Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok I am venturing into the world of the unknown here. I would like to build an indoor enclosure for my new Greek Tortoise. This enclosure must be dog and cat proof. Incase you know nothing about these critters, they are dry environment torts who need ventilation with basking area of 95 degrees with ambient of 80-85 daytime in that spot, night time of 70-75. I was going to try to achieve this by creating two levels. I also need UVA and UVB lighting at a 12" distance in that basking area. I am most concerned about keeping the dogs and cats about. This will be permanent bedroom furniture for me so I'd like to have it look pretty nice.

Has anyone built one? Any ideas?

What do you mean by two levels?

Otherwise, I have kept small tortises and box turtles in fairly standard reptile cages, albeit with false ceilings. These were designed to be secure for lizards and snakes so it is probably a bit overkill for keeping dogs and cats out.

The false ceiling design is high ventilation but still does a good job of keeping the heat it.

In your case you might be better off having the entire back panel be peg board or have large sections of screen. But I can describe the false ceiling design if you like.
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Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Jave local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)

Yeah, what do you mean false ceiling?

It's pretty simple. The cage pictured below is 48" tall.

The back panel of the cage, however, is only 40" tall and stops 8" short of the top of the cage.

If you look at the upper lip of the cage where the glass track slides, there is a frame that runs from the bottom of that lip to the top of that back panel.

Here is a picture of that frame:

This creats a lot of ventilation and also provides an 8" tall area to hide lights, heating elements, etc. To access the lights you can just turn the cage slightly and reach into the false ceiling area.

Again, I think this is a bit overkill for a tortise. It is a good design for desert dwelling lizards who need a lot of ventilation but also a lot of heat. It helps keep heat and prey items in the cage.

Does this make sense?
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Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Jave local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)

Yep, makes perfect sense. Thanks! This gives me a new perspective on my plans and actually an easier plan. Thanks! I'll be starting it tonight hopefully. I can't take the poor guy banging into this aquarium all day and night.