I have a russian tortoise and I am planning to build an outdoor enclosure for her in my backyard. After I complete it, I am wondering if I need to worry about predators. My yard is fenced, however, we have raccoons, hawks, cats, and even unverified reports of eagles in the area. Should I be concerned? And would leaving her out overnight be a bad idea?

Leaving her outside overnight is a great thing...if she can be safe. Yes you should worry. Coons especially love torts. They are also pretty clever at getting into pens. Cats are normally nothing that will harm a Russian. Most common bad thing about a cat, is they often use the pen as a big litter box.

BTW welcome to the forum!

This post was last modified: 09-11-2007 11:54 AM by Jacqui.

Well, i would never leave my tortoises outdoors.
But if you do make sure the enclosure is:
Predator proof
Escape Proof
And Lock Proof.
nothing gets in nothings gets out

Dont forget to cover the top with some sort of mesh...

Hi Rasheed Welcome to the site...yes be worried about coons and eagles cuz they will get your tort. I worry about 2 legged preditors...humans too.

Welcome Rasheed,
I leave my Greeks out from spring to winter and I have predater proofed their encloser. I built them a 8x8 foot encloser with fenced sides and a chicken wire top. I too have reports of eagles, owls, coons, possoms and cats not to mention a few two leged pedaters. I have used those springloaded locking things you put your keys on. and heavey pinch clips and the door does have a lock. Maybe overkill but I feel they are safe. Good luck.

Thanks everyone, I think I have a good idea of how I need to approach putting the enclosure together now.

Some days it seems like there is no such thing as overkill when it comes to protecting the torts.

You welcome. Be sure to post back and let us know how you built your pen...pictures are always loved.

I would recommend sidewalls of cement block or 2X6 lumber and a lid of chain link bolted to 2X6s that can be padlocked shut. A strand of electified barbed wire around the enclosure would be ideal, but then, I'm dealing with bears.