Hi just a query to uk owners. We have lovely weather at the moment and we are going away for a week, starting on Friday. My question is I have our next door neighbour to feed and keep an eye on my two. They have a shed with hatches so I open up in a morning and close at night. To make things easier for elderly neighbour I am thinking of leaving hatches open as he’s not an early riser and with having a south facing garden the shed warms up quite early with morning sun. We don’t have any predators as I know of and have left them open myself on odd occasions. I know a lot of tortoise owners leave their tortoises out all summer with no problems.
Dare I leave hatches open .
- Thread starter Suey
- Start date
I'm not in UK but a lot of us in the US lock ours up at night.
I do have predators though.
I do have predators though.
TaraMaiden
Active Member
As long as you're happy they'll be fed properly, I don't see a problem; I have 2 tortoises in separate enclosures, but they're both covered.... Not sure I'd be happy leaving them unsecured and exposed, if I'm completely honest.... I don't have predators either
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I fear you have no choice as you can not leave hatch locked as they will fry in a shed with no ventilation. My worry would be if they flipped or ran away will you neighbour check and look for them or just replenish food and water? My Russian tortoise would be off !
Well they can’t get out of their enclosures and the shed is under a tree so not very exposed and as the weather is hot here now there is no heat on in the shed at all. There is also more shade in the enclosures since I planted lavender and lavateria bushes.
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Impressive! Looks like they each have their own patch. I would suggest you start from today leaving the hatch open and observe what happens.
Very pretty! 👍
Hello Suey,
I live in the UK too. Obviously I don’t know exactly we’re you live but I am in the suburbs of London and we get foxes in our garden. There are also rats in every area, so you will probably have predators. Also, we have magpies and parakeets which can do a lot of damage to tortoises.
Hi well we’re back from our six days holiday. I decided to leave hatches open and everything was fine. Our neighbour is very good and checks on them day and night and feeds them. I have never seen any foxes here even though we’re on the edge of open countryside. We do have magpies but no parakeets. My two tortoises have plenty of hiding places and really they don’t come outside as much as you would think. Uk weather isn’t the best for them.
Glad it all worked out and you have options in future.
I have inside and outside enclosure. If I am WFH and temp OK he is out. As a Russian he is a keen escape artist so both his enclosures have to be altered as be grows and avoid escape. He loves it outside watching birds and planes and running around his enclosure. Your set up is beautiful truly English.
Thanks Sarah , yes my two are Russians and my male is more active than my female. He comes out to play a lot more than she does. I think no matter how big of an enclosure they have they still spend their time trying to get out. Looking for an escape route 🤣
