This enclosure will be 8 feet by 8 feet in size. You can choose to enlarge this pen, or change the specifications to fit your needs. This will be an enclosure that will comfortably house three or four small to medium size turtles. Use pressure treated wood since it will last longer. You should not use wood that has been treated with arsenic. Timber that is treated with ACQ (Ammoniacal Copper Quat) is good, while CCA (Chromated Copper Arsenate) should be avoided. You can find what the wood has been treated with on a tag that should be stapled to each piece of timber.For this portion of the project, you will need:


8-foot-long landscaping timbers
8-foot-long two-by-fours
3-foot-tall stakes.
2-foot-long two-by-two lumber
A box of nails for wood
Hammer
Measuring tape
Shovel
8 foot by 8 foot section of wire mesh

, Clear any debris out of the area so you have a clean space to work. Use a measuring tape and some wooden stakes to mark out the area. This will be a square shaped pen.
 You need to dig a trench so you can put the walls down into the ground. Turtles are skilled diggers and can easily escape the enclosure if the walls are not deep enough., With your trench dug, you will place one 8-foot-long landscaping timber into the each eight-foot long ditch. This will create a square shape, and the first part of your support wall. You will use the 2-foot-long two-by-two pieces of lumber to attach the walls at the corners.


Use the hammer to nail each corner together. The four corners should meet and be secure.
 Now that you have the corner supports attached, they will be significantly taller than the 8-foot-long landscaping timbers which are only a few inches tall when they are laid in the trenches. Using the 8-foot-long two-by-fours you will add height to the walls by nailing a two-by-four along each side to the two-by-two stakes. This will stack the timbers on top of each other and give height to the wall.


You can make the wall as tall as you’d like. The minimum height should be twice as high as the adult length of a turtle. So if you have turtles that reach 10” once they are mature, your wall should be at least 20” high. This ensures that your turtles can’t crawl over the walls and escape.
Turtles don’t fully grasp the concept of walls and when they are able to see out of the enclosure, like through wire mesh, they may spend their time pushing against the barrier, hoping to escape. A wooden barrier, at least as tall as the turtle’s height, prevents this problem., An outdoor enclosure needs to let sunlight in but not any predators hoping to grab your turtle. Wire mesh is a good barrier since it allows sunlight and rain to fall through while still offering protection.nail the wire mesh directly to the top of the enclosure, but be sure to leave a corner accessible so you can put food and water into the enclosure.


You can also build a removable top to the enclosure, but this will take more time and additional materials.
Gather materials.
Clear and mark the area.
Dig a trench at least one foot deep around the perimeter.
Lay out the base timbers and attach corner supports.
Add height to the walls.
Use wire mesh to cover the enclosure.
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