Outside weather

So for those of us that live to the north. At what temperature do ya'll bring your redfoots indoors? The other day it rained here for about 24 hours and so it stayed in the 60's. I went ahead and brought them inside since it was cool and wet. Which I always go on the side of caution since those two don't mix well for reptiles. Then it got into the 80's the following day and I put them back out. Thanks.

Mike05 said:

So for those of us that live to the north. At what temperature do ya'll bring your redfoots indoors? The other day it rained here for about 24 hours and so it stayed in the 60's. I went ahead and brought them inside since it was cool and wet. Which I always go on the side of caution since those two don't mix well for reptiles. Then it got into the 80's the following day and I put them back out. Thanks.

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Hi Mike, that sounds good to me. Cool and wet is trouble, that's for sure. However, I am not an expert, just learning more all the time on this great site!
Welcome to the site and let us see some pics of your set-up and tortoises.

Mike05 said:

So for those of us that live to the north. At what temperature do ya'll bring your redfoots indoors? The other day it rained here for about 24 hours and so it stayed in the 60's. I went ahead and brought them inside since it was cool and wet. Which I always go on the side of caution since those two don't mix well for reptiles. Then it got into the 80's the following day and I put them back out. Thanks.

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You did the right thing. As for temps to bring them inside at, a lot depends on whether or not it's sunny, rainy, windy and so forth. Also, how soon it will warm up again.
For me in south Florida a night in the 60's is no big deal as long as it will be sunny in the morning. Usually a night in the 60's translates to a following day in the upper 70's or even low 80s...with the ground temps that are in the sun being much warmer. But if it is in the 60s and rainy, and will stay that way for a couple of days, then I bring them in.
My rule of thumb over the years has been this: a cold front with wind and rain that will drop temps into the 50's---they come in. Also, cold and dry nights in the mid to upper 50's they come in---usually. Again, it depends on the sunlight the following morning.
For example, if its only going to be 58 for the night time low, and the sun will hit my hide boxes first thing in the AM, I'm apt the leave the adults outside.
But if its windy and cloudy (red-foots detest the dry wind) and going down to the upper 50s, I'm likely to bring them in. In those conditions they can't thermoregulate.
If the tortoises are small juveniles bring them inside anytime it will dip below 65 degrees overnight.
Red-foot tortoises can 'take' much lower conditions than these of course, but I don't feel they should if I can help it.
There is a lot more to all of this, but you get the idea. Use common sense.

This is what I have. Be gentle, first time building some thing to that size by myself. Built it this summer. The last pic is my four cherries eating cut up pinkies. The top and left one are from a different place then the right and bottom one. I put the cover over because it would get so hot during the summer and my weeping willow hasn't grown enough to provide any shade yet. I plan on doing more just haven't yet. Wanting to put some more plants in the ground. The corner area that I blocked off I have a small pond with a water turtle in. Thanks for looking.

Mike05 said:

This is what I have. Be gentle, first time building some thing to that size by myself. Built it this summer. The last pic is my four cherries eating cut up pinkies. The top and left one are from a different place then the right and bottom one. I put the cover over because it would get so hot during the summer and my weeping willow hasn't grown enough to provide any shade yet. I plan on doing more just haven't yet. Wanting to put some more plants in the ground. The corner area that I blocked off I have a small pond with a water turtle in. Thanks for looking.

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Great job man! Good design elements there. I like the bricks lining the edges. Smart. The shade cloth and opaque walls are excellent elements too. Love the sunken watering hole, and the food bowl with the cutouts for easy entry. The hibiscus will grow up and out too.

If I were a cherry head, I'd be happy to live in there!

Tom said:

Great job man! Good design elements there. I like the bricks lining the edges. Smart. The shade cloth and opaque walls are excellent elements too. Love the sunken watering hole, and the food bowl with the cutouts for easy entry. The hibiscus will grow up and out too.

If I were a cherry head, I'd be happy to live in there!

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Absolutely agree with Tom! A great set-up. I bet they love that grass too. There appears to be plenty of shade in there too regardless of the surrounding trees.
Side note...love that big crepe myrtle in the background!

Wow - a lovely outdoor enclosure, for sure!
And the cut-up pinkies are adorable. Just joking. No offence to sensitive viewers. I feed mine whole, though, after mercifully killing them.

By the way, what's that tree in the background?

Mike05 said:

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Oh.....I love that! Simply lovely! Lucky torts to have so much space.

And a very warm welcome to the forum, @Mike05 !

Tom said:

Great job man! Good design elements there. I like the bricks lining the edges. Smart. The shade cloth and opaque walls are excellent elements too. Love the sunken watering hole, and the food bowl with the cutouts for easy entry. The hibiscus will grow up and out too.

If I were a cherry head, I'd be happy to live in there!

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Hi, whats for the bricks line? not climbing or digging?

Mike05 said:

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Nice work!

Thanks every one. @TammyJ If you're talking about the pink tree to the left @cdmay got it right. It's a crepe myrtle.

@BabyJack The bricks are lined up along that one wall because the wall doesn't touch the ground completely (it's about half an inch to an inch, it's to avoid the wood rotting mainly) any ways since the tortoises are so close to the ground, when I weed eat around the outside of the enclosure they can see right through to the outside. So I placed the bricks there.

Just a side note. All the way around the entire enclosure I placed those hard plastic garden barriers completely into the ground that is about 4-5 inches deep. So no digging through. It's like one of those barriers that you place along a side walk so grass doesn't grow over the side walk. Except I put it all the way into the ground completely. So the bricks and rocks are actually on top of the plastic garden barrier. Again when I weed eat on the outside of the cage I just didn't want them to have the ability to see outside and have them pace along the wall.

They do climb up on the bricks or the other rocks lining the walls. Their not big enough at least not yet to climb the wire, except to stand up on end. I have debated on whether to clip the wire higher on the wall so it's not accessible and staple it to the wall. I wanted an enclosure that was predator proof. As you can see I even have the wire going over the entire roof.

I went out and bought 10 bags of cypress mulch when I first built this and was planning on putting it in at least half the enclosure but I asked in another post in the enclosure forum if I should leave the entire thing grass or put the mulch down and was told to just leave the grass. Which I have left the grass uncut and they have made tracks through the grass plus where the grass or weeds are taller they have made little beds in it and instead of going into their house at night they dig down in the grass and bed down for the night. Or one or two may sleep under one of the ferns I have in the ground.

I have thought about maybe putting elephant grass on the side that is empty, closer to the door for next summer. But I don't wanna clutter up the enclosure.

The first picture with the two tortoises on the rocks in the background can you spot the 3rd tortoise in the picture?

One other thing. In case you were wondering what the corner area looks like. This picture was taken a week or two after completing the area. It is actually all over grown now. I even have vines growing up the back side of the enclosure where the pool is. Which I like. Makes it more natural looking.