Hi guys, Im trying to find some patterns or ideas on how to add a second story to sissys house. We have room to make her house a little longer but still would need to add a second story to her house to give her the amount of room she needs for her inside house. Unfrountly we dont really have any idea as to how to add the second story.... any ideas suggestions would greatly appaceated
Ideas needed for turning sissys house into a 2 story house
- Thread starter Dragon
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Hello!
I added a second mezzanine level to my PVC enclosed chamber. The most important thing to remember is that any ramp has to have a 1:2 rise. For instance, if the second level is 12 inches above the first floor, you need a ramp that is at least 24” long. If there is 11 inches between the 2 floors, you need at least a 22 inch long ramp, etc.
thanks for the info!!
Post a picture of the enclosure you have now. Hard to give ideas without knowing what you are starting with.
ok here are some pictures of sissys enclouser... the first pic is from before we got her.....I have a little room to make it a bit longer on the right side, but then we will have to go up. like i said spike is more then willing to help me make it bigger we just dont quite know how to add the second floor
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oh and we are going to change the water dish as soon as they start selling flower pots around here again....youed think they could sell flower pots all year long as house plants can be kept all year long
I'm thinking you can take out the window and add a platform right outside the window. Then about in the middle of that platform start building a ramp to an upper level. Sides on ramp and platform so he can't get out. Then at top of ramp have a table enclosure that sits on legs that holds the table over the old enclosure.
I can't draw to save my life so I can't do that to help you understand what I'm trying to say.
If you build or buy a raised garden table and set it over the enclosure you have now, I think it will be easier to envision how to get a ramp from one to the other.
If you build or buy a raised garden table and set it over the enclosure you have now, I think it will be easier to envision how to get a ramp from one to the other.
ok im trying to save your message to my desk top....I'll show it to spike tomarrow....I think i understand what your saying....but hes the one who builds boxes and furnture type things...lol Do you think you could draw a little diagram of what you mean? I think you mean to take the windo out of the side....bulid some sides and bottom then make a ramp going up and over what we already have....with sides on the ramp....replacing the doors on the top with a floor and sides and then put the top doors on top of the second story..... we might not even have to buy any more wood.....
I think i have come across something that will give sissy a much larger house and wont cost us anything!!! While lookiing for ideas on how to buld a garden table to useto help build a second level I saw some tort houses made from plastic tubs....it just so happens that i have a rather large clear plastic tub in my craft room!! Right now it has plarn in it but I can take the plarn out cut one end off the clear plastic tub.....unscrew the wood end with the window on it off the tort house and then screw the opened end of the clear plastic tub to the now opened end of the tort house! That will give sissy a LOT more room until we can build a second level.... now all i have to do is get the terracotta flower pot bottom so that she has a safer water dish. I only have one more bag of substructure i havent used yet...so i can put that in there....it wont be ideal as i know she needs more but it should do for her for a little while until i can get some more.... Then we can staple some screening over the top of the plastic tub. I double checked my flower pots in the grague and all the plants i have here in the house and just as i suspected....I dont have a terra cotta bottom for a flower pot. For the big plants I bought plastic under the plant water catchers and for the smaller ones i just used bowls or sacuer plates to catch the water.... i'll just have to wait until they get the flower pot and summer supplies in at the stores... humm with the big clear plastic tub i might have enough room to put a potted plant of some kind that she can eat into her house to as well as some good sized rocks....
I didnt think you had the room for a big tub otherwise I would have suggested that too. Yes, the tub will work.
Glad you found that out.
Glad you found that out.
Grace-Sophia
Well-Known Member
Plastic can be good for a lot of things, like storage, food, and sometimes even fish... but when it comes to tortoises, I would not advise it. Tortoises, as you know, need heat and UVB lighting all day to keep them well and happy. But... plastic and heat do not mix, my concern with this is that you would have yourself a melted tortoise encloure!! Another thing about plastic is that many times big tubs like that are clear. Torts do not generally get the concept of glass/plastic, and it can stress them out, by simply not being able to GET OUT! Another solution to this is something similar to what you have, having a small portion of the enclosure clear, and the others solid so that it gives more security with still being about to see the amazing animal!
Here is my little "tortoise nook" as I like to call it, it is made of plywood and all reptile safe paint and stain. It has ventilation on the hidden side making it look more aesthetic, and is all wired with light switches for easy access of turning lights off and on, and equip with front (only) Plexy glass sliding doors. I would like to put out there that there are two tortoises that live in here, but they are NOT connected, there is both a top and a bottom compartment each 5 x 5 foot enclosures. (we are adding a third level this summer for my Russian!)
Here is my little "tortoise nook" as I like to call it, it is made of plywood and all reptile safe paint and stain. It has ventilation on the hidden side making it look more aesthetic, and is all wired with light switches for easy access of turning lights off and on, and equip with front (only) Plexy glass sliding doors. I would like to put out there that there are two tortoises that live in here, but they are NOT connected, there is both a top and a bottom compartment each 5 x 5 foot enclosures. (we are adding a third level this summer for my Russian!)
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humm now im not sure what to do as i also got a message saying a clear plastic tub wouldnt work because the tort wouldnt know it cant go through it....maybe if i were to paint the outside end of the plastic tub it would work with out stressing sissy out. then she would just have the front and back sides with the clear plastic, which is basicaly what she has now on the sides. Well we really dont have the room for a really big inclouser....but the table sissys house is on has 2 leaves we can put up. The way things are set up is we have a small sleeper loveset that i sleep on while spike sleeps in his lazyboy. we keep the bed opened all the time because with my health issues i often need to lie down for a few hours a day here and there. Sissys house is butted up to the end of the bed. What I was thinking was moving the table down some from the end of the bed and then lifting up the leaf near the end of the bed and then slidding the table back to where it butts up to the bed again, so that it will be over part of the bed. Im a short person so that is wasted space anyway. Then all id need to do is a top. For that I was thinking i could just take the top that comes with the tub and cut out the middle part and put screening over that. That way the top would snap on like it does now so i could open the doors on the top of the wood part and just lift the screened lid off the tub to clean it or move things around..... If i paint the end of the plastic tub she would have the wood end on one side and the painted plastic end on the other side, and that would i think just about double the size of the house she has now. .... will wait for response from you guys before i do anything....
Grace-Sophia
Well-Known Member
I think I have an idea that may work for you spacial issues.
So what you can do is take Sissy's enclosure and cut a hole in it like down below (credit Google) then use that as her "heated side" and only put the lights over there so that the plastic won't melt, she would be able to go and get warm when ever she sees fit. Then you can screw/reptile proof a plastic tub and paint the sides like down below (credit google) then attach it to the open side and just use that as the "cool/dark" side when she needs to be cooled down (make sure to have plenty of ventilation!!!) Tortoises are ectotherms meaning that they use their ecosystems to regulate their body temperature, with this new solution Sissy will have plenty of room to roam, and get her exercise out, all why being able to be a happy and healthy tort by having the opportunity of regulating her body temperature adequately. May I also ask, what is her diet like?
So what you can do is take Sissy's enclosure and cut a hole in it like down below (credit Google) then use that as her "heated side" and only put the lights over there so that the plastic won't melt, she would be able to go and get warm when ever she sees fit. Then you can screw/reptile proof a plastic tub and paint the sides like down below (credit google) then attach it to the open side and just use that as the "cool/dark" side when she needs to be cooled down (make sure to have plenty of ventilation!!!) Tortoises are ectotherms meaning that they use their ecosystems to regulate their body temperature, with this new solution Sissy will have plenty of room to roam, and get her exercise out, all why being able to be a happy and healthy tort by having the opportunity of regulating her body temperature adequately. May I also ask, what is her diet like?
You could cover the clear plastic with paper on the outside, instead of painting it - then it would be easier to alter it, if you wanted to.
Angie
Yes clear plastic is fine. You can just cover it if she has a problem with it.
Also the plastic wont melt unless you have heat sitting on it. If you place tin foil any place where a light may need to sit on the plastic to go thru a hole you have cut the rim the hole with tin foil and the tin foil will keep plastic from melting.
Also the plastic wont melt unless you have heat sitting on it. If you place tin foil any place where a light may need to sit on the plastic to go thru a hole you have cut the rim the hole with tin foil and the tin foil will keep plastic from melting.
Thank you EVERYONE for all the wounderful advice!! now i feel more comfortable about using the plastic tub! yea!! and i like the idea of taping the paper on the one end of the plastic tub. i love the pictures you sent to grace, and the aluma foil idea is great too...but I dont think i'd use the alumionn foil right at first since the plugs wont reach that far She will have 2 cold sides at first but she spends so muh time in her dark unheated side beingable to move around more might get her excersising more, and the plastic side would be lighted from the house at least. And in the middle would be the really heated and uvb part for her. were feeding her greens from the store right now... lettece spinich and the like that are on the list from here. Come summer she'll have the grass and dandlions from outside and i'll be planting the plants that she can eat out there and start some in pots so she will have more of a varity come next winter.
just talked to spike ( this is kind of off topic) I think iv mentioned that i suffer from panic anxity and agoraphobia...spike espicaly this past few years as the copd has gotten worse hes been basicaly doing everything for me....even around the house here. After going to lung therpy i have a bit more engery and such and we both want me to start trying to do more things for myself. iv been starting slow this past month vacumeing doing dishs and rearranging the craft room ad such which helps keep my body going but i also need to start working on the panic anxity by doing other things by myself like enlarging sissys house. I KNOW how to do these things....but the panic anxity has kept me from trying to do things by myself. I think this will be just the thing for me to try to do myself...the tub is light I have the saws and the screening and we have the plan. Spike will be here if i need him and to give me suggestions on what im doing as well as doing anything im not physicaly strong enough to do..... a little late to start it now though.... i'll let you know how it goes....but first a zanax! to get through the rest of today and then another one in the morning and we will see what we will see...
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