now many people have constructed a burrow for the tort that is actually underground and mimics what the tortoise would carve out in the wild?
anyone let their tortoise carve his own burrow but maybe limit how deep and long it is?

I have a Greek Golden tortoise, I let her dig the burrow, I make sure she does'nt build one so big that she's in the neighbors yard. During the winter she comes in at night, she burrows in shredded paper. There is not a lot of info on these tortoise's.

This post was last modified: 08-20-2007 12:53 PM by greekgolden.

how do you keep her from digging too far?
if i adopt a tortoise i would try my best to let it dig its own burrow if it wants. my only concern is keeping the burrow a reasonable size.

I took halves of a resin dog house and buried them. Works good for my bigger tortoises. I used smaller tupperware type things, buried them for my smaller guys.
My 2 sulcatas (4 years old) dug a burrow. I thought it was cool till i realized it was about 2 feet deep. I caved it in and prevented them from digging anymore holes.

this is exactly what im afraid of... is it possible to reinforce naturally dug burrows?

I have several made for them, a animal carry case half with dirt over most of it, wood. But the sulcata are too good of diggers to let them go so we have fencing under their cages so they can't dig out.

I let my tortoise free roam its pen but just watch to make sure she doesn't make to big of holes. If you don't want to make a burrow . When you make your pen dig about 2-3 feet then line it with chicken wire and then put tarp over that and just fill it with dirt again. So the tortoise can't dig out of the pen. I've seen people do this. I hope this will help.

Josh,
Golden's are very small so they don't dig to far under the fence. I got a Golden because they are small I planted a lot of plants in her section of the yard so hawks don't see her. If you don't have a lot of space Golden's are great to have, very easy to care for LOL they don't eat a lot, and only need a small yard.

I have heard of people going both ways on that subject. I personally let mine dig where ever they want, I just make sure I have wire or concrete going down deep enough to contain them. Of course I don't have the big torts yet, but I am sure I will let them dig where ever they want ( as long as it is in the enclosure).