# Naturalistic Keeping: Construction & Design of Captive Chelonian Habitat



## HermanniChris

This short film titled, *Naturalistic Keeping: Construction & Design of Captive Chelonian Habitat *was shot here at Garden State Tortoise for the _Turtle Survival Alliance's 2017 Symposium on the Conservation and Biology of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles_. 

With the TSA's permission we are allowed to now share it publicly. 

Please keep in mind we had only 12-13 minutes to cram a lot in, so we of course could not cover all the species kept here or all the details regarding how we do the habitats. We've also only lived at this new location for under 10 months, so many of the enclosures are not fully grown in or done for that matter. 

We plan to do extended versions of it when time allows and after the documentary being filmed here is done sometime this fall.

Thanks and enjoy.
-Chris


----------



## Guggie

This is a great video. Thanks for sharing!


----------



## MichaelaW

It doesn't get better than that. @HermanniChris this is incredible!


----------



## RosemaryDW

Amazing.


----------



## Carol S

I really enjoyed watching the video.


----------



## Bambam1989

I love this! Great video.


----------



## mike taylor

Reminds me of Kelly's place . Very awesome look into how it's done right .


----------



## HermanniChris

Thank you all very much.


----------



## Yvonne G

Beautiful, Chris. Did you do all this on your own or did you hire it done? I like the idea of the hot wire around the outside of the pens.

(Sorry if you answered my question in the video. I keep my speakers turned off because I don't like my computer making noise at me)


----------



## Loohan

Awesome habitat!
Yard Sentinel, what a great idea. I had a wild boxie walk into my electrified netting fence a few months ago, and just sit there, pulled in, getting shocked hard.
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/danger-of-electric-netting-fence-to-turtles.159872/#post-1513505
Now i know how i can grow cantaloupes without the net fence. Worth a try, anyway.


----------



## HermanniChris

Yvonne G said:


> Beautiful, Chris. Did you do all this on your own or did you hire it done? I like the idea of the hot wire around the outside of the pens.
> 
> (Sorry if you answered my question in the video. I keep my speakers turned off because I don't like my computer making noise at me)



Thanks Yvonne. I did it myself with the help of a few family members. We also have an external tortoise building which houses all our non-brumating species but I have not taken any footage of it yet. Will have to do that soon.


----------



## HermanniChris

Loohan said:


> Awesome habitat!
> Yard Sentinel, what a great idea. I had a wild boxie walk into my electrified netting fence a few months ago, and just sit there, pulled in, getting shocked hard.
> https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/danger-of-electric-netting-fence-to-turtles.159872/#post-1513505
> Now i know how i can grow cantaloupes without the net fence. Worth a try, anyway.



Wild Turtles cannot come in contact with our electric fences neither can our captive animals. However, raccoons and other predators would be shocked badly. Would never not use them. Yard sentinel works for us but I’ve read reviews where it does not work.


----------



## Cheryl Hills

Great video. Would love to see one on Russian torts.


----------



## HermanniChris

Thank you. We do keep Russians here and plan to do various video segments based on the species of each continent/region we breed here. For example, one series of videos would be on Mediterranean tortoises which would include Russians while other segments would be on the tortoises of Africa, so on and so forth...


----------



## Cheryl Hills

I will k


HermanniChris said:


> Thank you. We do keep Russians here and plan to do various video segments based on the species of each continent/region we breed here. For example, one series of videos would be on Mediterranean tortoises which would include Russians while other segments would be on the tortoises of Africa, so on and so forth...


I will keep a watch out for them. Thanks


----------



## Oxalis

Great video; I very much enjoyed it!  I could see some of the same thought processes behind tortoise enclosure designs that I considered with mine. I have big plans for whenever my husband and I move to a new house with a bigger backyard. Our Russian tortoise will have a larger and sunnier paradise...


----------



## Pearly

HermanniChris said:


> This short film titled, *Naturalistic Keeping: Construction & Design of Captive Chelonian Habitat *was shot here at Garden State Tortoise for the _Turtle Survival Alliance's 2017 Symposium on the Conservation and Biology of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles_.
> 
> With the TSA's permission we are allowed to now share it publicly.
> 
> Please keep in mind we had only 12-13 minutes to cram a lot in, so we of course could not cover all the species kept here or all the details regarding how we do the habitats. We've also only lived at this new location for under 10 months, so many of the enclosures are not fully grown in or done for that matter.
> 
> We plan to do extended versions of it when time allows and after the documentary being filmed here is done sometime this fall.
> 
> Thanks and enjoy.
> -Chris



Just found this thread! Wow! That’s awesome!!! Thank you so much for sharing this


----------



## surfergirl

@HermanniChris 
Are you planning to share more about your natural method of hibernating your tortoises in future videos? I recently saw your latest videos where you showed some of the winter boxes you use. I am very interested in allowing my torts to naturally hibernate while also protecting them from predators and any climate extremes.

Your passion for keeping your torts in perfect conditions, naturally, is second to none.
Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge to help us me be a better keeper!


----------



## pawsplus

Wow. Fabulous!! I've been obsessing about tortoise enclosures for more than 20 years and I got a lot of great ideas.


----------



## mylittlecholla

HermanniChris said:


> This short film titled, *Naturalistic Keeping: Construction & Design of Captive Chelonian Habitat *was shot here at Garden State Tortoise for the _Turtle Survival Alliance's 2017 Symposium on the Conservation and Biology of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles_.
> 
> With the TSA's permission we are allowed to now share it publicly.
> 
> Please keep in mind we had only 12-13 minutes to cram a lot in, so we of course could not cover all the species kept here or all the details regarding how we do the habitats. We've also only lived at this new location for under 10 months, so many of the enclosures are not fully grown in or done for that matter.
> 
> We plan to do extended versions of it when time allows and after the documentary being filmed here is done sometime this fall.
> 
> Thanks and enjoy.
> -Chris



Right on! This is a wonderful video. Beautiful place, happy, happy tortoises!


----------

