Which do you think is preferable for 4.7 Russians...

1) one HUGE outdoor enclosure for the whole group

OR

2) two smaller enclosures, seperating them into two groups?

This post was last modified: 03-07-2008 07:46 PM by cvalda.

Actually I would try and make 4. I don't like my males together, they can get pretty rough with each other. You just have to watch them, some aren't as agressive as others.

Oh I should say that as of right now, only two of the males are "mature"... even tho' the other two are 5", they aren't quite mature yet...

Right now I have them indoors in two groups of 3.5 (with only one of the males being mature, and with all of them getting along well), and 1.2. (This doesn't include my three "babies" who are 4-4.25" and will stay housed away from the big 'uns!)

This post was last modified: 03-07-2008 07:59 PM by cvalda.

Well being the anal person I am about having like animals together. My 5.8 will be split up into 4 groups, a 2.5 group and 3 1.1 groups.

Danny

When my new russians come I am planning on starting a new group with them which means they will be seperated. Guess I better start working on enclosures.

I voted for two groups for several lines of thought.

If something were to happen to one group, not all your animals would be at risk. Knocking on wood here. Things such as a predator getting in and stealing or killing them.

If your into long term breeding plans including the keeping of young, you can place youngsters from group A into group B. Covers the fact you may not have any idea who breed whom or who laid the eggs. Might not be so important to you now or even in the next generation, but should be important at some time.

Your going to add more Russians to your group. You may say, "No more" but your gonna get soft and get another one...of twelve...lol. Will you want the new one in a group by himself? Doubt it. Will there still be room for him in the current group? Doubt that too. So do you want to keep moving the present animals around and regrouping them, maybe leading to more stress?

Helps to have two groups if you suddenly have a personality conflict too. Not real common, but sometimes two individuals have a real conflict and need separation...permanently.

Are you caring about breeding for a certain body type? coloration? For example maybe you might want to breed the blonder ones together and the blacker ones together.

Do you have room for one big enclosure? Sometimes it's easier to fit in two pens ending up with more actual space in the combines pens then in just one. Are you planning a totally enclosed pen? Sometimes smaller roof/top areas are easier to make then bigger ones.

This post was last modified: 03-07-2008 10:30 PM by Jacqui.

All very good points, Jacqui!!! Thanks!

I think we will go with two groups, or maybe three depending on how the males mature... I WOULD love to keep the ones with LOTS of black together...

OKay, here's a follow-up question...

How big of an outdoor enclosure do you think is suitable for 1.2 Russians? What about 1.3, and 2.3? (Keeping in mind that it can't be like 20x30 each !LOL!)

i think it'd be cool to have a huge russian enclosure where they could all interact but thats just me.
sounds like you're leaning the other way though...so, do you have enough space for 10'x10' enclosures?

I've been flip flopping back and forth! Good thing I have time to decide! I have plans drawn out for everything from four enclosures for the group, two enclosures, up to one huge one. I guess it depends on what materials I'm able to get my hands on for the cheapest (or free)! If I end up using cinderblocks as the base, then I can take out blocks to open it up, or put more in to close up it, as needed. I did draw out some AWESOME plans to make a series of eight 4'x8' pens (four seperate "squares" seperated into two) with screened, hinged lids - giving me an enclosure for each male plus 1 or 2 females (using four of them), then one for the greeks, one for the RF adults, one for the three younger Russians, and one left over for whatever I need! BUT if I have to BUY the lumber, it'd be $75 in lumber for 2 of them... so too costly, but if I can get the lumber cheap or free, that'd make a big difference!