so im moving to an apartment in april... need advice on enclosures

[viperdrake]

Hello guys, been a long time since i have posted .

so here is the thing, im moving to an apartment this april, problem being thats its a small apartment has 2 rooms and second room will be my office/wifeys work area and my torts have been banned from being there therefore i need to 1) some how get an enclosure that looks nice in the living room 2) some how get an enclosure to fit in the balcony and looks nice also.. sigh..

now... i currently have 2 baby leopards id say 3 inches each, and on the other bigger tort table ( 8' x 4' x 12" ) i have my 3 red foots.

any advice on nice furnish quality enclosures?? or minimum size enclosure for the redfoots?

 

[wellington]

Search enclosures on this site. There are a couple corner units that might work for you to get a good size. Also there are a couple two level. Maybe that would work also to put some on the bottom and the others on top. Good luck. You might be better off putting your torts in the room and getting a nice desk with tower units for the office/wifi.

 

[lynnedit]

Will you be able to use the 4x8' table that you have? If so, you could stain it if needed.
I have seen some set ups where the larger table is on top and the smaller enclosure/table below.
Use 2x2's for a frame on the floor underneath, and then lay down some 2" rigid foam inside. Then put the enclosure on top.
Or how about a 'pull out' lower enclosure on wheels. Lights would be fixed, but at least you could spot clean, etc.
Stain them both the same color. You just need enough clearance for the lights for the bottom enclosure.

I will look around on the enclosure site to see if I can find examples.
As far as the balcony, not sure if you have access to something like this;
http://www.gardeners.com/Grow-Bed-Liners/VegetableGardening_RaisedBeds,39-378RS,default,cp.html
Sort of a self draining raised bed. As long as it does not get too hot...lots of plants would help.

 

[jaizei]

Here is a good example, just add another enclosure on top and voila.

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Tico-s-New-Indoor-Enclosure#axzz1iGBSEOOM
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Few-shots-of-the-new-enclosure#axzz1iGBSEOOM

I recall seeing another one that looked quite nice as well but can't recall whose it was. But it should come to me eventually.

---

Found it. This one probably isn't as practical for your situation but shows what can be done. Tortoise enclosures as art.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Morlochs-home#axzz1iGGEhIMn

 

[Jacqui]

Is your balcony suitable? Does it get shade? What side of the building is it on? How high up? Asking because some get too much sun and thus too much heat to be totally safe. Other balconies can be worked into nice habitat spaces.

 

[lynnedit]

Something like the Critter Condo would work well, and a second one could be added, or it could be placed under your larger tort table.
There are some nice threads about converting the whole balcony to an enclosure, using wood around the edge for sight blocks. Or cement tubs lined up in a row.
Jacqui is right, make sure there is some shade and that temps don't get too hot.

 

[Len B]

Something I was thinking about doing a while back was using a dinning room buffet as an enclosure,The one I was going to use was about 16 inches by 60 inches and had drawers only no doors, remove the top and the top drawers, glue the drawer fronts back on with the inside parts removed.basically build a box to fit inside and seal it. I sorta collect old wood so I had enough matching the buffet so I was going to trim it out around the top to make it look nice.If I didn't have the matching wood I could have cut the center of the removed top out and replaced it and stained the cut edges to match the original wood. basically it would look like a nice piece of furniture with lights on top when completed. chest of drawers,dressers,bureaus,could be used also.I know I'm not good at explaining things in type but maybe you get the idea. Len

 

[viperdrake]

thank you guys for all your ideas and links!!!

sadly... dunno if bad luck or good luck... my apartment plan is more so down the drain... good thing though.. now i can see if i can get a house with a huge backyard for the same price of the apt i was getting.!!!

 

[lynnedit]

Yay, a yard! If your torts could clap their claws, they would.