First time Greek Enclosure builder would love some input.

[GreekTortoiseGuy]

Hey everyone. Im new to hobby. I would love some input on the enclosure i built. I stained and sealed the entire enclosure. It is 2 feet wide and 4 feet long. I built a nice little box house for him with a heat pad inside. The wood is lined with thin plexi glass on the bottom. Tell me what you thing everyone. Thank you

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: First time Enclosure builder would love some input.

Hi GreekTortoiseGuy:

Welcome to the forum!!

May we know your name?

What kind of substrate is that?

 

[GreekTortoiseGuy]

RE: First time Enclosure builder would love some input.

Hi...my name is Stavros. That is alfalfa pellets. I was thinking of some other kind. Any suggestions? This substrate is a bit smelly. I live in an apartment so....you know.

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: First time Enclosure builder would love some input.

Hi Stavros:

I don't keep Greek tortoises, so I can't really say what kind of substrate for you to use. I know from reading here on the forum that some keep their Greeks on aspen bedding.

We're kind of getting away from using the alfalfa pellets.

Do you have a water dish in there?

I like your habitat. You've gone to a lot of trouble to make it nice for the tortoise.

What kind of light are you using? Does the tortoise get any outside time?

 

[wrmitchell22]

I really like the enclosure it looks nice, I don't know about greeks, but I use Cypress mulch for my Sulcata Welcome to the forum!

 

[GBtortoises]

I would recommend building a higher rail up the ramp and at the edge of the platform to minimize the chance of your tortoise falling off. Most will not intentionally walk off the edge of something, but that is not always the case either. A night time heat source shouldn't be necessary for your Middle Eastern Greek tortoise unless the ambient room temperature gets below 60-63 degrees at night.

 

[GreekTortoiseGuy]

The light is a Sunbulb 100 watt. Heat, uva, uvb in one. I keep it 12 hour intervals on a timer. I have a water dish inside but it doesnt seem like he is drinking water. He is a hearty eater though. I feed him lots of lettuce mixed with blueberries at time and the mazuri (moistened). He doesnt get any outside time. I live in a concrete jungle here and i dont have a place for him to roam outside. I know which is sad. Moving to Florida soon though. So another outside enclosure should be coming soon. And yeah he fell off once. I hope he learned his lesson. But your right i am making plans to make some rails. And yeah those alfalfa pellets have quite the stench. With some more input i may switch to aspen. I keep my brazilian boa in aspen. My heat source is the sunbulb at the far corner with some large flat rocks underneath. And a mini heat pad inside the housing. Summer time the ambient heat it good here. But im wondering about winter time i may double up with a ceramic heater for day and night. Thank you guys for the positive input. And thank you for the welcome.

 

[Fernando]

GJ on the wood work

 

[GreekTortoiseGuy]

oh and i add in some phospurous free calcium powder with his food.

 

[SnakeyeZ]

Nice enclosure. Looks very similiar to my russian tortoise enclosure. You do need something on the ramp to avoid your tortoise possibly falling off the edge.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Nice design, once you add the railings...for substrata, go with cypress mulch (clean, safe and cheap enough to change often).

Highly recommend your little buddy get some outside time, even if it only a weekly roam in the nearest park (there are collapsable cages that are very useful in that context).

 

[lynnedit]

It might work to have aspen (drier) in the sleep area on part and cypress on part (moisten with water), separated by a curving row of low rocks for interest. Put another hide like a terracotta pot on its side in the moist area. You can also put some fake plants (they won't eat them) in and even a real one in a sturdy pot like a spider plant. They like to hide under them.
Nice job!