Well, first of all, as long as wood is not constantly wet, it will last quite a long time.

For example, if wood is touching the ground (pretty wet around here in MA) even if treated (don't use this stuff) or sealed, water will start soaking in. At that point insects will start drilling into it and the wood breaks down in no time.



What I did is use Trex as the base. Trex is basically a synthetic type wood. Its like plastic blended with sawdust or something. There are lots of other similar products out there as well.
This stuff is pretty expensive, but it lasts forever. Apparently they have a piece in a weather chamber that has undergone the equivalent of 60 years worth of bad weather.

Once I had the base rectagle built, I just used regular wood to build up the walls and the covers.


I actually just used large stones as a barrier for digging. I kinda placed them around like a big jigsaw puzzle leaving big enough holes for water drainage, but small enough to keep torts from escaping. Then I added a ton of dirt over them.

As it is, I also placed a digging box (basically a cooler with sand/bedabeast in it), and piles of timothy hay in the pen, so my guy has never tried digging a hole as he's usually too busy playing.
It also seems to me that enjoys semi-ready-made burrows more than making his own.

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