I have an idea...

[cassieopia]

What of a 24 foot diameter 5ft tall walled metal framed swimming pool? Tall enough walls to keep him in and from seeing out... cutting lines in the liner bottom to assist with drainage... lining the bottom with chicken wire... filling it 1/4 or more deep with soil... using it to house an outdoor animal? It can grow it's own food, hold a night box, keep out predators, and on...
Thoughts?

 

[dmmj]

overall I think its bad the tall walls would block a lot of the sunshine the tortoise. needs just my thoughts

 

[wellington]

I guess if you don't mind giving up the pool, incase it doesn't work, it would be a good thing to try. Like dmmj mentioned, be sure there is enough sunlight getting down to tortoise level.

 

[cassieopia]

Maybe I need to go half or more on the soil? I actually lackadaisicaly asked on facebook yard sale (local), if anyone had a pool they wanted to get rid of... I have gotten info about 5 FIVE huge pools for free! In less than 24 hours!

 

[mike taylor]

People use this kind of thing to keep snakes . I think it would work . I have a pool like that and sun getting into it is no problems.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

How hot do those metal above ground pools get without water? I might worry about it making a little oven inside.

 

[cassieopia]

I have secured a 24 ft metal walled pool with rims around the top. The liner is destroyed, so I will be burying a foot or so deep and filling it hopefully 2- 3 foot deep (with a chicken wire bottom) with substrate. I am rather excited, it is big enough to last a long while! It is big enough to have a large soaking area, block off part to grow before he can eat it, put in large basking/climbing rocks and have a night shelter! I will probably do most of this in the spring, as the cold weather will soon set in here. I plan on transplanting wandering jew, spider plant and aloe... maybe even some mother in laws tongue... this pool is bigger than the enclosure our measly "zoo" has for theirs. We will be disassembling (and maybe reassembling) the pool this weekend. I will be running my temp probe inside for a few days @SarahChelonoidis to make sure it doesn't perform like an oven...