More newbie questions

[lbailey4487]

I am still educating myself, hoping to get my tort friend soon! I have some more set-up questions. Do I need to take the grass out of my tortoise’s enclosure and add substrate? The lawn area is fescue and mixed clover mainly. Is substrate necessary? How do I clean the outdoor enclosure? Do I need to replace the substrate regularly? Can the used substrate be composted for the flower beds later?
As to food, can Russian tortoises eat Timothy hay? I found some at Walmart made for guinea pigs that had dried, safe flowers mixed in. Would this be ok for them?
I appreciate any help! I want to do this right!

 

[Tom]

I am still educating myself, hoping to get my tort friend soon! I have some more set-up questions. Do I need to take the grass out of my tortoise’s enclosure and add substrate? The lawn area is fescue and mixed clover mainly. Is substrate necessary? How do I clean the outdoor enclosure? Do I need to replace the substrate regularly? Can the used substrate be composted for the flower beds later?
As to food, can Russian tortoises eat Timothy hay? I found some at Walmart made for guinea pigs that had dried, safe flowers mixed in. Would this be ok for them?
I appreciate any help! I want to do this right!

First, what size, age and species of tortoise are we talking about?

For an outdoor enclosure grass and clover is great. No need to remove it. You don't need "substrate" outdoors. Be sure the grass isn't being treated with lawn chemicals and be sure you don't have oxalis in that mixed clover.

I don't "clean" my outdoor enclosures. I have a little pooper scooper for each enclosure. I dump, rinse, and refill the tortoise waters daily. I clean out their night houses as needed. But there really isn't much "cleaning" needed outside. Its pretty much dirt.

Used substrate can be composted and re-used IF spreading tortoise diseases is not an issue. I would not use tortoise waste from one enclosure, and then use the compost to plant plants in another enclosure. If you only have one tortoise, and you intend to use your compost in the front yard away from any other tortoises, then it should be totally fine.

No tort should be fed Timothy hay. It's too coarse and stemy. Russians are not grass eaters, so hay is not appropriate for them.

 

[lbailey4487]

First, what size, age and species of tortoise are we talking about?

For an outdoor enclosure grass and clover is great. No need to remove it. You don't need "substrate" outdoors. Be sure the grass isn't being treated with lawn chemicals and be sure you don't have oxalis in that mixed clover.

I don't "clean" my outdoor enclosures. I have a little pooper scooper for each enclosure. I dump, rinse, and refill the tortoise waters daily. I clean out their night houses as needed. But there really isn't much "cleaning" needed outside. Its pretty much dirt.

Used substrate can be composted and re-used IF spreading tortoise diseases is not an issue. I would not use tortoise waste from one enclosure, and then use the compost to plant plants in another enclosure. If you only have one tortoise, and you intend to use your compost in the front yard away from any other tortoises, then it should be totally fine.

No tort should be fed Timothy hay. It's too coarse and stemy. Russians are not grass eaters, so hay is not appropriate for them.

Thank you for your reply! I’m going to carefully look over the grassy area where I plan to put the enclosure to make sure it’s safe. I am looking for a young adult Russian tortoise, as that seems the best match for my area’s climate, personality, and what I can manage. While I’d love watching a baby grow, being new to reptiles in general, I want to take it easy. And I only plan for one tortoise and would be using the compost in ornamental flower beds later. I’ve been really nervous about digging outside the enclosure. Someone suggested using a raised bed to allow for digging but not out of the enclosure. I’m thinking it would also help with making an enclosure predator safe, as in hardware cloth on the bottom, 8-12 inches of coco coir and cypress mulch, a hardware cloth frame on top. I’m working on a 10 X 10 outdoor size, 4 X 8 inside. Thoughts? Thank you for all you have posted. I have read it repeatedly and printed it for reference. I really do want to do this right. I’ve admired turtles and tortoises for so long!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

For your outdoor space, have you considered something like the picture below? It’s basically a dog kennel with a visual barrier at the bottom, connected to a heated night box, made by the legend that is @Tom
To prevent digging, I’d dig down about half a foot, lay down some mesh and and put the barrier frame in, then I’d fill up with dirt from the yard and plant grass, then obviously put the dog kennel on topnow there’s of course cheaper ways to go about this I’m sure, but I do love how sturdy and predator proof it is!


Then for indoors, feel free to check out this thread I made, I included lots of visual examples

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

Hope this helps! Tom can definitely help advising with the outdoor bit more than me

 

[lbailey4487]

For your outdoor space, have you considered something like the picture below? It’s basically a dog kennel with a visual barrier at the bottom, connected to a heated night box, made by the legend that is @Tom
To prevent digging, I’d dig down about half a foot, lay down some mesh and and put the barrier frame in, then I’d fill up with dirt from the yard and plant grass, then obviously put the dog kennel on topnow there’s of course cheaper ways to go about this I’m sure, but I do love how sturdy and predator proof it is!
View attachment 378945

Then for indoors, feel free to check out this thread I made, I included lots of visual examples

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

Hope this helps! Tom can definitely help advising with the outdoor bit more than me

Thank you!

 

[Maggie3fan]

I have kept Sulcata for over 20 years or so...I have NEVER had one try to dig. I have several predator species in this part of Corvallis, and seen them in my yard, but never when the torts are out. In the beginning when I first moved to Oregon I took cinder blocks and made pens, I had a 'sponsor' for my animals so she got a carpenter to make 3 foot high cedar fence in other places...I didn't dig down nothing... too much work and just because Sulcata can dig, doesn't mean they are gonna...I made the main Sulcata enclosure on regular lawn the threw pasture grass seed all around...Spring came and man did I have free graze. This is winter
this is inside the shed, a sleeping box for larger Sulcata. This shed and pens are for larger Sulcata, smaller Sulcata are kept in the house until about 3-4 years old...

parts of the shed are partitioned off so I could put more tortoises in there when I needed to...I also put some of my cactus in the tort table in there for the winter...lol
also you can make Tom's night box instead of the shed. I chose to go with the heated and insulated tort shed and it has stood me in good stead for 19 years...I have reptile rooms in my house for smaller chelonia...just wanted to give you different ideas, and see how easy some cinder blocks and pasture grass seed makes keeping Sulcata

 

[lbailey4487]

For your outdoor space, have you considered something like the picture below? It’s basically a dog kennel with a visual barrier at the bottom, connected to a heated night box, made by the legend that is @Tom
To prevent digging, I’d dig down about half a foot, lay down some mesh and and put the barrier frame in, then I’d fill up with dirt from the yard and plant grass, then obviously put the dog kennel on topnow there’s of course cheaper ways to go about this I’m sure, but I do love how sturdy and predator proof it is!
View attachment 378945

Then for indoors, feel free to check out this thread I made, I included lots of visual examples

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

Hope this helps! Tom can definitely help advising with the outdoor bit more than me

I appreciate any and all help! Unfortunately, the predators I’m most concerned about are rats. We have a creek across the street and a water treatment plant with retention ponds a couple hundred yards beyond that, so they are around. We never had any issues with them until the summers started getting hotter and drier. During a drought 3-4 years back, they were getting in my basement looking for food and water sources, trying to come up into my house. It was a BATTLE for months before I surrendered and hired exterminators. We haven’t had issues since until the past month. We have had very little rain and, again, they are prowling. So far, it’s been a few signs of activity. We have scheduled pest control again. But I know they are around and looking for opportunities. I think it would take at least 1/4 inch hardware cloth to secure the pen.