Debbys Daily Blah..: Building a Tortoise Home..

Debbys Daily Blah.. Regular. Random. Ramblings.

Links TortoiseTrust Andys Blog Vegan Lunchbox Freecycle My Photo Album www.flickr.com This is a Flickr badge showing photos in a set called Tortoises. Make your own badge here. My Blog Directory BLOGS I READ! Sketts Talk HORACE FINKLE - Teen Ghost Pile Of Dog Bones		Thursday, January 26, 2006 Building a Tortoise Home.. Exactly one year ago, to this day, i recieved an email from a member of the Tortoise Trust asking if i was able to rehome four Geochelone Pardalis (Leopard) Tortoises. Their history was that they, along with many, many other tortoises, had been snatched from their wild habitat by reptile dealers in Uganda in 2002, for the purpose of sale in England. Customs officers at Heathrow airport descovered and confiscated them. Unfortunately the tortoises could not be put back into the wild due to risk of disease that could wipe out whole areas, so the Tortoise Trust took on as many as they could and rehomed them to experienced tortoise keepers around the Uk. My four were rehomed to a tortoise keeper in the Isle of Sheppy where they stayed for three years. Due to ill health and the size these animals grow, the tortoise keeper had to find a new home for them. In short, i had arranged to collect Melaika, Obi, Cara and Chiumbo at the end of March which gave Andy only 6 weeks to build me a shed suitable for the tortoises! With my plans drawn up, we started around the second week in february. I nearly killed myself digging a trench 8'x 10'x 2' and filling it with cement to stop any animals from burrowing into the shed from the garden. Making sure it was level, Andy then began to measure and cut the wood we needed. A couple of days into the job, the weather changed for the worse bringing blizzards of thick snow . Andy decided to continue with any work we could do to meet our deadline and spent many a day with icicles hanging from his beard! I supplied plenty of hot coffee to keep him thawed! The four sides were made up with stud work, which Andy covered with half log cladding, making sure to keep fixing points for an inside tortoise table that i needed for my 4 baby leopard tortoises who were at the time living in a tortoise table in my bedroom. The next job was to put together three A frames for the roof and cover them in marine ply which was then covered in extra thick ash felt. I then lagged the inside walls and roof to keep the heat in. Andy ordered double glazed toughened units for the windows, baring in mind the shed had to be kept at high temperatures.The windows fixed in place, it was then onto the electrics. Andy concealed the cables in the walls and put in a weather proof, electric switch box and some electric points which were needed for the heat lamps that the tortoises required. Andy built the babies table with their own entrance hatch at the side and a ramp leading into the garden. He then lined the inside using the half round log cladding, which i stained to protect the wood from rot. Flagstones were used for the floor to keep it rodent proof, then onto the stable door, which caused Andy lots of work and grief as i also wanted a lift up hatch door for the tortoises to come and go as they pleased. Lining up the two parts of the door was, as Andy described, hell and then some! Mortice locks in place, the shed was finished all but a coating of wood protector which i painted all over whilst Andy mortar proofed the inner seal between the floor and walls to make the shed water tight. The only thing left to do was cover the floor with a substrate of top soil and playsand and hang the uv bulbs. We finished the shed a week before we were due to collect the leopards so i managed to landscape their garden too! A Prayer for a Tortoise! By the late K.A.Gray, Exmouth, Devon Post a Comment posted by Debby at 4:48 PM 4 Comments: kevin said... we have dessert turtles out here and we have a huge pen for them as well. I really dug your photos. 12/2/06 22:30 Anonymous said... I have 2 Leopards in Az and this is a great idea. Thank you for posting it. 7/11/08 05:56 Debby said... So glad you both enjoyed reading this.. I must update soon - My Leopards have all grown so much since writing this and are all doing great. They're waiting the winter out and dreaming of lush grass, warm sunshine and fresh green dandies :) 7/11/08 20:19 Jodie said... Hey i think your shed looks great, im hoping to get a leapord tortoise, iv read that tortoise tables are the best accomadation when kept indoors as the vivs are too humid. Can anyone please tell me what bulbs i need e.g. uv , heat lamps and what watts they need to be thanks 15/4/09 20:44 Post a Comment		Introducing Myself About Me Name: Debby Location: london, United Kingdom View my complete profile Previous Posts Stupid Dogs... Party In The Woods! Introducing Sophie.. Introducing my daughter.. Introducing Dylan... Carlys Topless Escapade Introducing my sister.. Fridge Problems. Ice Hockey!! Yahoo Fantasy Football - week 23 continued.. Archives 01.06 02.06 04.06 05.06 07.06 04.08 My blog is worth ABSOLUTELY FUCK ALL. How much is your blog worth? Blog Directory

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