Refurbed outside enclosure..

[lilacgeorge]

Ok, here it is, we (Me & my bruv!) made a start at the weekend but still have loads to do! Be warned - there are lots of photos!!!!! (Excuse the state of the garden - I had to get rid of the shed in order to fit the enclosure in!!! ) The enclosure measures 14.5ft (across back length of garden, and 6ft width!!)

Looking down at the enclosure;


The entrance, come on in.....


Large kennel on right is for my 3 bigger torts, smaller Aztec one for the 2 hatchlings


Another angle..


looking down at the end of the enclosure


the middle...


the housing end...


And finally, this is to show you how small my garden actually is! I am standing just inside my back door taking this one... enclosure ended up a bit bigger in width than I intended!!


There's still lots to do, I'm going to put honeysuckle on the front of the trellis (thanks Sandy & Linda ), I've also got a grapevine to go on the back wall. Then I shall just plant lots of flowers & weeds, and a rockery at the end of it, again planted up with rockery plants (maybe ferns, hebe's....?). Where the aztec house is, I'm going to make a small enclosure for the hatchlings (Teefa & Ruby) - it will be 2ft wide x 6ft length, the rest of the enclosure is for Frank, Archie & Tallulah to do with as they wish!!! I have also got one of thoses 'bargain' coldframes that will go in there somewhere - hopefully straddling the two runs.. so they can all get use of it (partitioned in the middle of course!). Hopefully next year they will all go together....

I will add photo's as it gets done....

[KateW]

Wow thats looking really amazing Dawn, lukcy tortoises. It will be great when its done. We will need more photos!

[lilacgeorge]

Thanks Kate, as soon as I start 'planting' up I shall post more photo's - I'm hoping to go to garden centre this weekend... I also need to put the mesh over the top of it to stop birds getting in... such a shame, but has to be done, especially if the babies are out there... I'm really lucky as well cos its such a sun trap down that end.

[Beverley]

Its looking great already you have worked very hard. I need to start an outside enclosure for the Hermanns but its so cold here today everything is frozen It will be great when it is finished and they will love it

Beverley

[Henry-flash]

Looking good Dawn Are you going to put something such as wood along the bottom of the Trellis so they can't get through? Or is there something there already that I can't see

[sandy]

Looking good.
One suggestion, as the housing has such a high entrance, a way of keeping heat in is to have
thick plastic slats over the hole. This allows the tort to come and go when he/she needs too,
and keeps any heat in the housing.

[lilacgeorge]

Yeah, I thought of that but have no idea where to get them from, any ideas???? Otherwise I was going to put a 'sliding' door on there - put some grooves on the inside of door then slip a piece of wood in there. Also, not sure if babies are staying out overnight - if they do I won't be able to put heat in their aztec house as too small so what would minimum temp be that they could stay outside for? The only other way to do it would be to partition of a bit inside the big kennel and just pop them in there of a nightime - I'm going to get heat put in there. The idea being that they can stay outdoors 24/7 au natural! (And I can have some room back indoors by putting their cages away - as you can imagine from the size of my garden, me house ain't much bigger!!!!!!!)

I would welcome any suggestions.......

[Jg]

Yes im sure when it's all done it will look very nice keep the hard work going and keep us posted

[ME SHELL]

It looks lovely, would strips of that plastic carpet protector work? It's not to thick, its clear and I suppose not to hard to cut into strips, if you can't get the plastic pieces anywhere.

[CJ]

Looks really good Dawn! Very lucky tortoises!