Tortoise Proofing

[Rio]

Just wondering are there any specific things (aside from watching your tortoise of course) that should be done to tortoise proof the rooms you allow your darlings access to? Are tortoises chewers? I know some can be climbers, especially Russians.

I'm already keeping the dogs out of the tortoise areas especially unsupervised, ditto the cats, but aside from that, if they're roaming, what should we make sure is entirely out of reach?

Also

We have concrete floors. That should help keep their claws trimmed yes? Should we worry about how cold the floors are/can be? especially in winter? or will they go to their basking areas if they get too cold, if we make sure they have constant access to their homes?

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm one of those who think its not a good idea to allow a turtle or tortoise to have the run of the house/room. I believe tortoises should, first of all, live outside, secondly, have their own indoor habitat for inclement weather, and it is safe, warm and large enough for lots of exercise.

The floor is cold. Even if the room is 75F degrees, the bare floor will be cold. And 75F degrees is not warm enough for your tortoise to be warm enough to digest his food. YOUR body is 98.6F degrees and your tortoise has to be able to get his body temp up like that too. The way he does that is to sit in the sun (or under his light). Once his core is warmed up enough, he'll move out of the hot spot. If he then goes onto the cold floor, the warm will be quickly drained off him.

The floor has dust bunnies, hair, small bits of good-looking items that might be thought of as food.

He might be stepped on accidentally.

He might get into an unforeseen little spot where he gets lost and you can't find him.

Someone might leave the door open and he'll escape.

Rather than tortoise-proofing a whole room, its much easier to give him his own habitat, with substrate he can burrow into, a light where he can warm up, a waterer he can bathe in and a nice hiding place.

 

[Rio]

I'm one of those who think its not a good idea to allow a turtle or tortoise to have the run of the house/room. I believe tortoises should, first of all, live outside, secondly, have their own indoor habitat for inclement weather, and it is safe, warm and large enough for lots of exercise.

The floor is cold. Even if the room is 75F degrees, the bare floor will be cold. And 75F degrees is not warm enough for your tortoise to be warm enough to digest his food. YOUR body is 98.6F degrees and your tortoise has to be able to get his body temp up like that too. The way he does that is to sit in the sun (or under his light). Once his core is warmed up enough, he'll move out of the hot spot. If he then goes onto the cold floor, the warm will be quickly drained off him.

The floor has dust bunnies, hair, small bits of good-looking items that might be thought of as food.

He might be stepped on accidentally.

He might get into an unforeseen little spot where he gets lost and you can't find him.

Someone might leave the door open and he'll escape.

Rather than tortoise-proofing a whole room, its much easier to give him his own habitat, with substrate he can burrow into, a light where he can warm up, a waterer he can bathe in and a nice hiding place.

thank you for this. He is definitely going to have his own habitat regardless of the rest of it, one that's going to be large, and that we're building ourselves, so that's not an issue at all. I just wasn't sure about the roaming aspects of it. But those are some very good points and it might be safest to keep him roaming in his large home instead of on the floor. My biggest concern was -definitely- how cold our floors can be and you've addressed that wonderfully, so I'll keep him off the floors.