The Tortoise Table

Hi everyone,
I was just wondering if anyone had any recommendations on out door enclosures and if anyone had any ideas on making an outdoor enclosure cheaply and safely for my 4 year old ibera spur thighed? Currently we have astro turf in the garden and we are renting so we are not able to change that. He has been living on his tortoise table but I feel now that he may well be out growing it as he is getting bigger now? Also so good tips on a good diet for him that I am able to source easily?
Thank you for your thoughts x
Janet

Hi Janet, and welcome to our new forum.
I am sure others will join in and offer their suggestions but for now have a look in our landscape articles that can be found in Care>Enclosures and you will see various headings that you will find interesting. Also have a look at the Plant Database and you might find out that you have more than you expected local to be picked.
Get back with any questions you come up with that you cant find answer's for.

Hope that a bit helpful.
Lin

Hi Janet,

There are a few suggestions that come to mind.
You could use light weight breeze blocks. These could then go with you should you move.
Log roll is another option but you would need to pin this to a frame to avoid the tortoise lifting it and escaping.
Many stores such as Argos do sand boxes, if you drilled these to allow drainage depending these may work.
Your local pound shop sell wire to make a lid in order to protect the tortoise from birds etc
If you know of anyone that has an old fish tank or spare glass, sit on bricks to make a cheap mini greenhouse, just ensure you have two openings just incase one gets blocked.

Hth Elaine

Trying to resize pictures on some of the set-ups I've built..easy build I did last year using wood planters..bear with me while I try to get all my pictures resized to post
Joe

Be chance I've got this one up.. not the build I was looking for..I'll find the pics and get them up asap
Joe

Ok think I've got me head around posting pics now..ok simple build using pre built planters from a local garden centre placed on top of each other

This one was built for people with hard standing/ no drainage back yards...as you can see wire grill was first placed in the bottom of the set-up them hardcore was used for drainage,final layer of top soil / sand mix added..I'll dig out the pictures of the security grill I made for this one..simple build with only a limited amount of DIY skills required...any Qs please just ask
Joe

Great pictures Joe. Thanks for sharing and I guess they will provide new ideas for people.

They are brilliant joe...this is my Ibera's outside enclosure, I haven't tidied it yet but have been busy planting nipplewort and dandelions so they should grow by the time he's in there! My sulcata just roams the garden

Really nice enclosure, Bex! and pretty escape proof from what I can see!

Nina

Joe, you are undoubtedly the king of outdoor enclosures -- I always love what you do, and I'm sure people will get lots of inspiration and great tips from your photos -- thanks so much for posting them!

Nina
P.S. People ain't seen nothin yet -- wait until they get a look at your turtle ponds -- which are the most amazing set-ups ever!

Nina wrote: ↑

20 Mar 2017, 18:50

Joe, you are undoubtedly the king of outdoor enclosures -- I always love what you do, and I'm sure people will get lots of inspiration and great tips from your photos -- thanks so much for posting them!

Nina
P.S. People ain't seen nothin yet -- wait until they get a look at your turtle ponds -- which are the most amazing set-ups ever!

I wanna see

Ty Nina just really lucky the wall was already there! Before the torts come along I had a raised flowerbed in there lol...it was so pretty

That reminds me of an outdoor enclosure I had once, in a previous house. It was surrounded on two sides by the wall of the house, on one side by a garden wall, and on the fourth side I just put breeze blocks up. It was a concrete patio, so I dumped loads of soil and sand on it until it was about five inches deep, and it worked fine.
Nina

It's amazing what you can do with a bit of imagination, a few bricks, wood and a bag of dirt

So true. I'm not particularly inventive with enclosures -- not a patch on BigJoe -- but it's sometimes fun to see what you can do with very little!

Nina