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Old 22-07-2015, 10:40 PM   #11
Emmajemmalina
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It looks great! I'm needing ideas for a outdoor warming area in the garden for my torte. Looking at what you've created here is great. What kind of plastic do you recommend that let's uv through? I've read a few things about lumisol?
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Old 23-07-2015, 08:54 AM   #12
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blimey thats costly, decking in B&Q is only a couple of pounds for a 6ft length and the other materials apart from the plastic not much more, what cost that much?. If you're really on a budget or don't want to waste money then join something like freecycle everything is free apart from collecting and you can get most materials for making things for nothing. We,ve had everything you can think of in the past including sheds, greenhouse, aviary's even a boat and trailer tent its a great way of getting rid of things as there always seems to be someone who can use what you don't want even if its for parts. My hubby made this for my hatchlings for around £10 and most of that was for the mesh for the lid if you look closely you can see a baby, they were fine in this for a couple of hours in good weather. The plastic over 1/4 made that area a bit warmer and gave a bit of shelter but I found that a couple of hours was the most before they'd try to dig down and go to bed, babies get tired quickly and I never left them alone out there, they can vannish very quickly and seem to dig under the grass then go sideways rather than down and by its a job to find them when they do that, the little run was only about 3ft and I'd have a dozen or so in there, they used to love the tiny clover leaves.

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Old 23-07-2015, 11:12 AM   #13
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Nice cheap and simple well done, I have cheap ones as well they work really well things dont have to be expensive to be functional.

We keep our tortoises outside all year round so it had to be made with thick wood etc to help retain warmth, mine hibernate in them too.

I got the sunmaster polythene for this, we are still experimenting with it, lots of condensation yesterday but we havent put a door in place yet so hoping its just because there is not alot of air going through at the minute and everything was hosed down and cleaned before he went in. Ill keep you posted about this.

Here is one of my very cheap warming areas in the border, a few cut offs, decking boards and polycarbonate sheeting from my big enclosure although I would replace the polycarb for the lumisol or sunmaster polythene now. http://www.shelledwarriors.co.uk/for...t=warming+area

If your not bothered about having them outside all year round you could make one of these and a simple wooden wall wall/picket fence around it for them to walk around. This little thing gets really hot, sheltered from the wind being against the fence it works really wel.
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Old 23-07-2015, 12:07 PM   #14
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could you spot the tiny tort?
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Old 23-07-2015, 01:18 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by Daryn View Post
Nice cheap and simple well done, I have cheap ones as well they work really well things dont have to be expensive to be functional.

We keep our tortoises outside all year round so it had to be made with thick wood etc to help retain warmth, mine hibernate in them too.

I got the sunmaster polythene for this, we are still experimenting with it, lots of condensation yesterday but we havent put a door in place yet so hoping its just because there is not alot of air going through at the minute and everything was hosed down and cleaned before he went in. Ill keep you posted about this.

Here is one of my very cheap warming areas in the border, a few cut offs, decking boards and polycarbonate sheeting from my big enclosure although I would replace the polycarb for the lumisol or sunmaster polythene now. http://www.shelledwarriors.co.uk/for...t=warming+area

If your not bothered about having them outside all year round you could make one of these and a simple wooden wall wall/picket fence around it for them to walk around. This little thing gets really hot, sheltered from the wind being against the fence it works really wel.
As long as they are on grass and soil. Too long on damp grass can cause shell rot. They also prefer to bask on soil:0)
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Old 23-07-2015, 03:50 PM   #16
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oh wow didnt see that lol
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Old 23-07-2015, 07:17 PM   #17
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could you spot the tiny tort?
Teeny weeny who is that under the microscope !?

I like gravel boards recycled v cheap but understand Daryn needs the insulation for all year round and gravel boards don't do that - you need a brand name Daryn!!
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Old 24-07-2015, 09:15 AM   #18
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just one of the hatchlings that I used to sell, put it in there to show the size in a 3ft run to show why you don't need or want a big run for a baby. Turn your back for 5 mins and they will disappear like magic especially if the sun goes in, its amazing how strong they are and well able to dig through tough dry old grass they then go sideways just under the turf. We've spent many hours on hands and knees trying to find one, they never tried to dig down or out but the run did have to be on flat ground and I'd never have left them in there unattended for long. The best 'garden' we had for babies was an old butlers sink, planted with edibles and with a good framed wire cover, I knew they couldn't dig out of there and it was just the right size for tines to have some fun. I don't personally think that any tort can spend all year outside most either bring them in to overwinter or hibernate, it would always be cheaper to be inside than trying to heat something out, we did have our houses and shed heated but the torts hibernated for up to 20 weeks so the housing was fine for the periods either side of that. Sorry one more thing what is the size of the enclosure you've built? is it intended for the tort to adulthood? if not isn't it better to aim for something that will house an adult and simply portion of a section if its to big and will the tort have an actual run/enclosure or stay in there all the time. My adult Ibera were big, weighing around 2500 grams and around 12inches which to me means they need an area of at least 12ft preferably more if they are to have the room to wander and excersise enough to use up their food calories, yes they can 'survive' in less but is that living a decent life, in my opinium an adult needs the run of a garden where it can find its own food and hiding places etc. There will also be periods even days when the whole thing will have to be covered because of rain in which case it could become very humid even mouldy those days people often bring their tort back inside or if they have a heated house and a natural outside enclosure they will still come out as it won't become waterlogged, natural old ground drains well or at least mine did I think you'll find your friend will need an indoor table as well otherwise you might as well be using a viv if the house is covered for days and I'd be worried about the air getting stale if it is covered for long periods, you can't leave it part open because the whole thing will become water logged. Isn't it possible to replace the plastic 'windows' with wire to allow some circulation if its covered ?. Over the years we were fortunate to be able to try several housing methods and by far the best was the torts having a warm dry house with heating for cold/wet days and simple ouside access, as long as they could go and have a warm up they would come outside whatever the weather and we found that the best outside area was one using and old established area of ground not one dug up and replaced with soil etc and my torts never tried to dig out as I believe they neither needed or wanted to do as they could go into the house to warm up/sleep etc and thats what they did.

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Old 24-07-2015, 12:43 PM   #19
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It will have a decent size run, my mate is buying the wood next week so we can make a low fence, a hatch will be cut into the side so he can come and go outside. The enclosure has the polythene over the top for now which can be removed on hot days, again a waterproof lid is to be built next week to cover the whole enclosure.

Everything will evolve over time, I think its a good starter for them, we have had talks of torte proofing the whole boundary of the garden so he can have the full run in time.
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Old 24-07-2015, 02:37 PM   #20
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I'm not trying to be picky but think it should be made plain the size and the age the of tort the home is intended not just yours but any new houses for we have a lot of new owners on here who look at posts showing housing but maybe never question and assume that the said house is ok for all year round for any sized or species of tort.
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