Outdoor Enclosure Progress

AMA904

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We went from this:



To This:





I raked out all the old stuff, put about three inches of top soil down, and another couple inches of cypress mulch on top of that. I put bricks down along the fence line to help with keeping the future tortoise from trying to dig out. I planted violas, carnations, strawberry clover, and testudo mix. I also have an aloe plant that is not in the pictures. The rock in the middle is a chunk of pink granite. The hide tops are made from crab orchard stone.
 

AMA904

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The area gets sun throughout the afternoon. The morning and evening are mostly shade. I was initially leaning more towards a Hermann's tortoise, but realized that they need the morning sun that this area doesn't provide.
 

AMA904

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Looks great! Maybe add some plants and you will be good to go!
:)

All the dirt spots you see have been planted so by the time I get a tortoise, it should be very green in there. The testudo mix is already sprouting after two days.
 

jtrux

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What are the dimensions?

I think an Hermann's tortoise would be great in there. I wouldn't worry so much about the morning sun thing you mentioned, so long as it has sun during some part of the day to warm up.
 

AMA904

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What are the dimensions?

I think an Hermann's tortoise would be great in there. I wouldn't worry so much about the morning sun thing you mentioned, so long as it has sun during some part of the day to warm up.

It's 64" wide and just over 10' long.

I'm no tortoise expert and I will readily admit that, but sometimes the conflicting opinions on here can be slightly overwhelming. I like both redfoots and Hermann's, but I was told that the Hermann's need the morning sun light. I need an expert, haha :)
 

AMA904

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Just reached out to a much more experienced owner on the matter and was told my shade/sun predicament is actually not a predicament at all and that a Hermann's would be just fine in that environment.
 

Moozillion

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Yes- my Hermann's only gets afternoon and evening sun, and she seems to do just fine!

It's important to have thermometers in a couple of spots in the enclosure so you can make sure they KEEP both a warm and a cool zone throughout the day.

Hermann's rock!!! Good choice!:)
 

AMA904

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When the plants fill in it will be fantastic. I LOVE the crab orchard stone.

Thanks! I'm fortunate enough to have a stone place here that has a lot of great options to choose from. They are also very competitively priced with the big box stores on similar items.
 

Levi the Leopard

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May I give a suggestion?

Your tall walls give you great opportunity to cover those hides to make an above ground burrow, since the height wont aid in escape ;)

I suggest you mound lots and LOTS of dirt over those hides you built. When you create an underground hide (or in this case create a higher ground level over the hide) it insulates the inside air to be cooler during hot weather. Your future tort will like it ;)
 

Levi the Leopard

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I just looked at your photo again and I realized you used cinder block for one wall. Have you considered making a cinder block hide? I think it will be PERFECT for you!

Here is a photo showing the fully assembled hide. It was built by @kameya for about $5...let me find the "how to assemble it" thread..
wl3cev.jpg


http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...ter-designs-for-little-young-tortoises.70362/
 

AMA904

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I just looked at your photo again and I realized you used cinder block for one wall. Have you considered making a cinder block hide? I think it will be PERFECT for you!

Here is a photo showing the fully assembled hide. It was built by @kameya for about $5...let me find the "how to assemble it" thread..
wl3cev.jpg


http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...ter-designs-for-little-young-tortoises.70362/


Definitely something to consider, but I really like the look of the enclosure now including the crab orchard stone that I thought was pretty unique. One of the hides is already in the shade, but I will watch the temperatures and adjust as necessary :)
 

johnsonnboswell

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The sun/time of day thing really depends on where you are and your climate. If you have short summers, you'll want as much sun as possible in the early spring and in the fall to extend your season. Partial sun in the summer heat is fine. In cooler weather, not so much.

Due to space constraints, and having been built many years later, my RT pen is sited where it warms up later in the spring and gets less sun in the fall than the BT pen- and there's only 3' between them. It gets sun later in the day and for a shorter time in the summer. On a typical bad year, that leaves the Russians with no more than 3 months outdoors, and often the rain & cold interrupts that.

My hermann's pen moves around the yard to take advantage of the grazing and the sun or shade.
 

bouaboua

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Looking forward to the completion
 

AMA904

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This picture was just taken so we are at 8 days since the seeds were planted. The carnations are barely poking through, the violas still aren't showing yet, the clover is starting to come in, but the testudo mix is growing like crazy.

IMAG0076_zpsjjhg31ov.jpg
 
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