Desert Tortoise - Indoor Tortoise Table Question

[DWF7]

Hi,
I am getting closer to a CA desert tortoise adoption and am currently working on the outdoor habitat / backyard preparation, which will serve as the daytime enclosure. I plan to house the tortoise indoors at nighttime and will be building a tortoise table for that with the requisite heating/lighting/etc. I am having a hard time figuring out the proper dimensions, however. How big should I make it? My initial thoughts were 6 feet by 4 feet. Do you think that will be large enough for an adult? I expect that I will use it from time to time for all-day housing, such as when the weather is poor outside or if I know i will not be home until late, so I want to ensure that it is sufficient for infrequent situations like that as well.

Thanks a ton,
Dan

 

[Yvonne G]

Indoors at night doesn't have to be big. If the tortoise lives outside and you bring him in at night for his safety, you can just bring him in to a cardboard box. All he's going to do is sleep anyway. There's no need to set up a whole other habitat indoors.

 

[Carol S]

When I used to bring my Desert Tortoise in I used a box with a towel in it. I covered him up with the towel and closed the lid of the box and he would sleep peacefully all night.

 

[ascott]

When I used to bring my Desert Tortoise in I used a box with a towel in it. I covered him up with the towel and closed the lid of the box and he would sleep peacefully all night.

This is actually the way the men folk here brumate during the winter months....well, when they don't high tail it into their outdoor natural burrows and drop in for the winter before I can pretend to lure them out for their sleep in the boxes...

 

[Ciri]

I've used cardboard boxes before for this purpose, and it's fine as long as they are not awake for long. Once I needed to keep a tortoise indoors for a few days, so I put him in a cardboard box with a towel. It was all I had in a pinch. It was okay for the first day or two, then I discovered he had cleverly dug a hole in the bottom of the box, and was starting to make adjustments to the carpeting underneath. What can I say – some desert tortoises are just very talented. Anyhow, just know they can dig through the box in a surprisingly short period of time when you're not looking.

 

[Tom]

Dan, Its much better to leave them outside full time. If temperatures or security are an issue how about something like these:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-best-night-box-design-yet.66867/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-night-box-thread.88966/

Of course you would set different temperatures for a DT, but the concept works. This also makes it much easier to safely bring them in and out of hibernation.

 

[DWF7]

thank you very much everyone for these replies. Tom, I like your idea a lot and will probably work on constructing something to that effect.