why I put the tall 4x4's up in the back.

 

[wellington]

WOW, what a nice job.

 

[lynnedit]

What are the square things rimmed in black on the left in picture 4?

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Nice job!

 

[Tccarolina]

What are the square things rimmed in black on the left in picture 4?

Feeding plates. Actually they are ceramic plant saucers. They are doubled, and these particular ones seem to have quite a gap between the lower and upper saucer. I'll feed them on the top plate, and fill the one underneath with water before I set the food plate back down in it. The plan is to ant-proof the food bowl. Ants won't swim, and can't reach across the gap. I know they can "raft" but I'm hoping this eliminates the problem for me.

 

[dmarcus]

Do you have anything in the pond or is it just for the Box Turtles?

 

[yagyujubei]

Really nice job. I particularly like the fact that you can see into all the pens from one spot. Hopefully, the see through wire won't be a problem. After seeing this (sigh), I think my pens need a little revamping.

 

[Tccarolina]

Do you have anything in the pond or is it just for the Box Turtles?

I have a stinkpot pair. They are small enough to be able to get through the wire and might migrate from pond to pond.

Really nice job. I particularly like the fact that you can see into all the pens from one spot. Hopefully, the see through wire won't be a problem.

I chose 2x3 inch vinyl coated wire to protect their shells from scratches while being open enough that they should try to go through it rather than over it.
Yes, I really hope this isn't going to be a problem. I hope that as they slowly warm up from hibernation in a few weeks, they'll take it slow and easy, and get used to the wire. If not, I'll experiment with fine gauge wire mesh for the first 5 inches. I was also thinking of cutting bender board to run the first 4 inches. Hope I don't half to.

I really hope the amorous males don't learn to climb.
I have a plan in mind if this happens. I'll slice one side of ABS plastic pipe lengthwise, and fit them over the tops of the wire sections, to make a black rounded top to the wire that will still look nice but prevent any climbers from succeeding.

Regardless, I'm going to put triangles of flashing or some other blocker where the wire meets the wall so if one does learn to climb, he won't be able to escape the larger pen.