There’s a lot of background information & questions that I’d like to include, but I thought I’d save all that for the post replies below and go straight to the build photos & videos since that’s what I assume most people clicked for. More information can be found below!!
July 4th, 2020, I acquired a 6-year-old male Hermann’s tortoise (we named him Hector). He came in a 40-gallon aquarium. The previous owners had him for 2 years, so I assume he lived like this all that time. No idea what his living conditions were for the first 4 years of his life. I have to move out of my place in 3 months, so I could have waited until then to build the larger enclosure to make my life much easier, but I knew I couldn’t bare to leave him in this stupid aquarium for another minute.
Here’s a video of what he would do daily for hours on end..
The start. We have a box!
Totally forgot to continue taking photos along the way, so here is the next one I took after the initial box was built. I especially like the horizontal molding pieces on the bottom and the thinner trim pieces up top.
Second story is in. If you notice, it has legs as opposed to being screwed into the side walls. This is because we wanted to make it easy to slide in and out of the tortoise table in the event of cleanings and just in general it makes the entire table easier to move
Ramp and railing installed
The ramp is secured on by hinges. This way I can lift the ramp when I need to clean under it, and when I lift the second story out of the main cage the ramp can neatly and easily swing underneath for easy transport
I decided to also add a wall underneath the second story, since I was hoping that he was going to use this space for sleeping. Just in case it made him feel more secure/cozy/private
The wall is also not secured by screws in the event of a cleaning or if I decide to remove it in the future. It fits perfectly snug between the first story and second story with friction holding it in. I have no worriers of this falling down on him. It is already very secure with just the bare wood, and when the substrate is added it will hold it in even better on both sides. Hector actually proved to us that the wall is very secure, but more on that later!
Lining the floors and walls with garbage bags to protect the wood from moisture. The wall & floor seams have also been caulked with non-toxic silicone.
Time to move the table from the in-law’s garage to my apartment! The table was too wide to fit through my doorway, so we had to take off 4 out of the 6 legs once we completed the build just to make it fit. So not only did I have to disassemble, then reassemble the table once we were done building it, but I’m going to have to completely clean it out and do that all over again when moving out in 3 months. Yay me! But nothing is too much of a hassle when it comes to our pets, right?
Finally in the apartment and mostly set up!
Time to mount the lamp posts. Here I’m trying to make the fluorescent light fixture as parallel to the back wall as possible. Easier said than done
8 stressful days later and the tortoise table is fully set up in all its glory!! He’s finally free of his glass prison.
He’s only been in the tortoise table for a day and he’s already gotten the hang of going up and down the ramp. The incline is perfect in my opinion. He doesn’t struggle and he goes up to his basking area quite frequently. See this video
I was a little worried that he would just end up using his normal half log hide to sleep in since he’s used to it, but it seems that he’s already taken to the closed off area underneath the second story quite well. I put some timothy hay on both ends because I’ve read Hermann’s and Russian tortoises can be known to like snuggling up into the hay when sleeping for the night. I’ve kept the area in the middle free of hay in case he still prefers to burrow in the top soil. Inside the half-log I plan to stuff it with sphagnum moss and make that his humid hide.
This is my first reptile ever so I’m a little paranoid about the heat bulbs. I’ve set up a little nanny cam so that I can see the outlet/surge protector/timer/thermostat and the lamps themselves in case something is on fire/smoking, or if one of the lamps happens to fall into the enclosure. I’m not sure how much I trust the clamps that came with the lamps that hold them. They seem solid enough, but I’d like to avoid complacency when it comes to anything that may be a fire hazard
One thing that sort of turns me off about tortoise tables is how cluttered and unattractive the light set ups can be. I understand that lighting and heating is one of the most important factors to get right when it comes to tortoises, but I wanted to find a way to minimize the number of lamp posts used, as well as minimize any showing cords or chains. Here I came up with the idea of utilizing the lamp posts built for the heat lamps to also support the T5 fixture that houses the UVB bulb.
The posts holding the heat lamps are not screwed into the backwall of the enclosure yet. As I’ve said, this is my first pet reptile ever so other than the extensive research I have done online, I have no real-world experience to guide me regarding the height and lateral position of the heat lamps & UVB bulb. So, I decided to use some simple (but strong) clamps to secure the posts temporarily. If I’m happy with the light and heat distribution (and UVB levels), then I will permanently screw the posts in (much more on this later. I have many questions!).
I’m not entirely sure what Hector’s diet consisted of when he was with his previous owners, but all they gave me were some colorful Fluker’s processed (junk) food, and Zoo Med Grassland pellets. Coming from fish, dogs, and hamsters, figuring out what to feed our little guy is a bit daunting, but I have a good baseline of knowledge from my searches on the interwebs. Now it’s time to apply that theory into the real world and start learning and adapting! So far he doesn’t seem to like kale or radish greens too much, but he DEMOLISHED the dandelions and other weeds that I picked from my uncle’s fertilizer-free lawn. He also seems to like mustard greens. See this video. (yes I know I added way too much calcium). More on food below.
I think that’s about it. Much more detailed & crucial information can be found in my post replies below. Thanks for stopping by!
July 4th, 2020, I acquired a 6-year-old male Hermann’s tortoise (we named him Hector). He came in a 40-gallon aquarium. The previous owners had him for 2 years, so I assume he lived like this all that time. No idea what his living conditions were for the first 4 years of his life. I have to move out of my place in 3 months, so I could have waited until then to build the larger enclosure to make my life much easier, but I knew I couldn’t bare to leave him in this stupid aquarium for another minute.
Here’s a video of what he would do daily for hours on end..
The start. We have a box!
Totally forgot to continue taking photos along the way, so here is the next one I took after the initial box was built. I especially like the horizontal molding pieces on the bottom and the thinner trim pieces up top.
Second story is in. If you notice, it has legs as opposed to being screwed into the side walls. This is because we wanted to make it easy to slide in and out of the tortoise table in the event of cleanings and just in general it makes the entire table easier to move
Ramp and railing installed
The ramp is secured on by hinges. This way I can lift the ramp when I need to clean under it, and when I lift the second story out of the main cage the ramp can neatly and easily swing underneath for easy transport
I decided to also add a wall underneath the second story, since I was hoping that he was going to use this space for sleeping. Just in case it made him feel more secure/cozy/private
The wall is also not secured by screws in the event of a cleaning or if I decide to remove it in the future. It fits perfectly snug between the first story and second story with friction holding it in. I have no worriers of this falling down on him. It is already very secure with just the bare wood, and when the substrate is added it will hold it in even better on both sides. Hector actually proved to us that the wall is very secure, but more on that later!
Lining the floors and walls with garbage bags to protect the wood from moisture. The wall & floor seams have also been caulked with non-toxic silicone.
Time to move the table from the in-law’s garage to my apartment! The table was too wide to fit through my doorway, so we had to take off 4 out of the 6 legs once we completed the build just to make it fit. So not only did I have to disassemble, then reassemble the table once we were done building it, but I’m going to have to completely clean it out and do that all over again when moving out in 3 months. Yay me! But nothing is too much of a hassle when it comes to our pets, right?
Finally in the apartment and mostly set up!
Time to mount the lamp posts. Here I’m trying to make the fluorescent light fixture as parallel to the back wall as possible. Easier said than done
8 stressful days later and the tortoise table is fully set up in all its glory!! He’s finally free of his glass prison.
He’s only been in the tortoise table for a day and he’s already gotten the hang of going up and down the ramp. The incline is perfect in my opinion. He doesn’t struggle and he goes up to his basking area quite frequently. See this video
I was a little worried that he would just end up using his normal half log hide to sleep in since he’s used to it, but it seems that he’s already taken to the closed off area underneath the second story quite well. I put some timothy hay on both ends because I’ve read Hermann’s and Russian tortoises can be known to like snuggling up into the hay when sleeping for the night. I’ve kept the area in the middle free of hay in case he still prefers to burrow in the top soil. Inside the half-log I plan to stuff it with sphagnum moss and make that his humid hide.
This is my first reptile ever so I’m a little paranoid about the heat bulbs. I’ve set up a little nanny cam so that I can see the outlet/surge protector/timer/thermostat and the lamps themselves in case something is on fire/smoking, or if one of the lamps happens to fall into the enclosure. I’m not sure how much I trust the clamps that came with the lamps that hold them. They seem solid enough, but I’d like to avoid complacency when it comes to anything that may be a fire hazard
One thing that sort of turns me off about tortoise tables is how cluttered and unattractive the light set ups can be. I understand that lighting and heating is one of the most important factors to get right when it comes to tortoises, but I wanted to find a way to minimize the number of lamp posts used, as well as minimize any showing cords or chains. Here I came up with the idea of utilizing the lamp posts built for the heat lamps to also support the T5 fixture that houses the UVB bulb.
The posts holding the heat lamps are not screwed into the backwall of the enclosure yet. As I’ve said, this is my first pet reptile ever so other than the extensive research I have done online, I have no real-world experience to guide me regarding the height and lateral position of the heat lamps & UVB bulb. So, I decided to use some simple (but strong) clamps to secure the posts temporarily. If I’m happy with the light and heat distribution (and UVB levels), then I will permanently screw the posts in (much more on this later. I have many questions!).
I’m not entirely sure what Hector’s diet consisted of when he was with his previous owners, but all they gave me were some colorful Fluker’s processed (junk) food, and Zoo Med Grassland pellets. Coming from fish, dogs, and hamsters, figuring out what to feed our little guy is a bit daunting, but I have a good baseline of knowledge from my searches on the interwebs. Now it’s time to apply that theory into the real world and start learning and adapting! So far he doesn’t seem to like kale or radish greens too much, but he DEMOLISHED the dandelions and other weeds that I picked from my uncle’s fertilizer-free lawn. He also seems to like mustard greens. See this video. (yes I know I added way too much calcium). More on food below.
I think that’s about it. Much more detailed & crucial information can be found in my post replies below. Thanks for stopping by!