Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This ruined my day of digging.

Suggestions, or should I just move it over more to the right?

That seems the most sensible, but i'm not a sensible person.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i312/post4space/Problem.jpg

One of these is bound to work..

I don't think you have much choice. Go right. Unless the yard is big enough to start a new site several feet away from those pipes. Good luck. Please post pics when you're done.

building it above ground? That's what I did, and it works great. You just build a big box (out of brick or wood, depending on how long you want it to last and how much money you have to spend), place some chicken wire underneat it (to prevent escapes) and put about a foot or so of dirt in it. Apparently a lot of people use a similar method for building outdoor enclosures on apartment balconies.

Since you're already digging though, you might as well just move over to the right.

Just out of curiosity, how well does that work?
As a lad growing up on small farms, I've seen chicken wire thats been buried for a few years, and when digging it up, its a big old rusty mess of wire-PIECES...no longer mesh at all.

Thus I never dared try using chicken wire for my outdoor enclosure. I actually found a thick plastic mesh 'fence' instead...

I also figured the larger holes would be easier to escape from if my guy dug down and got caught/tangled...

Just not real long term. Anyone building anything with brick I would probably suggest something more durable like you were talking about. I built mine out of lumber, and therefore plan on having to replace it every couple of years (which is good, because I love projects like that), so using chicken wire doesn't seem like much of a problem.

Plus, I was on tight budget, and chicken wire is super cheap.

I actually didn't use chicken wire per say..it's some other stuff, holds up real well for the most part. We used to use it on our bike ramps, and it has stayed for the past 5 years. Little rusty, but not too bad.

I'm using chicken wire for my top screen.

really, just whatever will keep them from digging out is great. You just want to make sure that you bury it deep enough that the tortoises aren't likely to find it anyways. I put about 1 foot of dirt in my outdoor enclosure.

Is it a sprinkler line?
It's only pvc so it would be easy to move.

I think you would ba much happier having the pond (or whatever you are making) where you originally planned.

Just my 2 cents.
Good luck though!

Get back to work!