Desert Tortoise Underground Burrow Southern Nevada
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 พ.ค. 2015
- Video is for burrows in Southern Nevada. If you live in Northern Nevada this is not an adequate burrow to deal with extreme cold.
Installing a wood frame burrow underground.
the tortoise is like hey nice burrow.. (digs under fence) hehe
Impressive work, to say the least! My "old boy" would love this...great inspiration here.
I have had my tortoise outdoors for 20 years. I have had to redo burrow every few years and learned a few lessons... I made one like this minus the wood and thought I was done. I dug pretty much the same way, and covered with a large steel plate and some flagstone. Still had some fails. This year I’m gonna do it right, once and for all. So, a couple of things... Deep end is good, 18” is frost line. The width is a little narrow on the way in, doesn’t look wide enough to turn around. One year, mine came out of hibernation and wedged herself sideways in the doorway because she grew quite a bit. Next concern-wood. I wouldn’t see if termites were crawling on her or messing with her shell. Not to mention flooding or wood rot. I did berm the dirt up around the opening and built a large ocotillo cover supported with metal stakes that was lined with landscape fabric to provide shade and reduce water getting in during monsoon. That part worked great. However, pack rats and gophers have dug holes around the steel cover and I have had to patch with rocks during the winter. I am looking to gut it one more time and see if I can’t get it right this time. For years the whole enclosure was framed by rabbit fencing with ocotillo branches upright like fencing. Very natural looking and she could see the world outside. Till the time when she refused to go in the burrow and I stuck my head close to the opening. A Gila Monster came running out. Moved to smaller holes in the fencing, redid whole perimeter, new ocotillo branches around whole thing. There have been times when we have wacky weather or intense heat spells and I want to do a welfare check. That means, digging into the deep end to touch her toe and watch for reflex. I got a camera with a led probe that helps minimize destruction of burrow and spots intruders. None so far with my latest version. So I need something like this wood shelter. I was thinking of cutting thin pieces of steel and welding top and side walls while leaving floor dirt so she can file her nails and dig a bit. Once 2 does jumped in to graze on the mesquite and I shooed them away and found tortoise flipped over. If they had stepped on the burrow, it would have collapsed. Welded steel should prevent that, lol. But will it get too hot? I would paint it with cool coat and pile dirt on top... also, deep end should be hinged, not nailed. In case she has to be dug out in emergency. I covered the burrow with moving blankets for the winter and covered the whole thing with a tarp and stuffed a sheet in the entrance. She survived the winter and just came out this week only a few new gopher wholes. I like this one in general. I wish she would come back and tell us how it’s holding up.
How had your new version held? Been thinking of creating safe burrows once my little one is a bit older and resting your message really helped with the do's and don'ts
Maphew404 Hi! Hortencia came out of hibernation last week and for the first time in history I needed no repairs. No critter holes around the burrow. Since last year when I posted, I beefed up the perimeter as we have some feral cats in the area and that burrow looked inviting. So, picture perimeter fence with holes the size of your fingernail. That corrected most of my previous visitors. I had cut ocotillo branches and wired or zip tied them vertically around the outside to the height of the fencing which was about 3ft high…I could carefully climb over. But the cats could jump in, so now reinforced with taller ocotillo about 4/5 feet high staggered about 8” apart to deter the cats. Left one spot open for me and built a gate the same way so I can get in and out. The burrow held fine. Covered the whole thing with towels and moving blanket. Placed a dome over the opening made of chicken wire bowed up in the middle and secured with stakes on either side covered in towels which protected the entrance to level ground. When I packed up the towels and blankets last week, everything was still in place and the lack of critter visits and digging I think was due to the unfriendly spikey ocotillo around the perimeter, so focus on that as much as the burrow. When you think you have it right, check the burrow temp with a thermometer or a temperature gun the first year to make sure its not to cold or hot on cold nights or hot days. The bottom of the burrow dirt is packed down from our rainy season now that I didn’t disturb it. I had a metal dome from a big patio heater that we threw out. I secured that over the opening during monsoons when it was windy and blowing rain. That domed chicken wire secured with stakes really helped everything stay in place so no flooding. Wish I could add a picture. I will try from computer
I'm going to guess that that woman drove them NUTS while filming and building this! Kudos to men with patience!
You gotta lot of love to do that for your tort
Seems like it would be very prone to flooding.
not in nevada maybe up north
Turtles evacuate burrows if the rain come inside...
Many tortoises want rain to flood so they can accumulate water during drought seasons and not dry out
good man
Do you offer this as a service? If so what is the cost? Thanks.
If it's tilted like that, is it okay when water gets in?
thats actually how tortoises does it in the wild. Moisture and rainwater is collected which produces humidity
At least put holes on the bottom plank so water collected is drained and absorb into the soil.
One, let’s hope your tort is fully grown bc he barely fits in there, and two, let’s hope it doesn’t rain bc that thing us going to fill up with water.
Once you've buried it, do you not need to clean it?
Nobody thought of that...but yes, you do.
The turtle I had never dirtier his burrow. She always pooped outside. Still the roof was a movable piece of wood that we always rearrange each year after the cold days were over. Never find poop or anything inside.
I would like to know the measurements to build this burrow?
I dont think they will ever reply.
The measurements and instructions can be found here. tortoisegroup.org/burrows-main/
Can anyone tell me what machine he's using in :32?
It’s a roto hammer
Hammer Drill with a chisel tip
How can i find some people to build me one of these?
Any handyman can do this just have them watch this video
Call handy man to build the enclosure. If you want it buried; I suggest reaching out to either people who make ponds or landscape designers. They might be able to install or point you to someone they work with who might install.
Cooling will Not happen.......Remove bottom plank
yeah but this kind of tortoise doesn't really dig,it doesn't have scutes
lol thats the whole reason they build this, they dont want them to dig
these are the tortoises that dig the most.
The burrow will remain cool, regardless but I would agree with you on removing the base board; not necessary. Some people believe the Tortoise will "dig" away like a squirrel but that is not true. They can and do alter their burrows but rarely to any meaningful depth or length (i.e. hard rock/gravel environment).
also it cant dig
You don't want them digging under your house or fence. Once they have a burrow, they will use it and no more digging around.
she really made it for her husband
Its illegal to own a desert tortoise out of the state Arizona they are native to. Unless it’s a Sulcota tortoise then that’s. Diff story
your so wrong about that. they were sold in ca. until the early 1970's. & have bred in backyards of ca. since
Nevada has Tortoise adoptions through the state. They will even build the habitat FOR you. You coildn't be more wrong.
@@shedvil1985 In Nevada you are simply a custodian, the state owns all the desert tortoises.
Someone get this women out of the video