Sulcata Enclosure

Use this forum to discuss any aspect of tortoise housing and enclosures. Upload and show pictures of your set ups (enclosures).
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George
Posts: 2
Joined: 07 Aug 2017, 10:54

Sulcata Enclosure

Post by George » 07 Aug 2017, 11:01

we are currently looking at building our 7 year old sulcata a permanent home, up until now he has spent his winters and nights indoors but he has topped 10kg and this just won't be practical for this winter. We have a carpenter coming tonight to discuss designs to build him his own home. Ideally we need this to be moveable if we ever move house as costing lot of money and prob not a great sales point to many people looking to purchase our home in the future!
I doesn't need to have an outside run area as we have a secure garden which he has free range off and is well planted with yummy sulcata plants. We are thinking of designing it without a base to allow some digging and planting, low ceiling to aid with heating but tall enough to get in to clean out.
Does anyone have any ideas on designs, what would you have included if starting again with your own?
Pictures of anyone's outdoor winter sulcata homes would be much appreciated.
Many thanks

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lin
Posts: 1034
Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:27

Re: Sulcata Enclosure

Post by lin » 07 Aug 2017, 12:00

Oh my. He must be getting quite big now, and the thing with sulcatas is that they only ever grow, they never seem to get any smaller :lol:

I would go along the lines of a large shed that can be replaced in a new home. A large shed with a good window space to let in light and it can be fitted with a perspex secondary glaze to allow it to be warmer for winter. A shed would need to be as big as you can get to house a sulcata for winter and it can easily be lined with the poly stuff (Kingspan) or even loft insulation making a second inner wall of ply. Heat and lighting would need to be safely installed and later on you could thing about adding a greenhouse so that he has a three way house from the shed leading to a greenhouse leading to outside when its warm enough.
A good idea is to emulsion the inside of any outbuilding for tortoises in white to reflect any brightnedd you can as this makes them more active and happy.
Heres a link to a Sulcata caresheet if you havnt seen it, that might come in useful.
http://www.tortoise-protection-group.or ... 202008.pdf

Hope this is helpful but please come back with pics and questions if you have more.

Lin

George
Posts: 2
Joined: 07 Aug 2017, 10:54

Re: Sulcata Enclosure

Post by George » 07 Aug 2017, 12:38

Thank you that's a Great idea about the white paint, never would have thought of that! :D

Have read loads of care sheets on them - prior to getting him, we knew all long what we were letting ourselves in for. Stupidly even after doing so much reading 6 years ago we came home with one! :shock:

We want to make him as comfortable as possible and don't want him to be isolated down the bottom of the garden all winter as he is very socialable, comes when he is called and always comes to say hello when we out in the garden.

We have looked at summer houses / potting sheds and converting them but looking at £1000 for a decent sized one then the additional costs of insulating and putting a concrete base down etc it soon racks up which is why we looking at having something custom made to suit his needs more accurately. We have a young son as schools aren't very good in the area so we will be looking at moving in the next couple of years so it's an big outlay for a tortoise house just for a short time, hence wanting something that maybe transportable in the future.

Also figure if the enclosure does not have a base we can plant up the area and given the temp and UVB lighting we will be able to plant it up and grow him a variety of foods over the winter which is currently something we struggle with.

There must be some other nutters out there with massive torts who can give us some inspiration!

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lin
Posts: 1034
Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:27

Re: Sulcata Enclosure

Post by lin » 07 Aug 2017, 19:04

Oh yes. I think that nutter may have been me - :D
In my day a few years back these are my two that I sadly had to rehome because it was getting to much to feed and keep them through the winter and the summers we were having, like this one, meant the poor things were stuck indoors to much for my liking.

Lin
[attachment=2]Bed area_sulcata_lr.JPG[/attachment]

[attachment=2]Bed area_sulcata_lr.JPG[/attachment]

[attachment=2]Bed area_sulcata_lr.JPG[/attachment]
Attachments
Winter area_LR.JPG
Enclosure_0090 copy.jpg
Bed area_sulcata_lr.JPG

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lin
Posts: 1034
Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:27

Re: Sulcata Enclosure

Post by lin » 07 Aug 2017, 19:08

They really are gentle giants but I have had my fair share of accidents with them and the power when they get to 20 odd years is something to behold.

Heres one of my Sali with a loned baby for size difference - lol.

Lin

[attachment=0]Sal and tiny baby.jpg[/attachment]
Attachments
Sal and tiny baby.jpg

Summerangel
Posts: 25
Joined: 05 Aug 2017, 11:53

Re: Sulcata Enclosure

Post by Summerangel » 07 Aug 2017, 21:51

Lin, fab setup and stunning tortoises
Julia

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