Outside enclosure? A little help please

[alben909]

Ok so I bought a pallet of bricks and I am starting to build my russain tortoises enclosure. It is almost eight feet long and 3 feet wide. The problem is that near my house, there are many red tailed hawks. Actually the other day I saw a mouse running across the street. And right before my eyes, a hawk swooped down and took the mouse. I was only about 8 feet away so it made me wonder. Is my little russain safe outside? Are there any ideas of how to make a large lid for a brick enclosure?

 

[ascott]

You can use 2x4x8'ssolids and frame it to the size of your enclosure and then nail or staple to that frame heavy duty chicken wire or the stronger hog wire panels and this souls give you a top that you can place over the top to prevent the aerial attacks....

One time where I worked...myself and a co worker were making rounds and right before us a great blue herron swooped a gopher up and then flew right in the path of the truck so we got a clear and close up view of the little bugger squirming and heard it make those little screech sounds...the co worker I was with is an animal lover in every sense of the word and was horrified and began to scream and almost leaped out of the truck ....while the graphic national geographic moment was not thrilling to me it was hilarious to see this grown woman freak the %#@& out.....

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Apologies ....I am using my dumb smart phone and it adds words and changes where it sees fit.....lol

 

[alben909]

I wish one of the hawks killed the gopher in my yard. We are currently smoking him out

 

[ascott]

Oh don't get me started on a gopher rant.....lol....

 

[dmmj]

Hot off of wiki
The Red-tailed Hawk is carnivorous, and an opportunistic feeder. Its diet is mainly small mammals, but it also includes birds and reptiles.
So there is danger, but I would think it is a small amount. I think if you provide many hides and lots of plant cover for hiding, he may not show up on the hawk's radar. Plus the size of your enclosure may not be a hawk's ideal hunting territory.
I would worry more about crows and ravens.

 

[Irwin4530]

Haven't figured out how to do it yet but I seem to remember seeing someone use a pre-made screen door as a lid. Maybe you could place a board across the back and secure it so that it would act as both an anchor for the door to hinge on AND offer some shelter to the tort....a masons bit may be required to anchor the plank....just an idea!!!

 

[alben909]

Sounds cool. Those gopher can be a real pest. Bit they do feed many animals

 

[lynnedit]

For flying predators, a screen will be enough. The top would have to be much more secure for raccoons, etc.

Or, you could bring the tort inside at night to sleep in a tub with some substrate (for peace of mind, that is).