Hello, I am not yet a RF owner, but hopefully soon. I am setting up an outdoor area and had a couple questions before getting the actual tortoise.

I live about 10 miles north of Los Angeles and I have an area next to my house that I would think is ideal for an RF. It is about a 6x30 feet area. One of the longer sides is the side of my house going all the way back and the opposing is a huge concrete wall going all the way back as well. One end is a large metal gate that is completely covered and not accesable, and I have secured the other end with decorative fencing and rock. So the area is very secure. The area is completely blocked off from any predators except for crows which are fairly abundant in the area (my plan is to get a larger adult pair).

In the past I have used the area for a veggie and herb garden, but over the last few weeks have converted most of the vegetation to include items that torts love, the only herbs I have left are thyme, rosemary, basil, parsley and mint. I no longer have veggies growing there, in addition I have planted bermuda grass, dandelion seeds, nasturtium, hibuscus as well as a forest tortoise pasture mix. The area is a highly humid area because of the high walls that surround it and I have a sprinkler system that goes off 4 times per week, the drainage in that soil isnt the best, so there will be a muddy wallow for a few hours, which apparently they are fond of. However, the area probably only gets a couple hours of direct sunlight, would that be enough for them? there is plenty of indirect sunlight.

All in all things are going very smoothly, however, this is where my problem comes in, I dont have the room to house the redfoots indoors at nights in the winter, so I wanted to see the best way to keep them warm at night. My area can get into the 40's at night on some winter nights, but typically isnt too bad. I know people have mentioned dog houses with ceramic emitters, however, how do people set up the outlets for the heat lamps? Would blankets in an enclosure at night do the trick? I think I can figure something out if I had to use a heat lamp cause there is a outlet further away that I think I can use, but I wanted to see if anybody else has a similar setup that can give me some advice.

sorry for the lengthy email and thanks in advance for your help.

check out redfoot nerds site...turtletary.com
or search his posts too, great info and lots of pics
Have fun.

check out redfoot nerds site...turtletary.com
or search his posts too, great info and lots of pics
Have fun.

Will do, thanks Cam.

Wish I could help ya, but i am in minnesota...no outdoor torts here

Wish I could help ya, but i am in minnesota...no outdoor torts here

Yeah I understand. I was looking at the site, there are some great pics and info there, but its more general info, I was hoping somebody can chime in with advice on my specific situation. I just wanna have the right setup before I get the tort.

I can't reacall where...I'll look about tomorrow...
but I saw several people who use the outdoor deck storage boxes converted and with a warming light for theri torts...

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

http://home.earthlink.net/~rednine/door.htm
http://www.turtlestuff.com/enclosures.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_2104085_build-ou...e-pen.html

http://www.sdturtle.org/RUSSIAN%20(Testudo%20Horsfieldii)%20CARE%20SHEET.htm

I hope there is something useful in one of these, still not what I was remembering though.

Thanks again Cam.

I just wanted to throw this out there again to see if anybody can help me out....I guess the only real question I have is if anybody houses adult redfoots outdoors year round, and if so what type of housing and heating do you use? The winters in southern california are not really cold, so I was planning on keeping them outdoors year round. Would I need to use a heat lamp or would another heat source in a hide box be sufficient for the evenings. any help is appreciated.

You could go with a heat panel mounted on the wall of the hide box. You could use concrete blocks to construct the box for them and fill the holes in the blocks with insulation probably. Build a frame roof that can be lifted for cleaning that would just sit on top the concrete block structure. Just a few ideas to kick around. Use clear vinyl with strip cut for the door opening so they can go in and out on their own as well but be sure to have a way of blocking them in if the temps are going to drop too much.