Letting them roam....

[Texastort]

hi everyone! My torts are living in about a third of my backyard. They are doing great out there. I was wondering if you would recommend letting them roam the rest of my yard supervised. My concern is that they will realize there's a whole new world out there and try to escape their enclosure when i put them back! They have stopped digging but are still pacing a lot around their enclosure. Thoughts?

 

[Tom]

Sulcatas pace. They are VERY active tortoises most of the time. If the plants in the rest of your yard are safe, then I think its fine, be be forewarned, after a month or so of doing it with out a problem you WILL get complacent. All it takes is one moment of inattention and they will "disappear". I think I can speak for everyone about that sick feeling we all share when a member posts about his or her "lost" tortoise...

I think you are asking the question to be told what to be cautious of, and the 4 big ones for me are: 1. Escape. 2. Eating something bad. 3. Predators, both domestic and wild. 4. Injury from being stepped on, closed in a gate, lawnmower/weedwacker, run over, etc...

The longer one keeps these fantastic animals the more you become aware of just how many things can go wrong...

 

[Texastort]

Sulcatas pace. They are VERY active tortoises most of the time. If the plants in the rest of your yard are safe, then I think its fine, be be forewarned, after a month or so of doing it with out a problem you WILL get complacent. All it takes is one moment of inattention and they will "disappear". I think I can speak for everyone about that sick feeling we all share when a member posts about his or her "lost" tortoise...

I think you are asking the question to be told what to be cautious of, and the 4 big ones for me are: 1. Escape. 2. Eating something bad. 3. Predators, both domestic and wild. 4. Injury from being stepped on, closed in a gate, lawnmower/weedwacker, run over, etc...

The longer one keeps these fantastic animals the more you become aware of just how many things can go wrong...

Thanks Tom. It's weird, they have a very large enclosure but they are just pacing along the back wall. I just redid (again) to make it more solid and less holes for them to see through.

 

[FranklinAndTara]

ive read on here that you should put in random walls, like "T" shapes along the walls... it gives them something to explor around. make sense? mine were pacing in an 18'x6' enclosure so i made it 50'x6' and they still hang out in the same 18' and will sometimes venture to the other end.

 

[Tom]

Someone did a post here a long time ago that said if you put a sulcata down in a random place they will always walk in the same direction. I think it was East, but I can't remember now.

Which direction is it that yours are trying to go?

 

[Texastort]

Someone did a post here a long time ago that said if you put a sulcata down in a random place they will always walk in the same direction. I think it was East, but I can't remember now.

Which direction is it that yours are trying to go?

Mine are going west.

 

[dmmj]

Personally I would recommend against letting them free roam, the occasional walk around the neighborhood is fine (many people do it), as long as you are with them. but in a unsecured yard to many things could happen/ sulcatas pace even in large enclosure they pace, it is what they do.

 

[ascott]

Every one of my CDTs head south....I thought I was the only one weird enough to notice that....hahaha