Outdoor enclosure ideas for 4, 2 year old redfoots

Grrlywhirl

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Jul 8, 2018
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Tampa, FL
Hi All,

First post here, we’ve had 4 baby-ish redfoots for the last year or more and we’ve kept them in the standard wood “tortoise table” that you can buy when outside and when inside we keep them in a rabbit hutch.

We live in the Tampa, FL area so they could easily be kept outside almost all days of the year but we live on conservation where lots of predators lie behind our fence, we’ve even had to shoo away sand hill cranes from poking at the tortoise house.

I’d like to build an enclosure that has the following functions:

-Can keep our 4 giant dogs away from them, so either a roofed structure or a structure that is raised from the ground
-We have the option of placing it outside or inside a screened in pool area
-I would like to be able to grow food sources inside the enclosure
-I’ve noticed that in the four foot long boxes they haven’t been exploring too much and basically just lie under their hides all day, I’d like to see them walking around in a bigger space

Anyone have any ideas? I’m pretty handy and like building anything wood related so store bought or homemade doesn’t matter to me. I just know what would happen if the dogs got in so it has to be dog proof. I was thinking about maybe even buying them a greenhouse and taking off the roof to allow more airflow so it doesn’t get too hot in the summer. Willing to spend some decent money too.

All and any ideas are appreciated, pics would be great.

Thanks, Amy
 

Grrlywhirl

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Jul 8, 2018
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6
Location (City and/or State)
Tampa, FL
Hi,

I posted in the Redfoot forum but no one responded.

So, we have four juvenile (no clue which genders, we are guessing 3 females and 1 male by shape) and we know as adults we might need to separate them and move them completely outdoors. We live in Tampa, FL so there is about a month where we’d need to heat their hide at night.

Here are my questions:

We have four giant dogs (Saint Bernards and labs) so it has to be dog proof with a roof/door. Would it be easier to buy a greenhouse and build that and replace the roof with a fence type of material to let sunlight in? I know redfoots don’t need as much sun as other types or torts. We live in a somewhat prissy neighborhood so I can’t have concrete or even wooden walls, the only fencing allowed by our HOA is black aluminum.


Currently we are building a pool with a large amount of deck space inside an enclosure. I could buy two of those wooden tortoise boxes and connect them and set them up on an outdoor table out of dogs reach. Right now the one container is not enough space and they are being super lazy.

Here is their inside enclosure but I’d love to move them completely outside. We also have a lot of wildlife predators on our conservation lot. I’ve shooed away sandhill cranes from poking their noses through the square fence material of the store bought tortoise house.

I could use leftover pavers from the pool build to create and outdoor space and then build a wooden roof but I worry about the dogs taking the roof off.

All suggestions are welcome.

FB1E7F02-39A0-48AA-A328-17839978C99E.jpeg 3EE23F69-10B3-4B5C-ABF8-DB307BA42904.jpeg
 

Yvonne G

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Hi,

I posted in the Redfoot forum but no one responded.

So, we have four juvenile (no clue which genders, we are guessing 3 females and 1 male by shape) and we know as adults we might need to separate them and move them completely outdoors. We live in Tampa, FL so there is about a month where we’d need to heat their hide at night.

Here are my questions:

We have four giant dogs (Saint Bernards and labs) so it has to be dog proof with a roof/door. Would it be easier to buy a greenhouse and build that and replace the roof with a fence type of material to let sunlight in? I know redfoots don’t need as much sun as other types or torts. We live in a somewhat prissy neighborhood so I can’t have concrete or even wooden walls, the only fencing allowed by our HOA is black aluminum.

I'm not quite understanding the greenhouse with a replaced roof??? Greenhouses by design already have roofs that allow the sun in. In fact, when the sun shines on a greenhouse it gets VERY hot inside. . . much too hot for a tortoise.

I suggest you use an existing wall, whether the house or existing fence, and build something up next to that. It's always easier and cheaper to use what you already have. So lets say you're using the back wall of the house as one wall for the enclosure. Then you only have to build three walls. Does the HOA look inside your back yard to make sure you are not doing something they don't approve of? So build it out of black aluminum. Is this what you're talking about:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/black-deck...1bgrwI8yNnhIKYPXftb-lEc8sxAx7sHsaApSfEALw_wcB

All you have to do to modify that for tortoises is add a 1x12 horizontally all around the bottom of the fence so the tortoises can't see out. And I doubt the dogs could jump over. If you're worried about predators, you can bring the tortoises in at night.

The RF tortoises need a well-planted enclosure so they have lots of relief from the hot sun.

Surely the HOA wouldn't disapprove of something like this (only picture your black aluminum fence with a 1x12 board around the bottom instead of the wooden fence):

box turtle enc.jpg
Notice how this member used one wall of their home as a wall of the enclosure.
 

Grrlywhirl

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Jul 8, 2018
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Tampa, FL
Actually the HOA doesn’t allow anything sticking out from your house. Since we have a pool and enclosure along the back side that rules that out.

We actually just built an enclosure this weekend out of leftover pavers from the current pool build. I’m going to go buy cinder blocks for the top level and then build 3 or 4 sections of hinges roof structure out of wood and garden fencing material and have two sections completely covered for shade and rain protection, I know RFs don’t need the UV as much as other torts.

Also need to build a few larger hides because they’re getting too big for the indoor ones. Here are a couple pics. We are still filling with dirt and then going to buy some substrate for over the dirt.

Thanks for the input! If anyone sees any potential issues arising from my current plan, please let me know.


P.S. The greenhouse idea of taking the roof off was so that it didn’t heat up like a sauna inside and kill the torts.
 

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Grrlywhirl

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Oh and we built this far enough back from the house that the HOA shouldn’t be able to see it, or if they do I guess I can plant a ton of shrubs around it to conceal it. Time will tell, they send out pictures whenever you’re not following their stupid rules.
 

ZEROPILOT

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Check out my YOUTUBE video called REDFOOT HABITAT FLORIDA STYLE.
I built an inexpensive and secure enclosure in my back yard.
You may get some general ideas...
 

ZEROPILOT

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Oh and we built this far enough back from the house that the HOA shouldn’t be able to see it, or if they do I guess I can plant a ton of shrubs around it to conceal it. Time will tell, they send out pictures whenever you’re not following their stupid rules.
Mine can't be seen from the front of the house.
My privacy fence hides the rest.
 

Grrlywhirl

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Tampa, FL
Check out my YOUTUBE video called REDFOOT HABITAT FLORIDA STYLE.
I built an inexpensive and secure enclosure in my back yard.
You may get some general ideas...

Very cool!! We actually have two deck boxes and a giant deck box we don’t have any use for right now so I’m definitely going to use them for heated hides during winter. Your video also gave me the idea to run conduit with electrical to the enclosure before we replace the sod from the pool build! Thanks so much for sharing.

I wish we could have privacy fence in this neighborhood. Our other house in a different “section” of the same neighborhood only allowed privacy fence, this one only allows the open black aluminum type. I think the pavers will give it a “nice enough” look to not get any complaints. They’re pretty little right now but when they’re big enough that they can’t escape the black fence, I plan on building a big section out of the actual fencing.

Also, so you don’t worry about the cranes, hawks or ospreys getting to them? I guess yours are nearly full grown.
 

ZEROPILOT

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Very cool!! We actually have two deck boxes and a giant deck box we don’t have any use for right now so I’m definitely going to use them for heated hides during winter. Your video also gave me the idea to run conduit with electrical to the enclosure before we replace the sod from the pool build! Thanks so much for sharing.

I wish we could have privacy fence in this neighborhood. Our other house in a different “section” of the same neighborhood only allowed privacy fence, this one only allows the open black aluminum type. I think the pavers will give it a “nice enough” look to not get any complaints. They’re pretty little right now but when they’re big enough that they can’t escape the black fence, I plan on building a big section out of the actual fencing.

Also, so you don’t worry about the cranes, hawks or ospreys getting to them? I guess yours are nearly full grown.
The enclosure has a mesh top.
It discourages birds of prey.
I've kept hatchlings out there.
(Not on purpose)
 

Grrlywhirl

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I saw that the second time I watched it. I must have been interrupted by one of our five kiddos the first time I watched!
 

ZEROPILOT

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I saw that the second time I watched it. I must have been interrupted by one of our five kiddos the first time I watched!
I live in the suburbs.
The biggest issue I have is a minor one with feral cats (or neighbors cats) getting in and crapping everywhere.
Not predators so much
 
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