outdoor enclosure help

[Lrodmyre]

I live in MN. I have 9 turtles I put out in a pool in the summer, and yes, I cover them. I made a cover for the pool out of 1/2" pvc pipe and hardware cloth wire. I now have 4 Indian Star tortoises, and have just made them an outdoor enclosure also. I did the same thing for the top as with the turtles. I won't be putting my Indian Stars out until it reaches at least 85 degrees. I bring ALL of my turtles and tortoises in every night. I never leave them out. Too many things can go wrong. In my world, better safe than sorry.

 

[PilotMaximus]

My cat didn’t bother my tort but it did start using the enclosure as an additional litter box. I was not thrilled.

 

[Blackdog1714]

I live in MN. I have 9 turtles I put out in a pool in the summer, and yes, I cover them. I made a cover for the pool out of 1/2" pvc pipe and hardware cloth wire. I now have 4 Indian Star tortoises, and have just made them an outdoor enclosure also. I did the same thing for the top as with the turtles. I won't be putting my Indian Stars out until it reaches at least 85 degrees. I bring ALL of my turtles and tortoises in every night. I never leave them out. Too many things can go wrong. In my world, better safe than sorry.

Can't go wrong with being cautious. I am just wondering what the percentage of total hardware cloth purchases is for Tortoise Protection?

 

[Chiquita's Mom]

I'm definitely in the better safe than sorry club. We've moved 3 times and had to create 3 different enclosures, and they've always had wire cloth/wood framed lids on hinges that were secured down when closed, solid enclosure sides and buried thick shade cloth or wire cloth. When we lived in SoCal we had lots of weasels (AKA the psychotic serial killers of the animal kingdom) among other predators so we started off extra cautious. My husband makes the lids in sections so they are easier for me to handle. At our last house it was difficult to access the sides of the enclosure from the outside, so he created a pulley system to raise and lower the lid (luckily he's very innovative).

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

My husband makes the lids in sections so they are easier for me to handle. At our last house it was difficult to access the sides of the enclosure from the outside, so he created a pulley system to raise and lower the lid (luckily he's very innovative).

The sections and pulley system is the basis for opening the enclosure lids in the photo I added earlier. Even the small rodents need to be blocked off. A slumbering tortoise is a great midnight snack for a field mouse or rat.

 

[Chiquita's Mom]

The sections and pulley system is the basis for opening the enclosure lids in the photo I added earlier. Even the small rodents need to be blocked off. A slumbering tortoise is a great midnight snack for a field mouse or rat.

Really nice enclosure! And I completely agree about the vermin.

 

[MichaelL]

Welcome!

My vet advised that our small to medium sized birds of prey (in my area of California) are not at all likely to take an adult Russian. Perhaps if you had a hungry eagle, but I can’t imagine you do out there?

I can’t imagine a fox taking one; too small to manage it (the fox) and not tempting enough unless the fox was sick/starving.

I worry about raccoons, which we are just starting to get in my young neighborhood, but as they are nocturnal and my tortoise is away at night, not too much. Her nightbox locks and her summer burrow is just big enough for her to turn around. I can barely reach her and my arm is much longer than a raccoon’s. If she was a soft juicy turtle instead of a crusty tortoise I’d build a cover with deer wire.

Hi! Just wondering, what do you use to build your night box? I really want to build one for my outdoor russians but don't know any good materials. Can you send a pic if possible? Thanks a ton!

 

[RosemaryDW]

Tom’s builds for Russians are pretty standard here is a thread with a build and some other links: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/heating-an-outdoor-russian-night-box.116180/#post-1077261.

My husband welded (!) ours, wood wasn’t good enough, lol. Don’t know that people need to go to that level but it will never get stolen, that’s for sure! https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/a-very-heavy-russian-night-box.147438/#post-1392550. And hopefully difficult for an animal to break into.

Tom’s boxes are semi underground and ours are above ground so his locks on top and mine locks in the front.

For us the biggest “problem” was the fact that the smallest radiant heat panel is much larger than a single Russian tortoise. They’re the best heating choice for this but you may end up with a “large” box.

Our tortoise puts herself away spring and fall; she won’t use it in summer unless we force her and even then she’ll just go dig a new spot in the yard so currently we let her be. We’ve got a camera and review night images to keep an eye on predators. They aren’t in my fairly new, limited plant coverage neighborhood yet but they will be; when that happens we’ll have to start digging her up summer nights. Tom and some others lock their tortoises up every night, period.