New outdoor pancake and elongated enclosure in the making

[TortoiseWorld]

I am glad to here that.
Your tortoises are lucky to have you as their keeper.

I like the look of a elongated and or a Forstein tortoise, what species is the one in your pic?

 

[cyan]

I am glad to here that.
Your tortoises are lucky to have you as their keeper.

I like the look of a elongated and or a Forstein tortoise, what species is the one in your pic?

He is an Elongated.

 

[wellington]

They look great. Sir Percy sure looks happy. The cake, just can't get off the rock the easy way LOL

 

[lynnedit]

Really nice job posting pics as you built these. Looks quite secure, your torts should be very happy!

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Hi Cyan,

That look good and has alot of security for the torts. When I had extensive outside space with outdoor chelonians, I noticed the local crows noticed the animals.

If you have crows, which tend to avoid interaction with people, they will learn your habits and could visit your pens during the day if you are not home. Pancakes are pretty quick for cover, but you might consider running fishing line in a grid over head, the crows will see it, and stay out.

Restaurants use this for outdoor seating to keep pigeons, gulls and crows away.

Just a suggestions, on the chance you have crows in your area.

Will

 

[lynnedit]

Will, I was thinking of a wire grid of some kind over my outdoor enclosure. I wanted to keep the larger birds out, but not small birds. So fishing line is obvious enough to the larger birds like crows so they won't get tangled in it? What distance, more or less, between each line?
(don't want to side track the post, but really interested in this!)

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Will, I was thinking of a wire grid of some kind over my outdoor enclosure. I wanted to keep the larger birds out, but not small birds. So fishing line is obvious enough to the larger birds like crows so they won't get tangled in it? What distance, more or less, between each line?
(don't want to side track the post, but really interested in this!)

Well about one wing wide. Gulls are not so clever, they will not land on the fence then hope through, and pigeons won't care about turtles. Crows seem deterred with one foot squares. So use U-nail or fence staples and put them along the top of the fence on one foot centers and string the fishing line through them.

If the fence height is to low, and the fishing line will tangle you, then use short pieces of wood, like maybe bamboo plant stakes etc. Doing this though will allow the crows to fly to the top of the fence, land, then fly down to the ground. So if you use some sort of poles to make the overhead fishing line higher than the fence, you should then use more line from pole to pole, at increments of four to six inches to keep crows out.

I did catch a crow in my yard in the city (Clovis CA) and it was fooling with a box turtle. I don't know what would happen with something like a pancake, or other small tort, but would rather not know.

Will

 

[cyan]

Hi Cyan,

That look good and has alot of security for the torts. When I had extensive outside space with outdoor chelonians, I noticed the local crows noticed the animals.

If you have crows, which tend to avoid interaction with people, they will learn your habits and could visit your pens during the day if you are not home. Pancakes are pretty quick for cover, but you might consider running fishing line in a grid over head, the crows will see it, and stay out.

Restaurants use this for outdoor seating to keep pigeons, gulls and crows away.

Just a suggestions, on the chance you have crows in your area.

Will

Thanks Will!
I live out in the country on 6 acres and we have all types of wildlife here. I actually have wildlife netting I was going to put over the top. It just concerns me that small birds may get tangled in the netting. It has 1 inch holes and when stretched out, it is almost invisible. I was going to use tension wire to help support the netting but now I wonder if just using the wire as a grid would serve the same purpose. What should the spacing of the grid be?
Cyndi

Sorry, just saw that you answered while I was typing

 

[cyan]

It's getting there!

 

[Tom]

Looks good so far. I wanna see the finished product.

Personally I like the "put them out during the day and bring them in at night" routine for smaller tortoises. Best of both worlds without the downsides of either.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Thanks! I am putting a 4 inch lip around the top of all of the wooden walls. The walls will be 12 inches (18 inches for elongated side) plus the inward lip. I will also be adding hardware cloth on the inside of the chain link that will attach to the top of the wood. There are a lot of large dogs that run loose in my area and the chain link is mainly to keep them out.
Thanks for the input!

great plan

I can't wait to see it finished also! ...hurry up, don't you know all of us are waiting

just teasing you.

good job and ill keep checking back for updates!

 

[cyan]

I finished the pancake yards today. They have removable dividers so I can open them up into one large yard. They have 12 inch walls with a 4 inch lip around all walls. Just wish it was warm enough for them to go out and enjoy their new yards!

Cyndi

 

[cyan]

The main elongated yard is now done. There are several large hostas in there that are just now coming up.
Percy had to check out every inch of it!!

 

[Tortoise]

Great looking pens, I was looking for inspiration for a similar project for our yard.
They will really enjoy the space.

 

[Tom]

They look fantastic. They are going to really green up when spring finally gets underway for you. I love the removable divider design.

Looking forward to more pics of the tortoises enjoying them.

 

[cyan]

After 4 months and LOTS of rain, my little tortoise gardens are lush and green. I just love to sit out there and watch them, it's so peaceful.

 

[CourtneyG]

Love the enclosure, I have to wait for my friend to come back from Turkey to help finish the enclosure.