Penelope's Outdoor oasis:)

[JaMar219]

This summer we finaly got to build our first outdoor pen for our fifteen month Sulcata Penelope. We used

-2 pieces of stockade fence 6' x 8' cut in half and dug down into the ground about a foot.

The ground here is full of shale and rock so getting down that far was absolutly trreacherous for us, we dont think she will be digging out anytime soon, but we keep a close eye on her all day while shes out just in case, for now. I'm a paranoid momma:/ So i frequently check on her while gardening and going about the other various house hold chores.

The only problem that I'm seeing since we have started putting her out during the day...is that after we intially put her in and she starts grazing, she will go about that for 15 mintues or so but then when shes finished eating she will start marching up and down the fence. Never leaving the fence just walking up to the end and then back down. We have tried moving her but she goes right back over and starts again. I have noticed that when we are out watching her or in the pen with her she will wonder around and explore then occasionaly but, other wise she just treks back and forth :/ Anyway...we havent started leaving her out at all times yet because I had to seed the pen so she she would have something to graze on while she was out there...and now that the grass is finaly growing the weather is getting a bit chilly for her to be out grr all that work was a little too late in the year. Sorry for all the jabbering i finaly now present the pictures


When we first started digging the fence in:

From the other side of the pen:

The beginning of our waterfall and stream

Up close starter waterfall:

We finaly got all the fence in and rocks in the stream:

Stream shot 2:

stream shot3:

Stream shot 4:

Up close of the finished water fall:

Watefall

This was after seeding and growing for about a month, August:

From the other angle:

This was taken just this moring

And finaly the current stream:

There was a slight problem in the beginning when were getting a lot of rain and it was all running into the stream, and this passed week we were in the flood area in PA and it washed a bunch more in. Luckily we made some tweaks and with the grass germinating it was a lot less than it could have been.

Also we tried putting rosey reds in the stream to eat any mosiquito larvae but they ended up swimming up stream and getting stuck on rocks and dieing, some others were washed away with the flood but we have started finding blood worms in the water...Can these be harmful to our Sulcata? I heard they mean the water is very clean? Is this true? Frogs have started making their home in our waterfall so im hoping they keep the insect population down since fish keeping was a failure.

Oh sheesh and last but not least i should post a picture of the little gal that runs this place;P This is our sleepy head waking up this moring after her attempt at burrowing last night

She doesnt like her picture being taken much in the morning:

Thank you for reading and please feel free to comment Also if anyone can inform me about her fence obsession and the blood worms that would be super helpful Otherwise enjoy!

 

[dmarcus]

She is gonna be happy, looks very nice...Job well done...

 

[FranklinTturtle]

You have put alot of work into the enclosure it looks great. I love the water fall and stream.

 

[dmmj]

I think it looks great.
Does the stream recirculate? or empty out?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi JaMar219:

I looked back to your previous posts and I don't see where you've ever told us your name.

The pen and waterfall are just so nice. What a pleasant place to have in your yard. I'd just love sitting there listening to the waterfall.

I don't know where the little red worms come from, but they're evidently not harmful.

I don't remember seeing any hiding places for Penelope.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

 

[jackrat]

Beautiful.

 

[mel262011]

Nice, love the waterfall and stream

 

[ascott]

Beautiful tortoise yard, beautiful tortoise and tortoise will pace a fence line wether they can see through it or not....especially since it is a new place for her...they are natural pacers and I would not worry about it as long as she has shade and hides to go into to cool off....those little worms don't appear to hurt anything, as long as the water is fresh she should be fine.....

 

[Lulu]

I love this so much. My husband is going to hate this though, because I am going to drive him crazy trying to figure out how to put a waterfall and river in the next enclosure.

 

[Timmytort]

I like it and it looks like it will be large enough to last awhile before you have to enlarge it. Very creative, I bet she just loves getting out in the sun.

 

[AnthonyC]

Wow!!! Great looking enclosure!!!!

 

[Missy]

It's beautiful. Great job

 

[terryo]

You made a beautiful tortoise garden. I know your tort is going to enjoy it and I love your stream too.

 

[kameya]

What an enclosure!! I could use that for my box turtles... ^_^

 

[JaMar219]

Oh goodness. Sorry about never mentioning my name. My name is Marjorie and my fiance is Jason, we decided to make one account for the both of us to use and jason came up with our name, hes "very creative" which is why we ended up with JaMar ;P Thank you all very much for the complimetns I am very happy to hear the worms won't be a problem and that the pacing is normal as well. The stream does recirculate from the pond area at the end, and the yellow pot is the only hide we have in there at the moment. We havent left her out for too long because of the weather getting cold at night. I eventually want to turn the door you can see on the right side of the stream into a partial tortoise door with a box and heat lamp inside the garage for her at night. That was originally why we built the pen so close to the house...when she starts getting too big to carry in everytime we have a flood or bad storm we can just heard her into the garage Hopefully that actually works out as planned. Any who, i would like to add more pots and maybe a rock cave type deal but i am a little nervous she will dig under one of the walls and it will collapse For now though we are going to get terra cotta pots and put them in.

To Kameya: A friend of mine has boxies and they promised me a hatchling or two when they lay again to occupy the pen when Penelope outgrows it I love boxies, i cared for several for about four years

Also is it best to keep tortoises in pairs? I know some people say that turtles or tortoises dont much care if they have company or not but whenever i see my terrapins basking they are always basking together and always right next to each other. I have so many pictures of them basking together i feel like its proof they perfer some company. So if they are more happily kept with company does it have to be the same species? We want to get Penelope a friend but not necessarily another Sulcata. Would that be ok? If so what would be a good species to best be kept with her?

 

[81SHOVELHEAD]

Great looking enclosure .
Good Job ........
Mike D

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

Wow, great job!! And beautiful tort

 

[babylove6635]

This summer we finaly got to build our first outdoor pen for our fifteen month Sulcata Penelope. We used

-2 pieces of stockade fence 6' x 8' cut in half and dug down into the ground about a foot.

The ground here is full of shale and rock so getting down that far was absolutly trreacherous for us, we dont think she will be digging out anytime soon, but we keep a close eye on her all day while shes out just in case, for now. I'm a paranoid momma:/ So i frequently check on her while gardening and going about the other various house hold chores.

The only problem that I'm seeing since we have started putting her out during the day...is that after we intially put her in and she starts grazing, she will go about that for 15 mintues or so but then when shes finished eating she will start marching up and down the fence. Never leaving the fence just walking up to the end and then back down. We have tried moving her but she goes right back over and starts again. I have noticed that when we are out watching her or in the pen with her she will wonder around and explore then occasionaly but, other wise she just treks back and forth :/ Anyway...we havent started leaving her out at all times yet because I had to seed the pen so she she would have something to graze on while she was out there...and now that the grass is finaly growing the weather is getting a bit chilly for her to be out grr all that work was a little too late in the year. Sorry for all the jabbering i finaly now present the pictures


When we first started digging the fence in:

From the other side of the pen:

The beginning of our waterfall and stream

Up close starter waterfall:

We finaly got all the fence in and rocks in the stream:

Stream shot 2:

stream shot3:

Stream shot 4:

Up close of the finished water fall:

Watefall

This was after seeding and growing for about a month, August:

From the other angle:

This was taken just this moring

And finaly the current stream:

There was a slight problem in the beginning when were getting a lot of rain and it was all running into the stream, and this passed week we were in the flood area in PA and it washed a bunch more in. Luckily we made some tweaks and with the grass germinating it was a lot less than it could have been.

Also we tried putting rosey reds in the stream to eat any mosiquito larvae but they ended up swimming up stream and getting stuck on rocks and dieing, some others were washed away with the flood but we have started finding blood worms in the water...Can these be harmful to our Sulcata? I heard they mean the water is very clean? Is this true? Frogs have started making their home in our waterfall so im hoping they keep the insect population down since fish keeping was a failure.

Oh sheesh and last but not least i should post a picture of the little gal that runs this place;P This is our sleepy head waking up this moring after her attempt at burrowing last night

She doesnt like her picture being taken much in the morning:

Thank you for reading and please feel free to comment Also if anyone can inform me about her fence obsession and the blood worms that would be super helpful Otherwise enjoy!

it looks really nice

 

[Tom]

The enclosure looks great. You can make a hide out of anything. Having a hide or two will give her a place to feel secure and might reduce the fence pacing too. Most of them don't dig a whole lot. Especially in a big enclosure like that one. You seem very concerned about that. Is she a really bad digger already? In 20 years, I've never had a buried barrier in any of my sulcata pens and I've never had on dig under a hide and make it fall on them. Mine rarely dig at all. If you do end up with a digger, that soil won't even slow her down, btw.

It is NOT a good idea to have a pair. Most of the time, one of them gets the short end of the stick. They are completely fine and happy all by themselves, but IF you want more than one, get at least a trio, or more. I also strongly recommend against mixing species. This almost always ends in problems or tragedy.