Alternative to outdoor enclosure
- Thread starter nicholena
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I purchased one of these http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00167S5EY/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20 Zoo Med Tortoise House on Amazon for my Russian to use during bad weather and for hibernating. They are made so that you can even put two together to make something larger. You can also make a pen from a bookcase easily. I am sure you can find pictures on this forum.
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- The Catskill Mountains of New York State
nicholena-I live in the Catskill Mountains in New York State, much colder than New Jersey and my Russian tortoises stay outdoors year round. Russian tortoises do even better outdoors in your area, as long as they are acclimated to their outdoor environment. I wouldn't suggest putting a newly acquired tortoises outdoors this time on year here in the Northeast. But in the spring if you have a safe and secure enclosure ready outdoors your tortoise can easily be kept outdoors 24/7 starting in the spring, all summer and most of the early fall. If you did not want it to hibernate you can bring it indoors through the winter.
The ZooMed house is nice, but really too small to house anything but a baby tortoise. It simply does not have enough floor space available for most tortoises. Especially very active tortoises like Russians. Keep in mind that tortoises are terrestrial animals and require as much space to roam as possible relative to their body size.
Good sources for enclosures are bookcases and homemade or custom built wooden enclosures that can be made to exact sizes to fit a specific area that you'd like to put it in. If you check the "enclosures" section of this forum you'll see many good examples. I also have some photos I can send you if you like.
The ZooMed house is nice, but really too small to house anything but a baby tortoise. It simply does not have enough floor space available for most tortoises. Especially very active tortoises like Russians. Keep in mind that tortoises are terrestrial animals and require as much space to roam as possible relative to their body size.
Good sources for enclosures are bookcases and homemade or custom built wooden enclosures that can be made to exact sizes to fit a specific area that you'd like to put it in. If you check the "enclosures" section of this forum you'll see many good examples. I also have some photos I can send you if you like.
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