Outdoor Sulcata Enclosure

[Lulu]

Finally took some pictures of Cecil's outdoor enclosure. It's a little small, but you can see from the pictures that it will tide him over for a little while. We have room to go much larger when we need to.

It's 2'x4'. The hubby built it from scrap lumber. The substrate is organic garden soil and it is planted with sulcatafood seed. It would probably be a lot denser, but it was open for about a week before we put the lid on it, and I think the birds got to a good amount of the seed. Still, Cecil has had plenty to graze. The back covered part is all hide. The screened part is hinged. I need to get hubby to hinge the hide because that's where Cecil is now, the poop-eating little sneak, so he's been allowed to stay in it longer than usual today, because I haven't felt like sticking my hand in there yet to feel around for him.

Cecil loves it and he gets a lot more active when he's out in the sun gobbling down those little seedlings like he's Pacman. Even though it's causing me some anxiety, I think he's going to start getting a lot more time outside. So far I've just put him in it while I water the veggie garden, but I think he's going to start to spend a good portion of the day out there. Thoughts, good or bad about that? He's about three months old.

 

[wrmitchell22]

I would add nore plants for him to eat and hide under. Other than that it looks good. Is he able to get in and out of his water on his own?

 

[Yvonne G]

That's nice, Renee: The little seedlings are growing very well.

 

[Lulu]

He can get in and out of his water dish. The reason I know this is because it was in his way when he wanted to get to something to eat. This is the only reason he would ever get into his water dish. He has never soaked or taken a drink on his own that I have ever witnessed. I give him soaks, but he does not like them. I am hoping that he learns to like them by the time he becomes too big for me to lift.

I want to add larger plants, but they will have to wait until I can get down to the organic nursery downtown or I can grow something and transplant it. I am thinking about growing some squash plants as they get pretty large and spread out pretty quickly, and he can eat the flowers as they develop. I can see from the way he is treating these seedlings that not much will get a chance to grow to any size on its own in his enclosure.

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

Very nice. That is really close to what I have for my hatchling Leo. I grew sulcata weed & grass seed in mine from sulcatafood.com and it grow's really well.

 

[Jacqui]

I love the Pacman comment! It fits so well!! Are you going to start the squash outside of his enclosure, so it has a chance to get a good start before Pacman comes a chomping?

 

[Lulu]

Jacqui, that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm thinking I'll pick up some of those little tear off starter pots and just fill them with the organic soil. I figure if the plant gets a couple of full sized leaves on it, it may have a chance...unless he mows right through the stem lumberjack style, which is always a possibility.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Nice!

 

[Momof4]

Your husband did a great job! He looks so tiny in there.

 

[Lulu]

Thanks everyone! Kathy, I think the hubby did a great job too. He also built Cecil's table out of a single sheet of plywood, and it seems like he does these things in no time at all. I also think Cecil looks teeny in there. I always think he looks like he's grown so much and then I take pictures and he looks like a little toy.

We're going to take a trip down to the organic nursery downtown on Friday, so I'll be able to do some more planting this weekend. The Russian paddock is pretty sparse since we moved them back outside, so I'm going to pick up some things for them too.

 

[Tom]

I like it.

I'd add a hide outside too. Like a half log, or something. You could also put some small potted plants inside or a bigger one outside to cast some shade over part of it.

Most of all, watch those temps! I'd have a probe inside the hide area and outside too. You can't watch the temp too closely, but you CAN not watch it closely enough. I'm sure you already know this, but I wanted to say it anyway, just in case...

 

[Lulu]

That's one of the reasons I've been pretty cautious about leaving him out for too long this week. We've had that crazy heat wave down here. I have a temp gun, but I do need to put something permanent out there to measure temps. We have an extra half log laying around so I'll put that in there. Some bigger plants should be installed by this weekend. Any recommendations? Thank you for the feedback.

I'm having the opposite problem indoors. With the heatwave breaking, the temps on my table are a little low, so I'm looking at replacing my heat. I feel like the table needs more daytime light anyway.