Need help with Texas Tortoise enclosure ideas please!!

[hookedup]

Hello, I am new to this forum so please bear with me (this will be quite long with background info)...

I am looking for help/advice/input from those who know about Texas Tortoises. I have a tortoise that is around 40 years old. I have had it as a pet since I was a small child. I have had to relocate her last week. She had been living at my parent's house in a wonderful spot (for her entire life) but my dad passed away last year, and my mom had a massive stroke last week and will not be returning home. I have not wanted to move her in the past because she has lived so happily there but now the time has come for relocation to my home. Also we no longer have a dog (our 14 year old German Shepherd died in April) so this seems to be a good time to make it happen.

Our yard is not tortoise-proofed and certainly not set up for her to graze freely at this time. I can create whatever needs to be done - we live in a good climate for her so it's more a matter of creating something quickly and reasonably. I want her to be safe and secure and stay healthy too!! A short term and longer term plan is what I have in mind.

I need to be able to plant things for her to graze on quickly and figure out a way to have her safe at night (we have lots of critters like raccoons, possums, coyotes) could anyone please point me in the right direction? I have already contacted my local tortoise society but they don't have another meeting until late July.
I am familiar with general care do's and don'ts - I need more habitat ideas and creative thoughts for outdoor safety. Thanks!!!!! C.J.

 

[Crazy1]

Hookedup, welcome to the forum. I know you are asking for help from "those who know about Texas Tortoises". I am not one of those. I have small greek torts I placed mine in a dog run. with chicken wire under it about 12 inches deep and made a chicken wire top. It makes it preditor proof from above and below. You will need something peditor proof for it at night. that may do the trick at least for now. I have CA Desert Torts but no large peditors to worry about so they are in my backyard with two cinderblocks stacked ontop of each other to make walls. a dog house as a hide and they do not try and dig out. Good luck I am sure more infor will start pouring in.

 

[Yvonne G]

Its probably best to have a "pasture" especially made for the tortoise. You need a fence that he can't see through, that goes all the way down to the ground with no light showing under it. I use masonry caps (they are rectangular stepping stones) along the bottom of the fence to inhibit digging. Find a good spot under a tree that is in the shade all day long, and make some sort of hiding place. I built my desert tortoise hiding places out of cinder blocks. I place the masonry caps on the ground for a floor in the dimensions I want the house to be, then start stacking up the blocks. You only need to go 2 high for a Texas tortoise. Don't make it too big. Maybe two blocks wide by three blocks long, and two blocks high, leaving space for a doorway. Put a cut-to-fit piece of 3/4" or 1" exterior plywood over the top. You can lift the plywood to clean out the inside, so don't make it a permanent lid. Cut another piece of plywood a little larger than the doorway. Once your tortoise is in residence, late evening, every evening, you go out and find him and put him in the house, if he's not already in there. Then you put the plywood over the doorway and place a cinderblock in front of it so opossums, skunks, raccoon or foxes can't get in there. If he has lived his whole life in your folks' backyard, then you just need to pattern his new space after his old space. They must have been doing something right for him to live there for so long without escaping. Just remember, tortoises are territorial, and he's going to be stressed out for a while until he gets used to his new living arrangements.

Keep us posted.

Yvonne

 

[Crazy1]

Yvonne thanks, that is such an easy solution for a hide. I had done one but let them have the dirt floor and they dug and dug until they were moving the bricks, that will solve the problem. Oh, I forgot to say I put solid plastic around the base of the dog run so no one can see out-but these are small torts not as big as a Texas tort.

 

[hookedup]

Thank you very much for the quick replies. I had already started something similar with cinder blocks for the hiding spot so it's good to know I am on the right track. After 40 years of the same environment I am really worried about stressing her out. She seems to be doing pretty well so far. Eating a lot and very active. She goes into her hide a few times during the day to nap and comes out again and eats and cruises around. I need to get some grass and grazing foods for her growing in the area we are constructing. I will keep you posted how things are going, it's nice to have the Internet and so much great information and resources at hand! Thanks again, C.J.