Help Moving EBT Outdoors For First Time

K1LOS

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May 9, 2020
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Ontario
Planted it this afternoon. Variegated hosta, mini hosta, a couple of types of sedum, blue fescue, and what I think is creeping jenny.
 

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ColleenT

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Lehigh Valley Pa
i use a very large cat litter box as the tub. i dug the area out, so it sits low, and i use rocks to help them get out.
 

K1LOS

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Joined
May 9, 2020
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22
Location (City and/or State)
Ontario
i use a very large cat litter box as the tub. i dug the area out, so it sits low, and i use rocks to help them get out.
That's not a bad idea, I'll consider using one for my habitat. With some decoration, I might be able to employ the top half as a hide as well. Thanks!
 

K1LOS

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Temperatures are still all over the map here, 4C (39F) last couple of nights and 28C (82F) tomorrow. Between that and not having a lid made yet we are still just bringing Spike in and out to the outdoor enclosure when time and weather permits. I think I've got a lid design figured out in my mind now but I don't have a tool I'd need to build it, I'll figure something out when I'm ready.

In the mean time, here are some pics from today's turtle "recess".

download_20200604_181949.jpgdownload_20200604_181941.jpg
 

K1LOS

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May 9, 2020
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Location (City and/or State)
Ontario
The friendly guy at the soil yard thought he did me a favour and gave me extra sand when I was buying the initial soil to fill this up. I mixed most of the sand in before realizing it was too much sand and was blowing away my intended 2:1 ratio. I went with it for a bit, but eventually determined that mix just wasn't going to hold enough moisture for an EBT. It was fine for afternoon visits but I couldn't in good conscience leave the turtle out there for the season on that.

Today I shoveled out 6 buckets worth (120L) of the initial soil/sand from around the plants etc and distributed it where I could around my yard. We replaced the soil I removed with a mix of peat moss and black earth. We didn't really mix it in to the sand and soil below, just with each other. I may end up mixing this new soil in deeper and deeper into the original soil mix as time goes on, then adding more black earth and peat moss mix on top. For now I've got a moist layer on top of a drier layer, which is opposite of what would occur naturally but should work in this case. I have a couple inches of the new stuff on top of the old stuff and so far, surprisingly, the turt hasn't done any digging at all in this cage. Perhaps that was due to the old soil mix and may change now.

Night time temperatures are getting close to where we could leave Spike out full time. I've got to hurry up and sort out the lid and misting system so we can make this permanent. The initial lid design required a tool I don't have, and don't really want to buy, so I'll have to either find somewhere to borrow one or alter the plan. The automatic watering system will be for all our plants and gardens as well, so I'll need to do some research on that.
 
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