Should I keep Darwin outside?

[Darwinsmom]

I have both an indoor enclosure and outdoor enclosure for my Russian tortoise Darwin. He started out with just the indoor enclosure and seemed to like it well enough, until I built him his outdoor enclosure. I started putting him outdoors a few days ago, and could tell instantly that he LOVES his outdoor enclosure. He is very active, actually sits in his bath, eats ALL his food and loves basking and just roaming around his house. I've been taking him in every night around 7-8pm and I've noticed he gets kind of upset. He spends the entire time trying to escape it. This morning I woke up and found that he completely destroyed his enclosure and again was trying to climb up the walls and get out. I took him out to his outdoor enclosure, and again he was just as happy as a clam. Let me pet him, reacted to me talking to him, letting me feed him, etc.
Should I just let him stay outside? My worry is that he doesn't have his heat lamp out there and it's dark. My husband's worry is that a raccoon or something will snatch him up. His enclosure is completely enclosed so I'm pretty sure he's safe from predators, high temps are currently around 95, low temps at night are 65-75 right now, humidity has been less than 40% all week. And a follow-up question would be, is it still safe during winter where temps drop to about 45-50?

Here's a picture of his indoor enclosure he destroyed, it seemed almost intentional?

 

[Tom]

Outdoors is a great way to house adults in our climate here. Read this for more info on how to do it. He will need an insulated night box to keep him safe and secure, and you'll have to decide whether or not to hibernate and what to do about that.

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions and conversation are welcome.

 

[Darwinsmom]

Outdoors is a great way to house adults in our climate here. Read this for more info on how to do it. He will need an insulated night box to keep him safe and secure, and you'll have to decide whether or not to hibernate and what to do about that.

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions and conversation are welcome.

Thank you!! That was a great read and you gave LOTS of great advice.
So my tortoise (at least what the store told me) is around 2 years old. He's about 5 1/2 inches. What age/length would you consider a tortoise to be an adult? Is mine still a baby?

 

[Tom]

Thank you!! That was a great read and you gave LOTS of great advice.
So my tortoise (at least what the store told me) is around 2 years old. He's about 5 1/2 inches. What age/length would you consider a tortoise to be an adult? Is mine still a baby?

He's an adult. The store either lied on purpose, or just didn't know.

 

[Darwinsmom]

He's an adult. The store either lied on purpose, or just didn't know.

Not sure which, but they also originally told me he was a female and we paid $30 extra because of it
I brought him to the vet the week we bought him because he had runny poop the day we brought him home. He's being treated for nematode parasites though so luckily the meds work and he will be okay at the next vet check up.

Thank you for all your help!! ?