Simple Outdoor Tortoise Shelter Designs for LITTLE/YOUNG Tortoises

[kameya]

Ok i bought the cinder block and 5 caps.
I'm going to set one up for my leopard yearling.
Will it really be a cool hide in the warmer weather?

If I let some water run in there when I water the pen in the morning (before the tort goes out) will it be more humid in there?

Heather
sent while on my purple android TFOapp

I will have to stick a thermometer in the hid to see how cool it is under the current hot weather here in SoCal...but I think it has a better insulation than any bare plastic planter or rubbermaid box would provide.

As for humidity level, it depends the drainage level of your outdoor soil. In my setup, the top level of the soil drains pretty well and it pretty much stay dry throughout the day unless I hose some water on top of the shelter and allow the water to flow into the shelter. But when I dig into the soil, you can find the moistured soil beneath the dry soil. I would say this will be the ideal micro-climate setup for your tortoises.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Thanks James.

I'm shocked at how big it is! Much bigger than I expected.
Just got to figure out where to put it... and if it should go for the leopards or russians. hmm..

 

[kameya]

As I've stated in my original post, the cinder block shelter is totally expandable as I just did in the following picture, I also added a few pieces of red brick to enhance the look of the gray bunker...


The second unit will use one less block cap as it would share a common wall with the adjacent unit...now we can literally call it a tortoise condominium...


I think this male Hermann is officially the new owner of the property...


This is the overall view of my Hermanns and Greek's enclosure...

 

[kameya]

I'm shocked at how big it is! Much bigger than I expected.
Just got to figure out where to put it...

Yes, the size of the full shelter is roughly around 16"x24"x8"H, so I've come up with another block shelter design for smaller enclosure, but it does require additional cutting tool...

1. This smaller shelter design only needs (2) 8X8X16 cinder blocks and (1) 2X8X16 block cap, and the concrete cutting grinder...


2. Use the grinder and hammer to turn one cinder block into a U-shaped block, and we are ready to build the new shelter...


3. Place the U-shaped block at your desired location inside the tortoise enclosure...


4. Add the other cinder block in front of the U-shaped block, and this would be the entrance of the block shelter...


5. Lastly, add the block cap on top of the U-shaped block to cover the hiding area, and you've got yourself a smaller tortoise shelter that's only 16"x16"x8"H, ...



6. My Asian Leaf Turtle would fit perfectly in its new block shelter...

 

[lynnedit]

How much are those concrete cutters?
What a great idea.

Love how your tortoises and turtles cooperate by sitting at the doorway

 

[kameya]

How much are those concrete cutters?
What a great idea.

Love how your tortoises and turtles cooperate by sitting at the doorway

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0010DHFTK/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

This is where I got mine on Amazon, and it comes with a diamond blade which is good for concrete cutting. It is quite a useful tool other than cutting concrete, I use mix of different blades for all of my tortoise enclosure projects, like cutting a doorway on rubbermaid container or trimming the plastic vinyl fence.

I left the turtle and tortoise by the shelter in the picture as a scale for people to get an idea of the overall shelter size.

 

[SpdTrtl]

Very nice! Tortoise owners are so creative!