Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am thinking about updating & expanding my outdoor habitat. The current space is wood. It's servicable and roomy, but not the best for making attractive additions to [plus, I'm architechturally & carpentry challanged]. IOW, on the outside, it looks kinda crappy in the yard. I was just looking at "boxienuts" enclosure using bricks. It looks nice and looks like it would be fairly easy to change the configuration later if necessary. However, the bricks can get expensive, and my habitat is fairly large.

Guess I don't have a question or anything -- I will just have to decide where to go with this. But would be interested in others' input regarding your own enclosures: what materials & configurations worked best, what didn't work; what were your experiences with rennovations and/or expansions, etc.

Here's a double pen setup that I built for my water turtles. I keep my box turtles in a similar manner (though without the 50 gallon stock tank). I like to use landscaping timbers - they are very durable. The biggest challenge I have is keeping predators out. I dig the "open air" setup that Jeff posted, but I've got raccoons, opposum and skunks in the neighborhood.

Tim

Third Eye

One advantage to the block is that it is durable and reusable. Lumber not so much. Here's another alternative that may or may not suit...click on turtle pens and then the coreplast link.
Link

We put a little stream with a small pond in ours. I've since given it to my Redfoot and now am making a boxie garden like this one only a little bigger. It is 7' x 6'.

thats really pretty with the mosses and other plantings
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

Oooh, pretty! Do you mind giving away your secrets? How do you have it all set up (your pen as well at the fountain)?

I have a lot of contours and varied terrain in mine now, and have wanted to incorporate a fountain-type watering hole. I'm not good at figuring out how to do it, though.

We dug out the long stream, and the the pond. Then he (my son) put a pond liner along the whole thing. He made an impression in the middle of the pond (for the pump). Then he poured black cement in the whold thing, with some flat stones at the top for the little waterfall. He put a small pail in the middle of the pond to make an impression for the pump. He also put some river rocks along the stream (into the cement). When the cement was dry he took out the pail and we put the pump in the hole and brought the tubing around the outside of the enclosure up to the little water fall. He cut off the excess liner and then we planted the moss along the stream and added more river rocks. Hope this helps.

Wow, Terryo. These pics put us all to shame. Wow is all I can come up with. Beautiful.

when in doubt,disguise it.plant some monkey grass or something on the outside of the pen.if the pen you have is currently serviceable,just landscape the yard a bit.certainly cheaper than building a whole new pen.
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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)
0.1 cb '09 eastern box (bella)
3.6 ltc eastern box breeders
0.1 cb'06 eastern box(nanners)
1.2 cb'08 kenyan sand boas(1 albino,1 anery,1 normal)
1.0 cb'08 jungle carpet
1.1 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!!"