Nor Goes Outside - DUW!!

[sift]

Today was the first day this year that was actually bona fide nice out. Luckily it meant that I got a chance to take Nor out to play on the lawn. I never knew tortoises could boogie like that!

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I am so desperately in love with this little creature. I can't wait until I have enough room to get another one and, ideally, a pair of redfoots as well.

Quick question to go with the shots.. How long should I take her out for at a time? She goes hard while she's out there and I wouldn't want to exhaust the little critter but I want her to have the benefit of sunlight as well.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Cool! Thanks so much for sharing. You are so lucky to have an organic yard. All we have here in the apartment is pesticide patches, so no grass for little Trevor!

I would personally recommend having an enclosure just for her so it's not overwhelming to have the run of the yard (let me know if I interpreted your post wrong). That huge change from an indoor enclosure to the huge yard can be a shock, and also after that, the tort always wants more space then they have day to day inside. Just a suggestion. It can even be a little portable fence, and you still watch her all the time (Maggie has one of these you may be able to search for).

I think the tort can stay outside as long as it safe, warm (high 70s in my opinion), has shade, water, etc. If she's exhausted she'll nap or slow down. You should have a hide area for her to go to. Sometimes the running around can mean the tort is looking for a hiding spot and is scared. Most of the time its just fun though! Did she like the buffet?

I sure wish my tort would have this kind of reaction to the great outdoors. He runs away and hides still. I watch him like a hawk because I'm scared some bird will swoop down and get him, although birds of that size have never been spotted by me. lol

Awesome pics.

 

[sift]

Kate,

I was thinking about a little pen for her but I'm up in the air about where to put it. Both our front and back yards are organic (dandelions and clover abound, the latter in the front yard the former in the back) but both have pro's and con's. The back yard is fenced entirely but that's where the dog runs are. There is NO chance that the dogs could get out of their respective runs but they are occasionally allowed to roam the yard and have been known to urinate/defecate on the grass back there. The front yard, on the other hand, is completely open with no fence at all. Magpies and crows have been witnessed in both the front and back yards on a daily basis so either way she has to be constantly supervised.

I'm quite certain that she wasn't afraid of all the openness as she stopped to munch clover leaves quite regularly and varied between braving the clover jungle and strutting her way across the cement walk with absolutely not a care in the world. I can't get over her outgoing attitude and even the vet said she's amazingly well-adjusted.

I have two things that I'm a little concerned about but I'll be starting up a new thread in regards to them. =)

 

[Crazy1]

Christina great pics Nor looks great. Is that clover in the yard or sour grass (Oxalis europaea) ?
Also about the pen you can make it portable so you can move it just a round of chickenwire would work. or something like this that you just set ontop of the grass. View attachment tort play pen.bmp

As for Dogs, just make sure there is no poo in the area he can eat.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Great idea Robyn! That would take away a little of the need to constantly watch too. That's so cool your tort is brave. Mine is a little scardey tort. hehe I love him anyways.

 

[sift]

Thanks!! It's important to me that Nor is doing as well as she can be.

That little playpen would be awesome for her!! I'd want really tiny wire though so that magpies and crows couldn't get their nasty beaks through it. Thankfully I have a handy boyfriend so hopefully he can build me something simliar.

I'm not sure which variety of lawn grass that stuff is but the patch on the front where I was letting Nor run around is 90% clover. She was only showing interest in and eating the clover and was ignoring the grass entirely. Are there varities of grass that can be harmful to them?

 

[Stazz]

Aw Christina, Nor looks so happy outside !!! I love the pics, he's/she's soo cute !!!!

 

[Isa]

Christina, thanks a lot for sharing all those beautiful pictures with us. nor is so cute. It looks like he had a nice day outside

 

[tortoisenerd]

If you build something, look for hardware cloth (1/4 inch is suggested). I've heard it's the finest mesh that the UVB can still get through really well. You can't go too fine because the rays won't get through. Take a look and see if that will alleviate your concern about the birds. Eeek!

They do tend to like the broadleaf plants more than grass. Haven't known of too many russians that would eat grass. Sour grass is toxic (see link below), as are some other plants, so you want to make sure everything in your yard is identified to play it safe. http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-6541.html?highlight=sour+grass

Some people however take the approach that torts won't eat large quantities of anything toxic (such as in the wild). Most owners however err on the side of caution. In captivity the torts get used to eating what we feed them instead of foraging for safe stuff. I would take pictures of the plants and weeds in your yard and identify them online (you can post here if needed) to be safe.

 

[sift]

Oohhhh, I see now. I'm 99% sure that the stuff on our lawn is clover not sour grass. I did a quick google search on sour grass and have never seen anything like the little yellow flowers it shows. The stuff on our lawn gets the white rounded flowers (sometimes a purple one here or there) but never yellow. I'll have to have a look for that hardware cloth as well. I was planning on using something like rabbit wire but never screen. I want her to get as much UV benefit as possible.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Glad to hear it's not sour grass!

Here's a comparison of rabbit wire and hardware cloth:
http://www.meshdirect.co.uk/images/P/Wire_netting_thumb.jpg
http://www.centralmediaserver.com/WIXT/Engineering/hardwarecloth.jpg

I actually think either would work fine for getting the UVB through. Compare costs to see what is the best idea. I'd treat the wood of the enclosure with an epoxy or similar to help resist moisture from the grass. Just let it de-fume for a couple days or however long it takes for it not to smell anymore. You can probably build something like that commercially-available one, and even bigger, for half the cost. I'd weight it down with something to make sure it doesn't tip, and make digging under it difficult.

 

[sift]

The hardware cloth looks like it might have smaller "gaps" so I'll probably end up going with that (or the equivalent).

I keep a water based polyurethane around to use on the insides of my high-humidity reptile enclosures so I figured I'd probably just use that to seal the wood. It's non toxic and cures very quickly.

As for digging under, I was thinking that extending the hardware cloth (or whatever) a couple of inches towards the centre of the enclosure (on the inside) would help prevent digging out. I'd just make sure to cover the sharp ends (with an electrical or duct tape) so that Nor couldn't injure herself on it. She's probably only going to be outside for a maximum of an hour or so at a time and never left completely unsupervised so I shouldn't have to worry too much about her burrowing out.

 

[tortoisenerd]

I used the same water based polyurethane on my indoor enclosure. Worked great. I just let it sit a few days afterward.

I'd be careful doing what you're saying. I don't think you want the tort walking on the hardware cloth, even covered with tape, if I understand you correctly (if not please clarify). Their foot can get caught or injured. I think with everything you said, you don't have to worry much about digging. If it's on grass, that's also tougher to dig than dirt or similar.

 

[sift]

It occured to me after I posted that that ground is pretty much like cement (we just dug a hole for the new pond and it was brutal). I think I'll probably be safe just putting it on the ground and letting the little munchkin run around. It's not like I'll be going anywhere while she's outside.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

This is the fence I use for my smaller tortoises. You can see I create shady spots and I cover it with a wire that I had. It's not pretty like others I've seen, but it works and the tortoises don't care what it looks like.
While I was taking the pictures Bob had to come to see what I was doing so I added his pictures just cuz he's the prettiest tort around...

And don't forget Bob. He is the nosiest thing ever, he can't stand not being involved in whatever I'm doing...

 

[sift]

Ahahahahaha! That's great! You can tell he's like, "Mom? Yo, Mom! Whatcha dooooin'? Is it for me?" We have cinder blocks that I could use to make a more permanent outdoor pen. Thing is, if I were actually going to leave her outside unattended I'd have to make sure that:
a) Birds can't reach her
b) The pen isn't something you can move easily
c) The pen has a lock because some of our neighbours are less than savoury people

I really wish that we could hurry up and sell our house in the city so that we can get out onto an acreage.