My leopards new huge outdoor enclosure!!

[Bigkuntry]

Hey yall its scott again. As promised here are the details and pictures of my leopards new bachelor pad. I started by marking out an area that was 20' long by 8my foot wide which gives me a total area of 160 square fee of roaming space for my boy sampson. I dug a trench all the way around the enclosure a foot deep and buried the walls 1 foot even thought leopards dont really dig a whole lot but just encase i deside to build him an even bigger enclosure at a later date and move my russian into this pen. The walls where built out of untreated ruff cut 1'x12'x10 pine and 4'x4'x10'a braces it all came together beautifully and even though the pen is finished and im waiting for the grass to grow and settle alittle more i still have to pour the concrete to make him a custom shallow watering hole complete with waterfall in the corner closest to the handrail on the porch and a house with lights and bedding if the weather turns bad that i can shut him up in. All in all it turned out great! Alot of digging alot of cutting and one split fingernail from a rogue swing of the hammer but i love how it turned out. PenIf anybody has any questions i will be glad to answer them hope this helps somebody trigger sum creative design ideas to git out there and build there tortoise a great enclosure!

 

[wellington]

. No pictures

 

[diamondbp]

. No pictures

I know right? We will all be in torment until pictures are revealed.

 

[Bigkuntry]

I honestly dont know what happened to the pics?? They where there in the preveiw. Im sorry yall if somebody could tell me how to git them on this post i will put them all up again.

 

[Bigkuntry]

Here are a few pics my phone keeps acting up i will try and git the rest up soon.

 

[Yvonne G]

I honestly dont know what happened to the pics?? They where there in the preveiw. Im sorry yall if somebody could tell me how to git them on this post i will put them all up again.

I'm not sure, because I don't use the attachment method, bit I THINK that after the preview, you still have to "add to post" or something like that.

 

[Menno]

Well done! Looking good.

 

[Bigkuntry]

Well done! Looking good.

Thank you very much menno! Its a labor of love and i couldnt be any happier! Cant wait to build the big pens cause i got alot of acerage and i want to make two 1old acre pens and git a pair of aldabras soon.

 

[Jacqui]

Looks nice. I have a suggestion for future enclosures, especially ones for big tortoises. You mentioned using a hammer. Screws usually will stay in better for the long run, but put those support beams on the outside of the enclosure. Then as the tortoise hits/bumps against the walls, they aren't loosening up the nails and pushing them out. Does that make sense? Of course from the hman point of view, it looks better with the supports inside. Would also give the Russians (if they do get the pen in the future) less easy places to try climbing out.

 

[Bigkuntry]

Looks nice. I have a suggestion for future enclosures, especially ones for big tortoises. You mentioned using a hammer. Screws usually will stay in better for the long run, but put those support beams on the outside of the enclosure. Then as the tortoise hits/bumps against the walls, they aren't loosening up the nails and pushing them out. Does that make sense? Of course from the hman point of view, it looks better with the supports inside. Would also give the Russians (if they do get the pen in the future) less easy places to try climbing out.

Very good suggestions jacqui. I did think about useing screws but to be honest the country boy in me prefers slingin the hammer! Lol its just relaxing to build things around the farm. As far as the supports go they are very solid. Like i said i buried them a foot in the ground and the walls are 3the foot high because i built this pen with the full intention of converting it to a russian home for to russians with a seperation wall so i can house two in this same enclosure. But i do understand what your saying about the supports being better on the outside for the larger tortoises. I do plan on gitting sum aldabras in the near future and i will have to do alot of research and r&d to make them a strong and exceptionally nice pen when the time comes. Ive got way to much land and to many ideas in my head not to give sum beautiful torts a wonderful life.

 

[Tom]

For a man with acreage, 8x20' does not seem "huge" to me. Seems really small for an adult leopard. Certainly better than a small indoor enclosure, but man, you have the space to go BIG!

Why 3' high with the walls? Adult sulcatas are contained with 16" high walls. My problem with it is that all of the morning and afternoon sun, the only times your really want sun, is blocked with walls that tall. They only sun they will get is midday when its too hot and they don't want to be in the sun. If your pen were 10 times this size in each direction, 3' walls wouldn't matter, but in its current configuration you've made a lot of unnecessary, unwanted shade. 12" high walls will contain all but the largest of South African leopards, and would allow morning and afternoon basking for your tortoise. Plus you then would have the planks sitting there to go three times bigger. 24x60'! Now we are starting to get closer to the "huge" range. I would even go so far as to call 24x60' for a single leopard "big". And I don't use the term "big" lightly when it comes to tortoise enclosures.

These are those design elements that we learn as we go. Every time you do this you will learn ways to do it better.

 

[Bigkuntry]

For a man with acreage, 8x20' does not seem "huge" to me. Seems really small for an adult leopard. Certainly better than a small indoor enclosure, but man, you have the space to go BIG!

Why 3' high with the walls? Adult sulcatas are contained with 16" high walls. My problem with it is that all of the morning and afternoon sun, the only times your really want sun, is blocked with walls that tall. They only sun they will get is midday when its too hot and they don't want to be in the sun. If your pen were 10 times this size in each direction, 3' walls wouldn't matter, but in its current configuration you've made a lot of unnecessary, unwanted shade. 12" high walls will contain all but the largest of South African leopards, and would allow morning and afternoon basking for your tortoise. Plus you then would have the planks sitting there to go three times bigger. 24x60'! Now we are starting to get closer to the "huge" range. I would even go so far as to call 24x60' for a single leopard "big". And I don't use the term "big" lightly when it comes to tortoise enclosures.

These are those design elements that we learn as we go. Every time you do this you will learn ways to do it better.

Very good advice tom i cant argue anything that you just said yes the term huge is not really an accurate account for this pen its just what i wrote down and came to mind lol. But the reason i went so high on the walls is mainly to protect my big guy from stray dogs. I live in the country on a 167two acre ranch and we have from time to time stray dogs and coyotes that come up from the bottoms in are yard at all hours so i didnt want to make the walls short where they could just step over and possibly injure my tort simply by playing with the leopard just cause it was interesting. I will take no chances at all when it comes to the health and safety of my torts. Now while it might be a long shot to ever happen i have seen stray dogs walking around with box turtles in there mouths that they found in the woods. Im just trying to plan for everything i can think of around my area. But i will be building him a shut up pen for at night with heat lamps

 

[Levi the Leopard]

You can shorten the walls to 12" and then line the perimeter with an 8" strip of something angled out at a 45degree angle. Does that make sense? Picture the prison fence yard except no barb wire You still get the morning and late afternoon sunshine while keeping dogs out. The angle prevents the animals from jumping the wall. Just a thought???

 

[Bigkuntry]

You can shorten the walls to 12" and then line the perimeter with an 8" strip of something angled out at a 45degree angle. Does that make sense? Picture the prison fence yard except no barb wire You still get the morning and late afternoon sunshine while keeping dogs out. The angle prevents the animals from jumping the wall. Just a thought???

Huh. Never knew that. That dont sound like a bad idea. Might have to give it a try. Thanks team.

 

[Tom]

Just a couple of thoughts:

3' ain't gonna stop no dog or coyote. I think Heather's idea is a good one. Keep 12" of planks around the bottom but replace the upper two rows with 24" welded wire or hardware cloth. Even trained bite dogs have to be worked with and trained to jump see through fences, like chain link. Most canines will sail over a 3' solid barrier like its nothing, but put a 28" chain link fence in front of the same dog, and they can't seem to figure out how to jump it. I watched this happen with 12 out of 12 police dogs at a recent trial. 30" chain link with a "bad guy" in a bite suit on the other side. Not a SINGLE dog would jump it. Two of them ran all the way around, one got its head stuck trying to push through a joint in the fence panels, and the other 9 just stood there barking in frustration.

Since any dog or coyote might still figure it out, especially when it sees the delectable tortoise morsel on the other side, bringing the tortoise in at night, or using a solid locking box like this one ( http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-88966.html ) for night, might be the ticket.

 

[ascott]

Good job man. As for the supports being on the outside, why not run a brace piece of 2x4 on the flip side of the posts...and screw those to the posts...this will offer additional support.

As for coyote and stray dogs...a coyote can easily jump a 6+foot fence, almost as though it was not there...and if they can not go over it...they will go under it....so, if you are in an area that is in the traffic lane of coyote I would then suggest sinking wire, then placing the enclosure walls, then building a top...now----this is a tremendous amount of work and is still NO guarantee the occupants will remain safe...I mean, when a coyote comes to dinner--he is doing it as a means to survive and not as a toy--so the tenacity with which they work, is truly life or death mentality---so if they are determined, they will usually win.

The space you have is good, perhaps you build a partial shade top at one end and then also place a border around the top that hangs over the sides, along with alot of plants that will get low and bushy...this will allow the torts to move about all day in and out of the sun/shade....and a couple water soaking spots.....

 

[Bigkuntry]

Tom. I like the idea about the chainlink. I might chop down the walls and go with sum hog paneling on top cuz i got lots of that around my place. Thats crazy about the dogs not being able to go over it. I would have never have known that or thought about it if you hadn't told me about it. And from the sound of things u got lots of experience in the matter so im gonna work pn my design alittle more. And ascott. I agree with your suggestions as well and i am still not done with the enclosure i still have to pour the concrete and water fall for a water pool, build a night house,and plant my flowers i ordered. Still alittle left but close to finished