Shade or No Shade for Enclosure

[Bibbit]

Since everyone is asking questions about enclosures, I'll add mine. We just moved into a new house and I'm about to begin construction on a turtle garden/enclosure. Our large back yard has a tall canopy of trees. So, one of my choices is to build just outside of the canopy, which will mean direct sunlight light beginning around noon for a few hours, but otherwise the enclosure being shaded. I'm wary of this option because I'd like a lot of plants to grow in the enclosure.

The second option is to build in a spot that is a bit farther away from the canopy, but has direct sunlight most of the day. With this one, I'd certainly provide shady spots for the turtles to escape the sun.

Getting them enough heat is not an issue, as we're in Texas.

I'm not sure which would be better, or whether both choices are about equal. Any input would be great.

 

[alysciaingram]

I faced this same problem. I didn't know if I should put my enclosure in a full sun area or a partial with afternoon sun area. I ended up with both. I put my smaller enclosure for my little tortoises in the partial shade. I also wait until it's warmer for them to be out before I put them in the enclosure. For some people that wouldn't work, seeing as they don't have the schedule I do to permit it. It works for my tortoise since they are only out for a few hours, then get soaked and put back into their indoor pens.
My larger tortoise, who lives outside permanently ten months out of the year, lives in the full sun enclosure with five large bushes, two 3 foot trees, six man made hides and two she made herself, and double shaded spots above the hides (bush and wood cover 4ft up). In the morning she has the option of warming up. By afternoon she retreats again to a bush, mud pit, or her favorite hide. Then in the evening she grazes/is offered food, and then roams her pen until she retires for the night.
I would make my decision on when you would be able to place your tortoise outside and retrieve them.
Hope this helps!

 

[wellington]

If it were me. I would build where I had my choice of where to put the shade.

 

[Jacqui]

Can you use both your shady and sunny area as one enclosure? I like early morning sun, but late afternoon sun is so very very hot. Is the shade deep shade or pretty dappled shade?

 

[lynnedit]

Yes, in Texas I would opt for some canopy shade, given the heat. As Jacqui mentions, if there is dappled shade, that would work.
I am not sure you could create enough shade for box turtles in your area of the country w/o some help from a tree.

 

[jojap]

Do what you want to. Plants/ bushes do not require constant sunlight, there are just some that can not take it all day. So if you go in the shade you can still have your plants and bushes or you go can go with them in the sun. The most important thing is to always have that cooler microclimate for a retreat and that can be done with anything you can create shade with. You create an environment with temperature options and your tort will be fine. Mine stays outside all the time, is almost a year old, and does fine because he has everything he would find in nature to survive on instinct.

 

[Bibbit]

Thanks for all the great comments. We have mostly shade, so it would probably be easiest to go that way. It's a large plot of land, so I'm going to watch a couple of areas I'm interested in and see which looks best.

 

[Jacqui]

You will also find that seasonally the amount of shade depth and what areas are shady will change a bit.

 

[Yvonne G]

My box turtle enclosures are in deep shade. One of them will get morning sun, but the others are shady all day long. Like you, heat isn't a problem because it's hot here, however, eggs won't hatch in the ground because the sun never shines on the ground to warm it. The box turtles themselves do just fine.