Hello, we have a Leopard Tortoise we estimate to be about 5 years old. We live in Wales UK. She lived in a vivarium for the first year and was OK. But she got too big. So I built a tortoise table for indoors. She's always scratching and climbing to try and get out. If we put her in the garden she hides under bushes the whole time. If we let her roam the house she scratches and destroys our stuff. Before I built another home, what advice for these creatures? Whats the best home for them in northern european climate? Thinking of trying to built an outdoor heated enclosure, but looks like it will cost a bomb, so want to get it right?
Leopard Tortoise; whats the best house?
- Thread starter JimBirdW
- Start date
Hi Jim, and welcome to the Forum!
I haven't got the vaguest idea what your climate is like, but far as I'm concerned the BEST outdoor habitat is a big yard with a heated shed or box. You can get some good ideas on building heated boxes in some of Tom's enclosure threads. Or you can build a walk-in, insulated shed like I did. The tortoise will come out and graze and when it gets cold it will go back into the shed/box. Take a look at these:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-best-night-box-design-yet.66867/
there are two reasons I prefer a shed. You can walk inside to clean it out and it's a bigger space for the tortoise for really cold days when he has to stay inside. Here's one of my sheds:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/dudleys-rebuild.111350/
I haven't got the vaguest idea what your climate is like, but far as I'm concerned the BEST outdoor habitat is a big yard with a heated shed or box. You can get some good ideas on building heated boxes in some of Tom's enclosure threads. Or you can build a walk-in, insulated shed like I did. The tortoise will come out and graze and when it gets cold it will go back into the shed/box. Take a look at these:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-best-night-box-design-yet.66867/
there are two reasons I prefer a shed. You can walk inside to clean it out and it's a bigger space for the tortoise for really cold days when he has to stay inside. Here's one of my sheds:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/dudleys-rebuild.111350/
I don't know what your weather is, but I am in Spokane WA, USA, and my winters are too cold for leopards to be outside. A shed would work, but I bring mine in.
For summer, nights are too cold, so I have one of Tom's boxes. For winter I converted a bedroom into an enclosure. We insulted and tiled the floor, sealing the base.
For summer, nights are too cold, so I have one of Tom's boxes. For winter I converted a bedroom into an enclosure. We insulted and tiled the floor, sealing the base.
Welcome to the forum Jim. Your Leopard is beautiful. Good luck with your new enclosure!
You need a large indoor closed chamber, or a whole dedicated room indoors. Open tables are ineffective unless you heat and humidify the whole room.
Outdoors, hiding is fairly normal. Leopards tend to be shy. In cool weather, they might not warm up enough to want to be active and graze. Some people over there use cold frames to help warm a small area up a bit.
The problems you are encountering are the primary reason I advise people to consider their climate when choosing a species to work with. The more incompatible your climate is with your chosen species, the more time, effort and expense you will incur trying to meet its basic needs.
Enjoy!
Outdoors, hiding is fairly normal. Leopards tend to be shy. In cool weather, they might not warm up enough to want to be active and graze. Some people over there use cold frames to help warm a small area up a bit.
The problems you are encountering are the primary reason I advise people to consider their climate when choosing a species to work with. The more incompatible your climate is with your chosen species, the more time, effort and expense you will incur trying to meet its basic needs.
Enjoy!
Hello and Welcome
. A heated shed like Yvonne posted should work good for you. If you insulate it well, floor, ceiling and walls, and make the ceiling as low as you can, but so you can still stand up a basking light a ceramic heat emitter and an oil filled portable heater should work well for heating it. My shed is 8x20. I have more then one tort, so I have several basking and heating lights. One basking per tort area and one CHE per tort area and then the oil heater. The basking is off for the nights. I also use a ceiling fan to push any rising heat back down to tort level.
. A heated shed like Yvonne posted should work good for you. If you insulate it well, floor, ceiling and walls, and make the ceiling as low as you can, but so you can still stand up a basking light a ceramic heat emitter and an oil filled portable heater should work well for heating it. My shed is 8x20. I have more then one tort, so I have several basking and heating lights. One basking per tort area and one CHE per tort area and then the oil heater. The basking is off for the nights. I also use a ceiling fan to push any rising heat back down to tort level.Similar threads
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