enclosure:

[Millerlite]

Here is my mountain tortoise enclosure, Nothing big pretty basic. The sides go into the ground 6 inches, there is a slope so the water goes down toward the pavers and drains. I put a few different plants in there so they can have shade, and i'm hoping the weeds start growing in so there can be more hides and less open. There are also 3 water dishes where they can choose to soak if they wanted. You can see the lid which is chicken wire has the mister and that keeps them nice and humid
This is the whole enclosure

This is the upper side of the slope where most of the main hides are (there are a bunch of hides through the enclosure)

This is the bottom of the slope where water collects then drains.

Kyle

 

[sendie]

Very nice, you did a great job with it!

 

[Millerlite]

Tomorrow i'm going to add some hostia or hosta or something on that line, Terry uses it and it seems like it would be good for shade. I am thinking of making the chicken wire top a little higher so the plants can grow taller without hitting the enlcosure, I will post updated picture tomorrow when i plant the new plants. Going to be a jungle, lol

 

[tortoisenerd]

I think that is awesome! Good call on the slope for water too. We've heard a couple flooding stories here lately.

 

[Millerlite]

Here are some pictures from today, you can see the hosta and I transferred some weeds from the side yard in to add more shade but you can see its dying, lol.. But they might bounce back, if not i might just put something else in its place. Also still waiting for the natural grass and stuff to grow big, i can see it sprouting.

 

[Itort]

Another plant you may want to consider is a concord grape plant and an eiephant ear plant.

 

[Millerlite]

thanks, if i walked into homedepot or something would it just be called that? I am always looking for new plants.

 

[Stazz]

Very pretty plants you have in there !!! I need to put some more in Tallula's enclosure, she ate it all lol.

 

[Millerlite]

Thanks, Yeah greek tortoises love to eat, I remember my three would eat all kinds of plants. the mt. tortoises dont eat to muny plants though either the arnt use to it or just dont do it as often...

but i been talking to terry over on turtletimes.com ( i made a thread with the same pictures) and shes been giving me a lot of suggestions, lol.... I can keep plants a live but i always love suggestions on what ones to actually get. i might pick up moss and maybe some creeping jenny(i think thats what its called)

 

[desertsss]

don't know much to tell about plants, but beautiful enclosure!!!

 

[Stazz]

That sounds good ! I'm just not sure how to keep them alive in her wooden enclosure LOL

 

[Millerlite]

You have a wood floor? is it like above ground enclosure? or indoor table? or outdoor table? i use to have a outdoor box enclosure and i grew plants pretty good. I can help you out.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Let's assume you have a tort table with aspen bedding or something...post what you really have though. One idea is you can stick live plants with dirt in little pots, and sink them into the substrate. I've also heard of having trays such as cat litter pans sunk into the substrate, and rotated out as they get eaten or need more sun (although the UVB bulb works pretty well if the plants are close enough).

If you had moist substrate, some even plant the plants right into the substrate, although I'd find that a little tough.

Personally, I grow plants outside my enclosure, and only keep the fake ones in there. I feed him off the plants sometimes but they grow pretty slow here in the Pacific Northwest. I sure have a tough time with plants. For some reason I can never get the watering correct--either too much or too little. I just moved my plants outside for the summer, and half of them died as I kept my indoor watering schedule while in fact they were getting a lot of sun. They have since been shaded partly and watering increased. Hopefully some can make it! Honestly, it's not worth the effort for me to garden in my apartment. I'm thinking of waiting until I have a yard. It's actually pretty expensive to buy the seeds, potting soil, and pots/trays, for how much I've gotten out of it in tort food. Definitely not even close to breaking even, although the variety is nice. The little guy loves spouts!

 

[Millerlite]

Kate are you talking about your Russian enclosure? Is it a wooden box or is the ground actual ground? Or maybe its yoru indoor one your talking about, lol.. but anyways, For the plants i had a few in my box that i kept in the pots, and a few i actually put into the substrate (this is with my false bottom enclosure) you just have to keep the substrate deeper like 6-8 inches for roots if you plant straight in. As for watering i just water it every day or every other day i have a misting system and when my tortoises are outside they get the mist once a day. I never had a problem with plants and only reason i planted mine is because of the high humidty and shade mt. tortoises like, the plants help a ton.

Here are a few pictures of my old box turtle enclosure (it is a box and has a wood bottom.)

 

[tortoisenerd]

Millerlite-Yeah I was talking about my tort table indoor russian enclosure (wood box). Oops! Kinda also talked about growing plants on my patio and such too. Sorry for any confusion. That table/box looks really similar to mine as the the height of the sides. I always think they look too high combined with the rectangular enclosure, but the skinnier wood would have been too small (12 in. vs. 18 in.) since I do so much substrate and russians climb. As long as there is air circulation high side are fine. Plants look great in there!

 

[Millerlite]

Yeah it would seem harder to keep plants alive for a russian, i found it a lot easier to keep plants alive in box turtle enclosure and now my mt. tortoise enclosure because they love water, i kept grass alive with my leopard though, its just a lot harder since they like it a lot dryer.

 

[Stazz]

Wow yeah !!! Now thats it Millerlite !!!! What an AWESOME little enclosure! I want Tallula's to look like that
We have an indoor rectangular box we built for Tallula.We are redoing Tallula's enclosure tonight, - we use organic soil, doing amass clean out tonight. Here's a pic of it :

Those plants in there have been completely demolished, we're going to get some more this wknd.... so just as long as the soil is 6-8inches deep,for roots to grow, it should be fine? And how do I stop her from demolishing them as quickly as last time LOL.

Oops I am really sorry for seriously hijacking your post here! I just get carried away!

 

[Millerlite]

Yeah i found that when i put the soil 6-8inches and compact the soil around the plant so the roots can hold they grow pretty good. As for demolishing that might be a little harder to keep him from doing. I would block off the plant first because when they first get planted they kind of "die" then once they settled start growing again... (thats what i found) but russians are mean to plants all the russians i owned love to kill them so it might be a little tricky to keep them alive but possible.

Another option is to keep the plant in its pot or transfer it to a bigger pot and bury it into the soil still and just water it like normal, it will still grow, the roots of mine when i did this just went through the bottom and into the soil, lol..

PS: no worries about hijacking... Also i dont have a green thumb, i just try and plant and most the time it works out, lol.

Oh side note from the look of your enclosure it might be easier to just leave them in the pots, it will be easier to water too. I would just make the soil deep and bury the pot into the soil and leave some soil under the pot to soak in any water that would go through the pot. Thats what i would do if i had an enclosure like yours. My outdoor box enclosure was outside so i did half and half, some i kept in the pot others i planted into the soil both did good, but it was outside and easy to water.

 

[shelber10]

Great job it looks very nice

 

[Millerlite]

thanks, I'm always thinking of ways to make it better, I think i may redue the top. I dont know what design i want to go with, but i want it taller so the plants can grow bigger, and also want it to be secure.. Hmm... If anyone has an idea that would be great

As of right now i'm thinking wire cloth top, kind of making a tent type lid (dog house roof) and make at door into the side. It maybe crazy enough to work. lol.