Beginnings of outdoor enclosure

[singapura78]

Hi all - I am new to tortoises….as a matter of fact, I don't even have one yet! I live outside of Sacramento, CA and am hoping to get a few Russian torts soon. In the meantime, I am making the first outdoor enclosure for whenever my new RT does arrive. Can you take a look and tell me what you think? There is a layer of bricks under the substrate so they can't dig out. Then I have 8-10" of topsoil mixed with coconut coir and cypress mulch. Unfortunately, I ran out of mulch and coir and have to get some more and mix it in. So it is a bit lacking in that department. I built a little "burrow" too. There is a water dish which is fed by my irrigation system, and a feeding "table." OK - so what else can I do to ensure that my torts will be happy little girls? I want to make this one perfect before moving on and building another. So any advice is GREATLY appreciated. I feel like i t needs more enrichment items in it…….

 

[lismar79]

Cap all of your corners. Russians can climb anything. I watched mine scale a straight cinder block! Put a lip over all edges. They can only climb straight up so the lip will stop them from getting out. You are also going to want a few sight barriers. Russians are real aggresive and do not like each other so you will have to work to make many areas inside the enclosure so there won't be a turf war.

 

[singapura78]

YIKES - and I thought the 16" of retaining wall would be enough. THANK YOU! I will put a lip of wire on top of the retaining wall and then add a third layer to hold it in place. Now the corners will be a bit more tough. Do you mean the corners by the retaining wall…..or also the corners by the back fence also? Would they be able to scale up the fence???? Also, this enclosure would be for just one tortoise only. I am hoping to have 2-3 females each in separate enclosures. I would love for them to be together….but need to be prepared if they don't like each other. Thanks for the advice lismar79.

 

[lismar79]

They can climb the wood. Mine even climbed about 5 inches up using a plastic chair and a block corners are real easy because they get traction for both sets of claws. Cap all of your corners especially. Just assume anything is game for these guys. They are known for it.

 

[singapura78]

Wow......i definitely have some modifications to do for climbing then. I am so thankful that I got this advice!

 

[lynnedit]

It would be a great enclosure for one Russian tortoise, with the modifications that were mentioned. They are very scrappy, and don't get along with each other. You would need a huge enclosure with lots of sight blocks for more than one.
By one of our members: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...together-a-lesson-learned-the-hard-way.94114/

That said, they are adorable tortoises.
Check with your local CTTC chapter to see if there are tortoises that need adoption.
http://www.tortoise.org/cttc/member.html
Good for you to prepare ahead!

 

[Maro2Bear]

Id say to add a lot of plants, a larger rock cropping or two, and some smaller areas of hills and dales. It looks a bit barren, the more plants, rocks, logs you add will keep your new tort busy exploring, rather than figuring out how to get out! Keep up the posts and pix of course! Welcome to the Forum as well.