Indoor room for my large torts

[lazybfarm]

So I just met with some of my contractor buddies [ I am an electrical contractor ] about my new room . They are going to build the floor and ceiling framing for me next week . I think I am going a little bigger still . I am going to go with 28 X 20 , with a 48" door . I hope this goes as planned, maybe have this room ready for the torts in a few weeks !

 

[jsheffield]

Following this with interest as I'm in the process of slowly retrofitting a portion of our garage into a tortoise room, with room for a bigger enclosure for my MEP.

Jamie

 

[lazybfarm]

Ready for the block

 

[lazybfarm]

Sorry Tom , to answer your question about their size, my 2 Aldabras are @ 20lbs and are growing at rate of about 3 lbs per month now ! My sulcata is little over a year old and is about 3 lbs . I am waiting to close on the sale of my current house to then close on the new one ? . But it should all happen in the next few weeks .
I was planning on building my new tortoise barn at my new house , but while we are waiting for everything to close, the tortoises are growing litterally everyday , so I am going to complete this indoor enclosure for them while I have time . They will have about 1 1/2 to 2 acres of what is a hillside with trees and rocks and grass at the new house. I think they will love it . I can’t wait to get them there. Probably next spring .

 

[lazybfarm]

4’x7’ door will go about here

 

[Markw84]

I have decided to make my new tortoise room a sealed enclosure. It will only have 1 opening , a 44" wide commercial steel door. I plan on building the floor up with treated 2x6's on 16" centers, then I will put down styrofoam board insulation on the concrete, then fill the cavity with fiberglass insulation. Then I will cover the floor with 3/4" plywood This should prevent any heat loss through the floor. I am going to fill the new concrete block walls with bead insulation. The exterior block walls will have 2x4 strips installed and foam board [ maybe spray foam depending on the cost ] installed between the 2x4's , then 3/4" plywood over the exterior walls. Now that it is all sealed, I am going to paint he inside ,floor ceiling ,walls with white flex seal. I will then cover the floor and up 2' on the walls with a heavy duty pond liner. Then I will cover the floor and 4' up on the walls with heavy rubber horse stall mats. I can then cover the floor with cypress mulch and it can be cleaned out like cleaning a horse stall, I can then keep the substrate damp by spraying it down , or spray off the tortoises any where in the enclosure. I plan on using some LED grow lights to grow plants for them in the room in pots . I will need some kind of UVB light . Does the grow lights produce any UVB? I would need a strong light to be mounted on the 8" ceiling. Maybe put in a UVB light in their night boxes ? My idea for heat is to use a mini split system , or maybe some kind of greenhouse heater ? not sure yet , any ideas on heat would be great. Keep in mind that does not get brutally cold here, mostly 50's during the day in winter for highs, sometimes its 70 and sometimes its 25 for highs , but this would be only for 1-2 days either way on the extremes. So the ceiling will have an exhaust fan to pull in some fresh air when needed, maybe on a timer to change some of the air out a couple of times a day . Each tortoise will have their own area in this room using retaining wall blocks for walls so that can be moved adjusted as needed. Within each area will be a heated night house with RHP and kane mat.
So those are my thoughts this morning on how I want to do it, If any body has any suggestions or advice , please feel free to chime in. The block guy is coming saturday to start on the walls.

Please keep updates coming. I am loving this project and your plans. A room like this on their permanent outdoor area would be perfect with doors to come in and out at will, yet closed at night and in very cold weather.

As far as your lighting, I would make a basking area as mentioned previously in another of my replies earlier. I would build a simple square rack about 4' x 6' or so. Hang that from the ceiling so it is about 4 ft above tortoise level. then hang 2 - 48" T5 12% UVB fixtures about 2 ft apart. In between Hang a row of 3 brooder domes for incandescent flood bulbs. Add another row on either side of the outside of the UVB fixtures and you would have a great basking area. You could adjust height easily of both the fixtures and the frame.

In your latitude in N Alabama, You may not need UVB at all if there is not more that 4-6 weeks of time when they have no outside time. In latitudes above 40°, I would always add UVB as 1/3 the year there simply is not enough UVB even in sunlight. However, I do like the added UVA in the overall lighting configuration as I do believe UVA is a key trigger to a lot of daily and annual rhythms for tortoises and overall well-being.

 

[lazybfarm]

Thanks Mark , the basking area lighting rack is a great idea , I will definitely incorporate this into the room .

One thing I am working on now is I am trying to buy the property that is right behind the back wall of this new room .It is about 75 x150 ‘ . If that works out, then there will a door for them to go in and out at will when weather permits. They usually can go outside at least once or twice a week in winter around here . So the uvb lights may be not needed, but I will probably put them in anyway .
Block guys are getting started now !

 

[lazybfarm]

my new house, ( it is not really new, just new to me ) built in the 70s (the house looks like , if El Chapo had a house in north Alabama this would be it. ?) there are 2 large buildings that I may want to turn into my tortoise house . Here is a pic of one of them , it is about 30 ‘ in diameter , it was once an outdoor kitchen , but is too far from the house, so I am thinking about closing it in and building their night boxes inside this building .
The other pic is part of their roaming area
It is about 1 1/2 to 2 acres , sun , shade grass, trees , rocks , mostly already fenced with a concrete block and stucco fence that is 5’ tall

 

[lazybfarm]

Just for fun , it is 49 degrees outside now . Here is the ground temp where the sun is shining in their outdoor enclosure . 93 degrees

 

[lazybfarm]

If you look at the the outdoor kitchen photo in post #29 and zoom in , you can see the fence that is around the entire 4 acres . This is one of the main reasons I wanted this house !

 

[lazybfarm]

Progress

 

[Chubbs the tegu]

Progress

Its always nice taking pics while others do the work ? but seriously ill be following this thread.. lucky torts

 

[lazybfarm]

I know my limitations ?

 

[NorCal tortoise guy]

If you look at the the outdoor kitchen photo in post #29 and zoom in , you can see the fence that is around the entire 4 acres . This is one of the main reasons I wanted this house !

Beautiful! Sounds about perfect

 

[Yvonne G]

I love it! Keep those pictures coming.

 

[lazybfarm]

Should finish the walls today . You can get an idea of the size of it

 

[lazybfarm]

I am going to have to decide on a method for heating the room . I am thinking about using a 10KW hanging electric fan forced heater with a thermostat to heat the ambient room temp to 78 at night and 82 during the day, with hanging racks with incandescent bulbs for basking and 4' UVB fixture , set on timers and attached to the ceiling so I can raise or lower the rack as needed. The night boxes will have a 120W RHP and a kane mat, controlled by Vivarium Electronics VE -300X2 thermostat ,This thermostat has 2 zones and can control the RHP and Kane mat separately, One for each tortoise. I will also install some Wyze cameras inside the room and the night boxes so I can monitor their activity from anywhere without going inside. I am also going to install a couple of ceiling fans to keep the air moving and temps throughout the room at a uniform level . There will be a very minimal amount of outside air coming in to the room , the only opening will be the door, and it is sealed pretty well . So I am hoping that I can keep the humidity level up by keeping the cypress mulch damp. Just like in their PVC enclosures. There will be a soaking spot in each section also .
I am also going to install an LED grow light in each tortoises area to grow some plants , there will also be some LED ambient lighting in the room . set on timers.

Just thinking out loud about my ideas, if anyone has any thoughts or concerns, please chime in !

 

[Blackdog1714]

my new house, ( it is not really new, just new to me ) built in the 70s (the house looks like , if El Chapo had a house in north Alabama this would be it. ?) there are 2 large buildings that I may want to turn into my tortoise house . Here is a pic of one of them , it is about 30 ‘ in diameter , it was once an outdoor kitchen , but is too far from the house, so I am thinking about closing it in and building their night boxes inside this building .
The other pic is part of their roaming area
It is about 1 1/2 to 2 acres , sun , shade grass, trees , rocks , mostly already fenced with a concrete block and stucco fence that is 5’ tall

For that round room at the new place think Zoo reptile room with thick insulated glass so you look in at them. Keep it up your torts are worth it!

 

[Yvonne G]

Should finish the walls today . You can get an idea of the size of it

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/search/rubber stall mats? I use the $33 mats and they've been holding up well with all the abuse 100+lb Dudley gives them

 

[lazybfarm]

Yes Blackdog, that is what I was thinking when I first saw that building. Zoo.
I also have a scarlet macaw and a double yellow head Amazon parrot, both are 32 years old. I got them as babies in 1990 !
I also have a couple of white peacocks . I also need a large aviary ?