Right now my wife and I have four beautiful almost 1 year old Sonoran desert tortoises. They currently live indoors in the tortoise table I built them, but once they get bigger (I'm thinking another ~2 years or so), they will be moved permanently outdoors.
We live just North of Tucson in the Catalina Foothills, right over a desert wash. Our area and property is active with all sorts of predators: coyotes, bobcats, owls, Cooper's hawk, etc.
My concern being so close to all these active predators makes me wonder what sort of precautions I need to take when I do eventually build their outdoor enclosures. Do I need to make the enclosure "predator proof"? And which predators listed would attempt to have a Sonoran desert tortoise snack?
I'm looking forward to making these guys a beautiful little desert oasis that's theirs, but of course I want to make it safe as well. The property is 0.8 acres, so there's a few areas that I could potentially place them. Knowing what predator precautions I need to take will certainly aid in my decision to where to house them outdoors.
We live just North of Tucson in the Catalina Foothills, right over a desert wash. Our area and property is active with all sorts of predators: coyotes, bobcats, owls, Cooper's hawk, etc.
My concern being so close to all these active predators makes me wonder what sort of precautions I need to take when I do eventually build their outdoor enclosures. Do I need to make the enclosure "predator proof"? And which predators listed would attempt to have a Sonoran desert tortoise snack?
I'm looking forward to making these guys a beautiful little desert oasis that's theirs, but of course I want to make it safe as well. The property is 0.8 acres, so there's a few areas that I could potentially place them. Knowing what predator precautions I need to take will certainly aid in my decision to where to house them outdoors.