Moisture-proofing

[BradandTara]

Hey, everyone. I'm brand-new to this site, and both myself and my girlfriend are pretty new to the world of tortoise keeping. We're currently doing some research and planning, and in the coming months, we're hoping to take the plunge into keeping Redfoot tortoise(s). We're initially planning on a single redfoot hatchling, although I'd like to keep a pair or trio. Something to be decided by the boss...(married men know who I'm referring to...)

Anyway, I'm a DIY guy by nature, but not necessarily a skilled carpenter. So I did some looking around, and I found a blueprint on Vicki Hale's tortoiseyard.com for an 8x3 tortoise table. It looks easy enough, and I think it'll be a suitable enclosure for our tortoise(s) for the first year or two. Anyway, I'm curious about moisture-proofing. I am a firm believer in bioactive substrates, which I learned about from De Vosjoli's "The Art of Keeping Snakes" back when I kept Corallus-genus boas and Morelia-genus pythons. However, in those enclosures, I was dealing with glass.

Anyway, the specs on the site call for plywood, but isn't too specific. Would I be best off with some laminated MDF, or should i just pick up a couple sheets of plywood and use a sealer? And at your joints, do you guys seal them or not, and if so, what do you use? I'm just kind of concerned about moisture rotting out my floorboard and collapsing.

Any advice you could recommend would be beneficial. When I finally build this thing(maybe a month or so off), I plan to post a step-by-step photo guide so that it can benefit the next new guy, or at least learn from my screw-ups.

Regards,
Brad

 

[GBtortoises]

Brad,

I am a lifelong carpenter and woodworker with some experience at designing and building tortoise enclosures.
For direct moisture contact either pressure treated plywood (unfinished) will work well. Any other type of plywood with a good quality finish such as an alkyd enamel, polyurethane or lacquer finish will also hold up well to moisture.

There are a few problems associated with laminated MDF board when exposed to direct moisture. First, the laminate typically used to cover the MDF is a very thin vinyl product, easily dug open by tortoise claws which then exposes the underlying MDF board. There are different grades of MDF but it is all basically just very small chips held together with adhesive to form a board or sheet. Once all those chips come in contact with moisture they absorb it, swell (sometimes double or more their size), come apart and crumble.

 

[Kayti]

My tortoise enclosure is just a king-sized book shelf (plywood) painted with 3-4 coats of Drylock, with all edges sealed with bathtub caulking. I'm really happy with it, and it fits my needs perfectly. Whenever I need to adjust the sizes of the enclosures within it, I can just move the shelves around. And so far there have been no leaks/moisture problems, and my substrate is kept damp almost continually.
I've also used a tarp cut to size and glued to the bottom, and laminate flooring. Neither leaked, but the Drylock looked much nicer and I trust it more.

Here's an example of what the drylock looks like in one of my enclosures:

It also has a rough texture to it, which helps with their nails when they dig against it.

 

[Kristina]

Another option is to line the tortoise table with either pond liner or a shower curtain liner.

Anything oil based should be fine, just be sure to let it completely cure (until their is no smell) before you put a tortoise in it.

 

[PeanutbuttER]

When I made mine I just used the shelving material that you can get from Home Depot. The kind that already have the nice rounded edge on it. Then I just lined the entire thing with linoleum and silicon to water proof it on the inside. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Plus, the linoleum is pretty robust. I doubt they'll be able to seriously/visibly damage it despite any digging or scratching that they do.

 

[Tom]

When I made mine I just used the shelving material that you can get from Home Depot. The kind that already have the nice rounded edge on it. Then I just lined the entire thing with linoleum and silicon to water proof it on the inside. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Plus, the linoleum is pretty robust. I doubt they'll be able to seriously/visibly damage it despite any digging or scratching that they do.

That is a great looking enclosure. Can you post more pics of it using http://tinypic.com/
so we can see more of it?

 

[PeanutbuttER]

Thanks Tom. I'm quite proud of it. It took me a little while to build, so I included a picture of what it looked like before I ended up staining and sealing the outside.

This is what it looks like now after staining (and after we moved to a new apartment). I also cut down the legs and made the entire thing a bit shorter. The torts have seen to rearranging things, so the layout of hides, rocks, etc is a bit different right now.

And here's a picture of my little shelf that I built into it. (The window was open so there is a bit of glare...)

But yeah, the inside lining is all linoleum and this was the cheapest design that Home Depot had which luckily fits this perfectly. I bought it by the foot and ended up paying very little for it. I then glued it on with silicone. After it was all in place I used what was left of the silicone to seal all the edges up. I often wet things down using that apple juice jug in the last picture and haven't seen a leak yet. If it does begin to leak though, all it would take is some silicon to be watertight again.

 

[Kayti]

I love those windows! That's what I want to do for my next enclosure. You got them pre-cut? What are they called?

 

[PeanutbuttER]

Thanks Kayti! The windows actually weren't pre cut. I just used a skillsaw and cut them out myself. If you know anybody that has one, then it only takes a couple minutes to do. After that I just screwed some thin pieces of plexiglass in from the back side.

I did get the walls precut to size though. The wood is just the shelf wood you can get from Home Depot or Lowes. It's made out of particleboard and has a rounded edge on it, which is the edge I used for the top edge.

I didn't get the plexiglass pre-cut but I've heard most places will do it if you ask. That's actually one regret I have because the plexiglass turned out a little wavy. It was my first time ever using it.

 

[PeanutbuttER]

BradandTara,

Did we end up answering your question? Is this about what you had in mind?