Tortoise Enclosure - Rabbit Hutch

[leemh99]

Hello,

This is my 1st post and I am in no way a tortoise expert and would very much like some advice before I take the plunge and get mine and my son's 1st tortoises.

If I start off by giving you a little background information 1st:

My nine year old son has been crazing me to get him a tortoise for years now. I myself am very keen on herpetology and have had many different reptiles growing up and we currently have 2 lovely leopard gecko's.

I promised my son on his tenth birthday, if he was good and could prove he could look after and be responsible for the gecko's I would seriously think about getting a pair of tortoises.
His birthday is coming up fast now (in January) and he has been good to his word and kept very good care of the Gecko's so its time to start thinking about getting ready to receive our Tortoises.

Obviously these would be family pets and as with all of our pets we would keep a very close eye on the children ( I have a 6 year old daughter as well) when they were handling the tortoises.

That's the background bit out of the way and now for the question:

We would want to keep the tortoises in the house for now over the winter and would need an enclosure that we would keep the kid's out when we weren't able to keep an eye on them. Plus we have a dog and as I've read dog's like to think of tortoises as a nice chewy toy so we definitely need to make sure there was noway the dog could get anywhere near them.

I am a pretty good DIY'er and have been racking my brains how I could make an en closer that would fit this purpose and not look to much of an eye sore in the house. Then I looked out of the window and right in front of me was an old rabbit hutch we have had lying around.

On inspection it seems perfect to me for our pair of tortoises with a little bit of elbow grease and cleaning up wouldn't look to bad in the house either.

I've posted some pictures and would like some feedback and advice to whether this is in fact a good idea and how best to set it up for the tortoises.

The hutch is 2ft by 4ft and has two tiers connected by a little ramp. I like the idea of the two tiers as it doubles the space but i'm not apposed to stripping it completely out and starting from scratch.

Please have a look and any feedback would be much appreciated.

By the way we were thing about getting a pair of hermann tortoises.

 

[sopo]

Welcome to the forum. I'm not one of the experts, but I believe most will tell you that you won't need a pair as most tortoises are quite happy by themselves and when kept in pairs, one tends to be bullied. What you keep your tortoise in would depend on size/age and what type you are getting. For example, hatchlings do best in a very humid enclosed environment such as a tank, terrarium or even large rubbermaid container while older torts don't need as much humidity and can be kept in tortoise tables.

I'm sure some of the more experienced will be along to give you some great advice. Bet you have one happy son come January.

 

[StarSapphire22]

I think this could be a great setup for one Hermanns. Sopo is right about the pair thing...2 torts is a bad idea. I would make 2 modifications: replace the wire mesh with glass to better keep in humidity, and add safety rails along the ramp/hole in the floor so the tort can't fall. If you're getting a hatchling, I would block off the lower level and give access to that as it gets bigger. A large juvenile could have access to both levels...though it may be a bit small for an adult...it's an excellent "growing up" enclosure. I'm not an expert but that's my opinion. (And good species choice...but I'm biased, haha!)

Welcome to the forum!

 

[lynnedit]

Depending on the room you have available, what about turning it on its side (screen faces up), secure the current lid (as it would be a side wall).
The screened lids would keep animals out in their new roles as lids. (But if they were side walls, your tortoise would try to get out and could lose a leg to a dog, and the dog would be able to see the tortoise).
You could use the hides as they are and the doors (now lids) make maintenance easy, (although the doors to the hides would be high and you would need a ramp or to modify this).

Leave the openings between the sides and the tortoise will travel between the two areas. Creating 'sight blocks' (aka, visual barriers), can make it more interesting because the tortoise can't see the whole area at once, and you can create different mini climates.

Yes, definitely get one tortoise for now. Depending on where you live, a Russian or Hermann's would be good to start with; relatively small as an adult. Tortoises need a lot of room, so that enclosure would not be too large for an adult.

(And, if you don't have the room to put the hutch on its side, it would work, with modifications, in the upright position as well.)

 

[Yvonne G]

I second the fact that you don't need two tortoises. Mediterranean tortoises are scrappy little things and very territorial. The dominant tortoise would be continually trying to get the more submissive animal to leave the territory. This usually ends up with the submissive animal becoming sick and maybe even dead.

I like your rabbit hutch. Either on its side or upright, it seems like it would make a very good habitat for a tortoise.

 

[leemh99]

Thanks for all your reply's. I will start building it up soon and post some pictures when completed.

Thanks again Lee