Hello I just rescued a leopard tortoise that is 2 years old probably closer to 3:00 and I have babies that I'm raising in a clothes chamber and I was just wondering at what age should they go outside number one and then number two is what should the humidity be for a two and a half to three year old leopard I live in Southern California thank you I appreciate it just want to make sure I give this guy the best life he can since he's already had a rough early years of his life they kept him in a small fish tank
Leopard tortoise
- Thread starter hydro708
- Start date
They can go outside for short times when it's warm enough, 80. Babies for 1/2 hour and the 2 to 3 year old daily for a few hours. When they reach 10 inches they can live outside 24/7 when it's warm with a heated night box when needed and you lock them into at night.
Yes a 4x10 would be good for a while.
I provided all my leopard tortoises with at least some time outside daily. Hatchlings maybe had 30min-1hour. A few hours a day once they were hand-held size. But keep in mind being outside in a barren, dirt box is very different than in a well planted garden full of vegetation for them to hide amongst. My heavily planted enclosures created various micro climates with high humidity than that of a flat dirt patch.
I made sure my leopards always had access to an area with 60-60% humidity and 80+ degree temps. When they were little it was the closed chamber and as a grown up, it's the outdoor heated house.
Again, keep in mind the outdoor enclosure should be well planted so they have humid spots to nestle into as they see fit.
awesome!
some examples of my hatchling enclosure or "sun tub" with the hardware cloth lid removed. This safely allowed them the brief outings
Some examples of the planted outdoor enclosures when they spent a little more time outside
All of this was when I lived in SoCal.
hope this helps!!
All of this was when I lived in SoCal.
hope this helps!!
What size is the tortoise in question? All of your questions depend on size, not age. They grow at wildly different rates and for a wide variety of reasons. A two year old could be 50 grams or 1500.
I like to keep them in humid closed chambers for as long as I can. When they get bigger, I leave them outside more and more when the weather is nice, but they will grow smoother if they spend more hours inside in a closed chamber and less hours outside. One one year's batch of babies, I moved them all outside at around 1000 grams. I got some mild pyramiding after that. I left the next year's batch indoors much longer and they are MUCH smoother. Some of them are over 3000 grams now and they still "live" mostly inside, though they do spend hours outdoors grazing in a 8000 sq. ft. pen when weather is favorable. They still sleep indoors in large humid closed chambers every night, and occasionally have to stay indoors all day when winter weather is not cooperating.
Pyramiding is caused by growth in conditions that are too dry. As long as this tortoise is growing, do what you can to keep humidity high as much of the time as you can.
