outdoor enclosure for Russians. advice needed.

[Jodie]

I am going to build an enclosure for my Russians in my existing garden. Mostly I grow weeds for the last few years anyway. It is a large garden 20' X 30', 3 foot picket fence. It is in my fenced backyard. I was planning to line the inside of the fence with railroad ties. Two high and cap the corners. Will I need to bury something to prevent escape or line the ground with rocks? I know they dig and bury themselves, but do they tunnel out? I have heard so many escape stories, I am completely paranoid about putting them outside.

 

[leigti]

I bet they can climb up the railroad ties. so you would have to cap The top as well. You don't necessarily have to put wire underground, you can put pavers all along the wall. I used pressure treated 2 x 12's to build my enclosure, unfortunately I couldn't Fenson part of the yard because I would have to be able to find my tortoise when I can't see. so I made sure I could reach every corner of the enclosure. but I love your idea. You can build a secure locked hide box for nighttime or just bring them inside every night. Make sure not to put tall plants or objects they can climb up onto too close to the walls. I swear Russians can levitate is the entire 20 x 30 space going to be used for the Russians? What about your leopard?

 

[Jodie]

The Leopards have enclosures on the other side of the yard. Most of the garden will be for the Russians. The back side is a compost pile. My plan is to do the railroad ties and make it 20x20ish. I will build planting boxes inside as site barriers and to grow veggies. Will use rock paths. Pavers around the whole thing will be expensive. Hmmm. Am planning a night box. Have to build one for the leopards this spring too. Now that Mort is over 9 inches and I have Scarlett, she is 20lbs, they need to be outside 24/7. Anyway, so they will burrow or tunnel out under the railroad ties? Just another yard and fence, but dogs yard, so that would be bad.

 

[leigti]

Check out the enclosure section, @Yvonne G has pictures of her Russian tortoise pen. Maybe bricks would work along the outside. or you can dig a little trench and put hardware cloth straight down a foot or so. chances are though they won't dig out if they have good areas in the pen. but I think they will walk the Fenceline no matter how big it is. Put a little bored across each corner so they do not have 90° angles, they climb straight up those and they also tend to hide in those corners, once I rounded the corners off mine quit doing that.
Building and designing outdoor pens is a lot of fun. I plan to enlarge the box turtle section of mine this year. The person that helps me build it doesn't know this yet though she may kill me, this will be the Second time I have enlarged it.

 

[WillTort2]

I've seen the results of a Russian's digging prowess they can easily dig under a half buried RR tie. They do most of their digging following a rain when the soil is moist.

I've had success with digging a trench and then pouring concrete and setting a 2" x 12" board into the wet concrete. Then put a hardwire frame on top to prevent predator attacks and to prevent climbing out.

Good luck!

 

[leigti]

I've seen the results of a Russian's digging prowess they can easily dig under a half buried RR tie. They do most of their digging following a rain when the soil is moist.

I've had success with digging a trench and then pouring concrete and setting a 2" x 12" board into the wet concrete. Then put a hardwire frame on top to prevent predator attacks and to prevent climbing out.

Good luck!

Well, you have some ambitious little Russians. My yard is pure rock, digging is just about impossible. So I decided to put down a layer of hardware cloth and then build the pen with 2 x 12's and then I put hardware cloth on top. Filled it with Pete Moss and garden soil and planted a bunch of plants. this works for a small area but it would be very expensive for the 20 x 20 area she is thinking of doing. I think your idea of a trench with a 2 x 12 and the cement is good. I never thought about using cement.

 

[TortsNTurtles]

I've seen the results of a Russian's digging prowess they can easily dig under a half buried RR tie. They do most of their digging following a rain when the soil is moist.

I've had success with digging a trench and then pouring concrete and setting a 2" x 12" board into the wet concrete. Then put a hardwire frame on top to prevent predator attacks and to prevent climbing out.

Good luck!

I like this idea.Thanks!

 

[Yvonne G]

I've been keeping Russian tortoises for quite a long time, and in all that time I've never had one go to the fence and try to dig under. Do they dig? yes...but they dig to bury themselves, not to escape. When they're trying to escape, they climb. I feel one railroad tie isn't tall enough to keep a Russian tortoise from climbing out.

 

[Jacqui]

None of my Russians have ever dug next to the fence. They do their digging under the plant clumps and big cement pavers. I agree you need a lip all the way around your enclosure. Russians are one of the best climbers and it's amazing what they can scale, even walls that look unclimbable to my simple eyes.

 

[leigti]

The only personal experience I have with one digging out was a guy here in town who had one. It dug under the fence and disappeared into the nearby field and he never found it again. but I do not know much about the enclosure, I think it was just made with two by fours. It probably dugout almost by accident, oh wow look where I am sort of thing. they tend to dig next to something like the wall so if it was just a little 2 x 4 thing it got out very easily. I put hides in the enclosure and put the tortoise in them so she knows where they are. But she still digs next two logs, next to rocks, and even next to the side you don't necessarily need hardware cloth over the top of the enclosure if you put them in at night. I did put it on my enclosure but it was probably overkill. it does let me keep them out overnight without worrying about them however. I was at the farm supply store last night and saw all the fence posts, fencing materials etc. and got all excited about adding on to my enclosure. It is definitely the time of year to start thinking about it.

 

[Jodie]

I've been keeping Russian tortoises for quite a long time, and in all that time I've never had one go to the fence and try to dig under. Do they dig? yes...but they dig to bury themselves, not to escape. When they're trying to escape, they climb. I feel one railroad tie isn't tall enough to keep a Russian tortoise from climbing out.

This is good news. I am going 2 high. I am thinking I will line it inside with slick plastic or something. I am also going to put a rock border or pavers all along the railroad ties. I am only planning to cap the corners.

 

[Jodie]

None of my Russians have ever dug next to the fence. They do their digging under the plant clumps and big cement pavers. I agree you need a lip all the way around your enclosure. Russians are one of the best climbers and it's amazing what they can scale, even walls that look unclimbable to my simple eyes.

This is what makes me nervous. Guess I will just be prepared to see who is smarter. Lol

 

[leigti]

This is good news. I am going 2 high. I am thinking I will line it inside with slick plastic or something. I am also going to put a rock border or pavers all along the railroad ties. I am only planning to cap the corners.

I think it would be easier just to put a lip all the way around the top. It only has to hang in about 4 inches or so. Home Depot has 1" x 6" x 8' pressure treated boards that could be nailed or screwed to the top of the railroad ties. When they stand on their hind legs and look up when they see there is no where to go. plastic or something like that would need to be read done every year, they can scratch holes in it, the hot and cold and wet weather can affect it etc. The large pan your building should decrease the amount of escaping they try to do I have heard on here that people recommend not to let them out of their pen to wander the yard because it lets them know there is another one big world outside the fence. and this causes them to keep looking for a way out. this does make some sense although I have found myself guiltily letting my tortoise run around my backyard outside of her pen supervised of course. learn words so I hope you are more disciplined than I am. with all that room you could probably have a couple more did I actually say that out loud?

 

[Jodie]

I think it would be easier just to put a lip all the way around the top. It only has to hang in about 4 inches or so. Home Depot has 1" x 6" x 8' pressure treated boards that could be nailed or screwed to the top of the railroad ties. When they stand on their hind legs and look up when they see there is no where to go. plastic or something like that would need to be read done every year, they can scratch holes in it, the hot and cold and wet weather can affect it etc. The large pan your building should decrease the amount of escaping they try to do I have heard on here that people recommend not to let them out of their pen to wander the yard because it lets them know there is another one big world outside the fence. and this causes them to keep looking for a way out. this does make some sense although I have found myself guiltily letting my tortoise run around my backyard outside of her pen supervised of course. learn words so I hope you are more disciplined than I am. with all that room you could probably have a couple more did I actually say that out loud?

Lol. The plan is a couple more. I want babies. My husband hates HATES the idea of capping the whole thing. I don't know why. I don't think they will be able to see over 2 railroad ties. Just like everything it will be a work in progress I guess.

 

[leigti]

No they won't be able to see over, but they will just see that there's no sky above them and therefore no where to go if they try to go up. That's what I meant. well you know that mail Russians are very easy to come by so I couple more females and you'll be ready for babies.

 

[Jodie]

No they won't be able to see over, but they will just see that there's no sky above them and therefore no where to go if they try to go up. That's what I meant. well you know that mail Russians are very easy to come by so I couple more females and you'll be ready for babies.

As long as I can figure out how to keep the buggers in the garden. Well and the hibernation thing figured out.

 

[leigti]

You'll figure a way to keep them in. And I know that many many people hibernate there Russian tortoises without any problems. when it comes around to it next year you can start looking up threads about it. I know @Tom was working on A comprehensive thread about it at one time. MySpace issue would be solved and I would be able to get more tortoises much easier if I would hibernate them. outdoor space is so much easier to come by then indoor space.

 

[leigti]

I also know that @Cowboy_Ken has a large group of Russians. I'm not sure how he hibernates them but he would probably be a good source for information also. His climate is somewhat similar.

 

[Jodie]

Started my garden enclosure. Decided to put a railroad tie on the short edge, then the top one on the long edge. This way the top one is wider and hangs over a couple of inches. Should be pretty tough to climb. It is 24X24. I will line the inside with pavers. Can't wait to get the hard part done so I can start planting and decorating.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

The 24'x 24' space is just for the russians?? Thats AWESOME..... can't wait to see it all set up and planted.

Btw, I housed the russians with 12" plywood walls and a 4" plywood lip/ cap along the whole thing. It was painted (a neutral color for 1pen and a green color the others) and it actually looked very pretty. Plus, climbing out was never a fear in the back in mind

I know you already started but are you dead set on using the railroad ties? I fear you will find 1 missing one day and regret it. I've had 3 friends loose a Russian due to escaping. At least 2 of them climbed out (don't remember how the 3rd escaped) ..not to mention the MANY climbing/escape stories I read here. Some of which include the railroad ties.

I, like your hubby would also hate the look of capped railroad ties or a perimeter lip on them...so I'd personally never use the ties with a Russian.

Anyway, keep us updated on the progress