Outdoor enclosure for Burmese Brown Mountain Tortoises

[Morob7]

Enclosure update. Plants and tortoises made it through the winter fine. Plants have taken off this spring. My miniature Banana that was supposed to max out at 2-3 feet is trying to bust through the roof. A lot more shade now. The tortoises are going to be three in August/September sometime and their appetites have increased dramatically this year. They have been nibbling on calocasia and alocasia leaves when they get too close to the ground if I don't have food available.

 

[Pearly]

Enclosure update. Plants and tortoises made it through the winter fine. Plants have taken off this spring. My miniature Banana that was supposed to max out at 2-3 feet is trying to bust through the roof. A lot more shade now. The tortoises are going to be three in August/September sometime and their appetites have increased dramatically this year. They have been nibbling on calocasia and alocasia leaves when they get too close to the ground if I don't have food available.
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Your enclosure is... WOW!!!!!!!! Just WOW! Love the plants and pond!

 

[Morob7]

Your enclosure is... WOW!!!!!!!! Just WOW! Love the plants and pond!

Thank you! I really am pleased with the way it came out. Very low maintenance.

 

[MichaelaW]

I'm in shock. The perfect example of thoughtful tortoise keeping.

 

[Morob7]

I'm in shock. The perfect example of thoughtful tortoise keeping.

Thank you! I spent a lot of time planning with the goal to get as close as possible to their natural habitat using the resources available.

 

[MichaelaW]

Where did you buy all the plants? Did they start out as those tiny things from Lowe's? I think I am going to start building something just like that for my four emys. The 3 year old is almost 12 inches and they are only browns.

 

[Morob7]

Where did you buy all the plants? Did they start out as those tiny things from Lowe's? I think I am going to start building something just like that for my four emys. The 3 year old is almost 12 inches and they are only browns.

I bought some from Home Depot, lowes and a local garden center. I also ordered the banana and fancy colocasia subspecies from online nurseries. This spring I grabbed a bag of generic colocasia bulbs and planted them. I clip leaves from them use these as a food source.

What are you feeding them? That sounds very big. Of course mine have voracious appetites right now. They will probably be growing a lot this summer. I need to weigh them and see how fast they're growing.

 

[MichaelaW]

I bought some from Home Depot, lowes and a local garden center. I also ordered the banana and fancy colocasia subspecies from online nurseries. This spring I grabbed a bag of generic colocasia bulbs and planted them. I clip leaves from them use these as a food source.

What are you feeding them? That sounds very big. Of course mine have voracious appetites right now. They will probably be growing a lot this summer. I need to weigh them and see how fast they're growing.

Did you let them grow out to get rid of the fertilizer before planting adding the tortoises to the enclosure? I wonder how colocasia would do in this heat. It was 102 today.

I feed them my own homegrown collards, squash, squash leaves, mustard greens, cactus, and also celery greens. They get fruit every so often. Twice a month they get high-quality, low fat, all natural, limited ingredient, chicken-based dry dog food. As youngsters they would housed in a greenhouse with a fogger and now they live outdoors here in deep south Texas where the tropical climate is perfect for these Asian species. Between the diet and climate, they have shown amazing growth.

 

[Morob7]

I kept the plants protected from them and they really didn't show any interest in the plants until recently (after 6 months in the ground). They were used to eating what I gave them to eat, but this spring their appetites have taken over and if I don't feed them enough, they will look for low hanging leaves to munch on. They are still picky and prefer to eat the leaf and leave the stem behind. I have a shade cloth over the enclosure to cut the sun intensity and the plants really do well with it. Sounds like it is a little hotter there than here in New Orleans, but the hot humid climate is why I went with mountain tortoises. I feed mine mushrooms (their favorite), collard greens, kale, romaine, baby spring mix, squash, calocasia leaves and sweet potatoes with a weekly serving of Mazuri with added calcium and vitamins.

 

[theguy67]

Awesome. I always enjoy seeing people incorporate lush plants and water features with their tortoises.

 

[Angie C.]

Love your enclosure. Would like to know what plants you out to grow in there.

 

[Morob7]

Most of the plants belong to the group Colocasia or alocasia which are commonly known as elephant ears and philodendron. These are not recommended plants for most tortoises as they contain high levels of calcium oxalate. However, these are part of the normal diet in the wild for Burmese mountain tortoises. In addition, there is a dwarf banana, zingiber ginger species, zebra plant, croton and Boston fern.