New enclosure for our Russian Tortoise

Jimothythetort

New Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2017
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
Florida
I've been thinking about it for a long time, but I finally mentioned to my husband the other day that I wanted to build our tortoise a custom indoor enclosure. If there's one thing that life partners are good at, it's taking your ideas and running with it, so yesterday we built our tortoise his new bachelor pad!

dlOAx


(Link to image: https://imgur.com/a/dlOAx )

This is a picture of the completed box we made. It measures about 34 inches by 34 inches--the plywood bottom measures 36 by 36, and we didn't get everything perfectly aligned on there, but it's pretty close. (This has probably been repeated in other writeups, but from what we heard around here, Lowe's will cut your wood to your *exact* requirements, whereas Home Depot does a rough cut. We don't have a saw, so Lowe's was our friend.) The planks we used for the walls are about a foot in width--one of our biggest concerns with the tortoises' old enclosure, which had glass sides (I know, I know), was that our tortoise could see our dogs, and whether that was causing him unnecessary stress. It seemed better to give him taller walls, and close him off more from stress, than to go with a lower-lipped design even if we could have. We also took a book from the recent post by Ramsey about his indoor townhome-style setup where he used vinyl flooring around the bottom of his enclosure. For $20 we bought a small pallet of "seashore" flooring and I'm in love with the final product. Even with our imperfect construction knowledge, we were able to cut and place the flooring to fit the bottom and sides of the box. Long-term I'll be keeping a suspicious eye on the flooring closest to the light--I'm worried the heat will make the glue soft--but for now it looks really good.

utgGl


(Link to image: https://imgur.com/a/utgGl)

Here's a picture of the lights (before we'd completely gotten everything in the enclosure). The light bracket is one we found at Petco--they price match with their own website so we got it for a cool $13.99. The way it comes, it's a peel-n-stick--seems to be meant for glass terrariums, but as you might guess didn't do so well on wood. Luckily, the plastic plate was easy to drill some screws into. In the future we might diversify the light setup, but right now our tort is enjoying warming on the rocks near the infrared lamp and digging to China as he basks in the sun lamp.

0oI6Y


(Link to image: https://imgur.com/a/0oI6Y )

And here's Jimothy, enjoying his new space! I haven't seen the usual hide-in-a-corner-for-a-few-days behavior he has when we move him out of and into his home for cleaning---he's doing a lot of ambling around his new space!

We're not done with everything we plan to do with his new space--we'll be adding plants, another hide, etc. etc. When we first discussed this project I wanted to build him a second level and a ramp, and I think with the tall walls we definitely have the opportunity to do it in the future. I'm just not sure, with the amount of square footage that he has, if a second level will add significantly to his engagement/enjoyment beyond satisfying his love of climbing, which we can probably satisfy other ways. I'd appreciate your feedback on what we've done so far and your tips and tricks for spoiling your torts!!
 

Taylor T.

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
589
Location (City and/or State)
New England
Welcome to the forum!

A few (hopefully constructive) criticisms:

That ramp type water dish is a flipping hazard and tortoises may drown trying to drink out of it. A terra cotta plant saucer is a much more appropriate choice for tortoises.

Those dial type thermometers are neither accurate or precise. Digital thermometers are much more reliable.

A 34"x34" enclosure is a bit small so I would recommend a second story if possible.

It looks like you are using a red tinted heat bulb. These can mess with their day/night cycle and can make some tortoises want to eat their substrate. A CHE (ceramic heat emitter) produces no light and is an all around better choice.

Can you post a photo of the UVB bulb you are using?
 

Jimothythetort

New Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2017
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
Florida
Welcome to the forum!

A few (hopefully constructive) criticisms:

That ramp type water dish is a flipping hazard and tortoises may drown trying to drink out of it. A terra cotta plant saucer is a much more appropriate choice for tortoises.

Those dial type thermometers are neither accurate or precise. Digital thermometers are much more reliable.

A 34"x34" enclosure is a bit small so I would recommend a second story if possible.

It looks like you are using a red tinted heat bulb. These can mess with their day/night cycle and can make some tortoises want to eat their substrate. A CHE (ceramic heat emitter) produces no light and is an all around better choice.

Can you post a photo of the UVB bulb you are using?

Thank you for the feedback!

We had previously used a plant saucer but it seemed like, big enclosure, bigger dish? Did not know about the flipping hazard.

Will look into digital thermometers. These were bought when we were on a bit of a budget crunch and I was going to use their placement in the new habitat to help reassess their accuracy--I remember when I bought a hygrometer the one I ended up with was literally the only one that wasn't broken in the whole store.

I admit that I have not, for the life of me, found a reliable number on the square footage of habitat Russian torts need. Same re: humidity, and it drives me bananas. I've read 6 sq feet and I've also read posts that amount to "if you don't keep your tortoise outside, you're history's greatest monster," which are...not helpful. Do you have a source for the ideal square footage we should be going for? Trying to discern what's reliable and what's not on this subject is a huge headache for me, and I sift through information for a living.

We are actually at the point where we need to re-buy bulbs so getting a ceramic emitter is no problem. Have seen no evidence of our tort eating his substrate, fortunately. I'm not sure that a pic of the UVB bulb would be helpful. It came in a starter pack with the lighting rig (Zoomed brand) and all I know about it is that it's a 75w--it doesn't have much written on it. Since we're buying new bulbs this week I'm open to suggestions on what to use.
 

Taylor T.

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
589
Location (City and/or State)
New England
Terra cotta dishes can be found in all different sizes, but it only needs to be big enough for your tortoise to fit in.

For size, this forum usually recommends 32 sqft, but enclosures with good sight barriers can get away with being a bit smaller.

For UVB bulbs, I use an 18" Arcadia 12% HO tube mounted 18" above substrate level on for only 6 hours in the middle of the day, but there are many other lighting options. Just make sure you don't get a coil or loop shaped UVB bulb as they are known to cause eye issues.
 

Alex Z

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2016
Messages
794
Location (City and/or State)
NYC
Thank you for the feedback!

We had previously used a plant saucer but it seemed like, big enclosure, bigger dish? Did not know about the flipping hazard.

Will look into digital thermometers. These were bought when we were on a bit of a budget crunch and I was going to use their placement in the new habitat to help reassess their accuracy--I remember when I bought a hygrometer the one I ended up with was literally the only one that wasn't broken in the whole store.

I admit that I have not, for the life of me, found a reliable number on the square footage of habitat Russian torts need. Same re: humidity, and it drives me bananas. I've read 6 sq feet and I've also read posts that amount to "if you don't keep your tortoise outside, you're history's greatest monster," which are...not helpful. Do you have a source for the ideal square footage we should be going for? Trying to discern what's reliable and what's not on this subject is a huge headache for me, and I sift through information for a living.

We are actually at the point where we need to re-buy bulbs so getting a ceramic emitter is no problem. Have seen no evidence of our tort eating his substrate, fortunately. I'm not sure that a pic of the UVB bulb would be helpful. It came in a starter pack with the lighting rig (Zoomed brand) and all I know about it is that it's a 75w--it doesn't have much written on it. Since we're buying new bulbs this week I'm open to suggestions on what to use.


Hi and a warm welcome from nyc! Something like is better for russian torts. 8x4 or a 6x3 for just 1.
 

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