So I have a juvenile redfoot, and he loves to climb. Outside and indoors, all he wants to do is climb and explore, which is good, but he keeps accidentally flipping himself over in his enclosure which scares me because I have to be gone for work during the day, and can't stay awake 24/7 to keep an eye on him. Does anyone have any recommendations for good climbing ramps or toys for his enclosure? Ones that have a very low risk of him flipping over from climbing it, but can give him the vertical height he enjoys?
Build a second level with a ramp to it but put sides on the ramp so he can't fall off the sides.
I have a second level in my Russian tortoise’s enclosure. It is a free-standing structure so I can take it out at any time to clean, replace the coco carpet, etc. It‘s just a PVC board base with PVC pipe legs. PVC caps were glued to the underside, and PVC piping lengths were inserted to create the legs. The ramp is hinged so I can lift it if necessary. I cut a piece of coco planter liner to fit the landing and ramp to give traction. I used plexiglass to create guardrails and sides so he can‘t fall off.
This is just my personal opinion and recent experience. I have a Redfoot named Houdini the Jerk because he tries to escape or climb anything. I have removed everything climbable in his outside pen and his inside tort table as it is too much work for this old lady to go outside to his pen and check on him every 15 minutes. About half of the time he is on his back. He tries to climb anything in any pen at any time. My point being with this little tortoise, he is active and a very scary climber. I have seen him actually climb a chicken wire fence. Anyhow...I would not add ramps or an upper floor or a freakin climbing wall. Oh and tortoises don't even know what a toy is...
Hi @Mrs.Jennifer - would you please post pictures of this ramp? It sounds very interesting. Thanks!
This was before I added more plants and a tortoise.
The thing to remember is that you need a 1:2 rise for the ramp. For every inch high your second story is, you need 2 inches of ramp length. Mine is 10” high, so the ramp is 20” long.
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