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Building a new outdoor pen for the boxies around the small pond with a shallow sloping gravel end.
The start of day one.

Later in the day after the first course was laid using scalloped edging sunk in to ground level to prevent digging under the outer wall.

The end of day one and most of the first course of the wall is set, my back is tired so will have to continue the first course and then hopefully start the second course tomarrow.

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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

how high are you planning to go with it?i ask because last year i made my boxies a pen out of cinder blocks(stacked on the sides,obviously,holes pointing up),i stacked them 2 high.i had 2 boxies escape,although both were rapidly recovered.i watched them the next day,and they literally just climbed up one of the corners!
thus,i scuttled the cinder block plan,and went with 1x6 fence boards,screwed to corner posts,2 boards high.not a single escapee since,they don't even seem to have tried.maybe they could get more of a grip on the blocks,i don't know.
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1.1 cb spotted turtles (parker(f),stinky(m))
0.0.2 cb baby razorback musks (way too cute)
0.0.1 cb baby eastern mud (also ridiculously cute)
0.0.1 cb reeve's turtle (george)
0.0.1 cb eastern box (this year's young 'un)
2.6 ltc eastern box breeders
0.1 cb'06 eastern box(nanners)
1.2 cb'08 kenyan sand boas(1 albino,1 anery,1 normal)
1.1 stenodactylus stenodactylus geckos
0.1 redeye croc skink
1.0 cb '03 homo sapien(kaelan,6)
"jesus is coming-when i count to 3,everyone jump out and yell SURPRISE!!"

I am planning on 2 courses and then cap, there is no way they are climbing upside down
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

Im really loving that pond. Don't keep us hanging. More pictures please.............

Wanted to get some oppinions please, if people think that the blocks that I put capping the 4 corners will be enough, or should I just go ahead and cap the walls all the way around??? Any oppinions or advice would be greatly appreciated, the last thing I want is escapees, some of them I have had for 9-10 years.
Just the last final things, like put some more mulch/loose dirt and logs and hides on the right side and it will be finished.

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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

It’s looking really good. I wish I had a pond like yours. I think you will be Ok with the cap blocks on the ends. I would suggest that you plant some Hosta plants. They provide the type of cover that box turtles love. I would also put down lots of leaves. I have lots in my pen and the turtles always dig there way under them at night to hide from the skunks and raccoons. The worms and the bugs like to hid under the leaves to, so this gives the turtles a chance to find there own food.
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Jack

After watching turtles scale low block walls like that, I'd cap tall the way around just in case.

Steph,
I'm kinda paranoid about them climbing, so I'm still deciding, I like the open look now and I am not excited about hauling another 40 blocks, lol. Thanks for the input
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

Jack,
thats a great idea about the leaves, no doubt that is a great way for them to hide and for bug habitat. The only problem for me is that just on the other side of the pen is a large koi pond and I am affraid the leaves would all end up in the pond when the wind blows. I will probably have to use cypress mulch and logs instead because of that.
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

Looks Great Jeff. Did you use mortar between the blocks? I think your right,..... the blocks will last longer. I think you're right to cap those corners. I doubt they can climb up the face of the blocks but they may try. How high is the enclosure?
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Vichris
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"- Marcus Aurelius

Thanks Vichris, i did not use mortor or concrete block adhesive, because I didn't want it to be so permenant that I would need a sledge hammer to move or remove if need be. It's pretty solid though the blocks weigh 33lbs each, it would take a tornado to knock it over. It's about 15 inches high and with the cap will more like 18"
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

Good thinking! If you had used mortar, you would have had to lay a footing. If no footing, the settling would have cracked the mortar, or your blocks, in a matter of weeks.

I try to make mostly wooden pens, but people sometimes offer me free blocks. I've found that stacking them without mortar is very handy when you want to make adjustments. For a cap, I buy the flat blocks...I place a strip of hardware mesh between the wall and the cap, extending it about 3 inches out into the pen. Nothing can climb past that, but it does look somewhat conspicuous.

Looks ok to me. Just be careful of plants growing close to those sides. They don't look like they are motared together so watch out for movement and shifting of the blocks. Please show us pics of the turtles enjoying it Tess