How old should baby Hermann's be to play outside?

How old should my Frankie be to be allowed to play in the garden in sunny whether? He won't be living outside because it's too cold here. But I want to make him an outdoor run to play outside on sunny days.
Unfortunately our neighbour sprayed the lawn with pesticides, so the run will have to have a bottom and substrate in it.

We took him outside to walk on the paved bit of the garden the other day, but he was scared of the open space or it was too hot. He tried to run away and hide under a bench immediately.

Here he is sitting next to his dad's foot. He will be a year old in June/July.

They can go outside the day they hatch. I like to do about an hour of outdoor time per inch of tortoise, until they get a little bigger.

The tortoise should always be in a safe enclosure. Letting them run loose is a recipe for disaster in many ways.

Tom said:

They can go outside the day they hatch. I like to do about an hour of outdoor time per inch of tortoise, until they get a little bigger.

The tortoise should always be in a safe enclosure. Letting them run loose is a recipe for disaster in many ways.

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Thanks for your reply! I'm not going to let him run loose. In this picture I was sitting right next to him on the ground and head my legs stretched out as a barrier so he can't escape.
I will buy/ build him an outdoor run with a mesh on top to keep away cats and birds and I will supervise him at all times.

Some people use kiddies paddling pools, or sandpits as temporary enclosures for supervised outdoor time, but they should have a cover so that birds like gulls and buzzards etc or dogs can't grab him. You can also buy raised garden bed kits, but if you are adding substrate they may not be deep enough. They will also need a hide if they are nervous and for shelter.

Lyn W said:

Some people use kiddies paddling pools, or sandpits as temporary enclosures for supervised outdoor time, but they should have a cover so that birds like gulls and buzzards etc or dogs can't grab him. You can also buy raised garden bed kits, but if you are adding substrate they may not be deep enough. They will also need a hide if they are nervous and for shelter.

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Yes, I will get all those things for him.

This was the cheapest thing ever and my baby loved it. I’m using it again this year as he’s still very small

katieandiggy said:

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This was the cheapest thing ever and my baby loved it. I’m using it again this year as he’s still very small

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Nice!

squirrelkitty said:

Nice!

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I don’t have to worry about predators here in the UK as someone is here all day with him but you could get a bigger piece of wire to cover it.

I planted a campanula plant, Boston fern and I also sprinkled weed seeds over it. I get some weed seeds in a separate trough and once established I moved them into the kiddie pool. It worked really well for me.

katieandiggy said:

I don’t have to worry about predators here in the UK as someone is here all day with him but you could get a bigger piece of wire to cover it.

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.....those seagulls are pretty quick at pretty quick at grabbing anything that looks like food....and a small tort could be mistaken for a pastie

katieandiggy said:

I don’t have to worry about predators here in the UK as someone is here all day with him but you could get a bigger piece of wire to cover it.

I planted a campanula plant, Boston fern and I also sprinkled weed seeds over it. I get some weed seeds in a separate trough and once established I moved them into the kiddie pool. It worked really well for me.

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We've got plenty of murderous seagulls in Merseyside and there are lots of cats in my neighbourhood. And sometimes urban foxes even come out during the day! We had two big ones climbing on our wall in the morning a while ago.

Lyn W said:

.....those seagulls are pretty quick at pretty quick at grabbing anything that looks like food....and a small tort could be mistaken for a pastie

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Nothing lands in my garden, I have a flock of 14 murderous chickens they chase away anything that attempts to land. They are like a gang.