What age can they live outside?

EllieMG

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I have 2 marginated tortoises - they are over 3 and a half years old. The bigger one weighs in at 510g and is 18cm length X 17cm width. The smaller one weighs I at 330g and is 15cm length X 14cm width. Are they old/big enough to live outside for the summer months?
 

Tom

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I have 2 marginated tortoises - they are over 3 and a half years old. The bigger one weighs in at 510g and is 18cm length X 17cm width. The smaller one weighs I at 330g and is 15cm length X 14cm width. Are they old/big enough to live outside for the summer months?

With the right enclosure, I think they are. Lots of plants, sprinklers, underground cave to escape the sun's heat, etc...

Where are you?
 

EllieMG

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With the right enclosure, I think they are. Lots of plants, sprinklers, underground cave to escape the sun's heat, etc...

Where are you?
Thankyou :) I live in England so escaping from the heat isn't a problem - more from escaping from the cold
 

Tom

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Thankyou so much:D if I built it a bit taller would my regular light bulb for UV light be okay for warmth or not?

I think that could work well in your climate. Just check the basking temperature directly under that bulb at the same height as the top of the largest tortoises carapace. The problem with over head bulbs outdoors in a cool climate is that the top of the carapace can get too hot, while the rest of the tortoise remains too cool. Be very careful to avoid that problem. Adding some other heat source to keep the ambient temp higher inside the box should help.
 

tglazie

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They're definitely old enough. Not much to add here as far as advice goes. I start putting babies out for a limited time once they've absorbed their yoke sacks. I don't leave them out unsupervised for too long, though. It is perfectly fine to keep them indoors for the first six months, in my view, especially if you don't have time to allow them time outdoors between the hours of nine and say, noon, depending upon temperature and other such conditions. However, by six months, I feel most of the margies I've raised were tough enough to stay outdoors most of the day. I make exceptions on exceptionally hot days, but here in South Texas, we have a preponderance of those for five months out of the year, so I suppose you could say I make a lot of exceptions. Despite this, I'm probably somewhat over protective, but from my vantage, I've made enough mistakes in my time keeping tortoises. Being a bit of an overprotective zealot is my way of making up for it. But yes, they're definitely old enough, yours. The trick is in getting the right setup, and Tom seems to have that more than covered here.

T.G.
 

EllieMG

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They're definitely old enough. Not much to add here as far as advice goes. I start putting babies out for a limited time once they've absorbed their yoke sacks. I don't leave them out unsupervised for too long, though. It is perfectly fine to keep them indoors for the first six months, in my view, especially if you don't have time to allow them time outdoors between the hours of nine and say, noon, depending upon temperature and other such conditions. However, by six months, I feel most of the margies I've raised were tough enough to stay outdoors most of the day. I make exceptions on exceptionally hot days, but here in South Texas, we have a preponderance of those for five months out of the year, so I suppose you could say I make a lot of exceptions. Despite this, I'm probably somewhat over protective, but from my vantage, I've made enough mistakes in my time keeping tortoises. Being a bit of an overprotective zealot is my way of making up for it. But yes, they're definitely old enough, yours. The trick is in getting the right setup, and Tom seems to have that more than covered here.

T.G.
Thank you so much for your reply - it's been nothing but rain here for the last couple of days so haven't had chance to let them out :( I will definitely build a permanent enclosure for them soon:)
 

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