should I? shouldn't I? (let the tortoise roam the house)

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Hey everyone. I'm Jay and new owner to a Russian tort. She is approximately 2-3 years old. I adopted her from a couple who couldn't take her with as they moved. They really loved her and was sad when I came for her. But I'm the same with all my pets. They live better than I do.. Anyhow I'll vet to my question. I have been online for the past two days and half of what I read say you can and half say you can t. I was wondering if it was ok to take my Russian out of her enclosure and let her roam around? Her prior owners had her in a 25 gallon rubber made container. My son and I built her a 6foor by 3 foot tort enclosure. But she really is an out going tort. I've only had her 2 days and she seems to know my voice. I still take it slow when I approach her enclosure but after about 5 mins of talking to her its almost like she is showing off for me. She starts crawling all over up and down her rock and as she does her laps she seems to intentionally walk under my fingers to brush over her shell. During this treally a little explorer a little explorere is looking all around. I have taken her out and she would walk around fearless lol. But like I said... I've have read articles both saying the opposite of one another. Some say is very bad to handle and let them walk around and some say it almost a needed thing to let them "stretch their legs" I know she's not like a dog and all that but she is one of the most outgoing pets I've ever had. So can anyone give me a strait answer on the matter? Thanks for your time.!
 

wellington

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You will always get some to say go,ahead and others that say don't. The thing about why it's not a good idea, is because of the dangers for your tort. If you can build her a large outside enclosure, then, yes, take her outside, which is the best place for her and let her roam. If your talking about roaming in the house, bad idea because of the risk to your torts life.
 
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Ok gotcha. Thanks. Yea I have a big enclosure for her out back but I'm going to have to close it up for winter. North east PA here. But thanks for the reply!
 

ascott

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To let a tort roam our habitats or not? Always a question that will offer up a bunch of opinions, stories of what happened to some, stories of how dumb it is and success stories....so if you see the trend here, it is that folks do alot of different things based on their own lives. Now, I would love nothing more than to have a posse of torts cruising through the house at will...well, except for the huge puddles of urine, and some species offer up white gooey urates mixed in with the pee....so much fun to clean and then disinfect (especially if there are children in the home, or dogs that lick floors)..oh and then there is the moments where the tort will be set on moving behind the electronic equipment and get all caught up in the cords....and now way will the cords stop them, they have no problem continuing on their path and all kinds of things come crashing to the floor (you see, torts will rarely throw it in exact reverse to get out of a situation, onward and upward) and a total score if they come across any little doo dads they may come across on the floor, hair from the humans (which is awesome when intwined within their gut as it attempts to move through) or a piece of something that is hard or broken off of something else and sharp (again, a great item for causing rips and tears to their system...and not nice at all if it does actually make it through and out the end---ouch)...and then there is the awesome dash, or be smashed by one of those cumbersome humans along with the smaller versions of them....and if there are any dogs in the house...awesome, the tort can get to experience what it may be like to be a rawhide treat....

So, while there may be a few hazards...there is always the eventual reality to the tort that has been allowed to roam a large area, that well, it is there... a large area. Once a tort has been exposed to a large space, it will be unsatisfied and unable to settle into an appropriate enclosure set up for its safety....see, when you take on the responsibility of hosting a tort---it is kinda your task to do what is best for the health and well being of the tort....so perhaps making the indoor time enclosure the best it can be...at so be it, the tort will learn its environment and will get a routine down there just as you feel he will in your habitat...you may also want to invest a bit of time in researching what is involved in supporting a healthy brumation for this species, they are deeply driven to brumate....just some sharing here....again, no judging--seriously.
 

Yvonne G

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Besides all the hazards on the floor of your house, once you've allowed a tortoise outside his own boundaries, he's never satisfied again to be contained. Give him his own territory, both indoors and outside, and leave him there.
 

tortdad

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Yep. He'll always want out


0.0.1 Redfoot (Spike)
0.0.1 Cherryhead Redfoot (Bruce Wayne)
1.0 Sulcata (Hal Jordan)
 

smarch

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Besides all the hazards on the floor of your house, once you've allowed a tortoise outside his own boundaries, he's never satisfied again to be contained. Give him his own territory, both indoors and outside, and leave him there.
I did not know this... I shall avoid doing that outside anymore!

I've heard the stories of torts roaming and the don't do it things. I'll say one thing I've noticed in the trends, the people who do/have success stories, usually have a larger tort, like a sulcata that needs heat in the cooler months (I've seen it with leos too) Ones that cant get lost in a pile of clothes (yet will leave large poopy messes...) and will probably destroy your house more than it destroys him... my opinion there is if I cant build/head a shed or garage for a sulcata I will not have one up here in MA simple its not fair and I don't want to invite a 100lb wrecking ball right into my living areas!
The failures/advised against always seem to be the smaller species. I let Nank out in the winter for a "5 minute sprint" where I follow him as he runs around blowing off steam. But you have a proper sized enclosure, I shamefully am nowhere close so I feel he does need the steam blown off. Many people let out small torts to find they looked away a second and they vanish. I'd say he'll be happy in his enclosure, if anything just add more stuff to climb, new colors new textures all that stuff. I keep 3 brightly colored whiffle balls in Nank's outside enclosure he pushes around. New plants, logs, anything fun to climb in or under is good
 

Gillian M

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I can assure each and everyone of you that:
1) I watch my tort roaming around the flat
2) the place is EXTREMELY CLEAN:
3) there are no no and no: staples, pieces of paper, paper clips etc. on the floor
4) believe it or not I don't allow my tort to urinate on the floor, which confirms how much I watch it and how much care I take of it
5) when I take my tort out for a walk I follow it step by step so as not to allow anyone to steal/harm it
 
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I did not know this... I shall avoid doing that outside anymore!

I've heard the stories of torts roaming and the don't do it things. I'll say one thing I've noticed in the trends, the people who do/have success stories, usually have a larger tort, like a sulcata that needs heat in the cooler months (I've seen it with leos too) Ones that cant get lost in a pile of clothes (yet will leave large poopy messes...) and will probably destroy your house more than it destroys him... my opinion there is if I cant build/head a shed or garage for a sulcata I will not have one up here in MA simple its not fair and I don't want to invite a 100lb wrecking ball right into my living areas!
The failures/advised against always seem to be the smaller species. I let Nank out in the winter for a "5 minute sprint" where I follow him as he runs around blowing off steam. But you have a proper sized enclosure, I shamefully am nowhere close so I feel he does need the steam blown off. Many people let out small torts to find they looked away a second and they vanish. I'd say he'll be happy in his enclosure, if anything just add more stuff to climb, new colors new textures all that stuff. I keep 3 brightly colored whiffle balls in Nank's outside enclosure he pushes around. New plants, logs, anything fun to climb in or under is good
Thanks for the reply. And there does seem to be more people advising against it with small species. When I did allow peanut out I had a full section of my living room blocked off for her. I put in a bunch more things for her to explore. And your absolutely right about turning your head just for a moment. They are great escape artists. Yes. Peanut has a nice big enclosure and seems to be content in it. So for now I'm just gonna let her settle in with in her enclosure. It is a big enclosure so I can handle and spend time with her in the confines of the enclosure for now. Thanks for the input.
 
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I can assure each and everyone of you that:
1) I watch my tort roaming around the flat
2) the place is EXTREMELY CLEAN:
3) there are no no and no: staples, pieces of paper, paper clips etc. on the floor
4) believe it or not I don't allow my tort to urinate on the floor, which confirms how much I watch it and how much care I take of it
5) when I take my tort out for a walk I follow it step by step so as not to allow anyone to steal/harm it
I was doing the same. I had a full section of my living room cut off and cleaned for her. I just don't want her to be unhappy with her enclosure and always want out
 

Gillian M

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I was doing the same. I had a full section of my living room cut off and cleaned for her. I just don't want her to be unhappy with her enclosure and always want out
That's extacly how I feel: I don't want the poor thing "imprisined" 24 jours a day. This is something very few members have been able to understand, I regret to say.
 

Yellow Turtle01

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That's extacly how I feel: I don't want the poor thing "imprisined" 24 jours a day. This is something very few members have been able to understand, I regret to say.
Can he go outside? The natural sun and fresh air is very good for him.
 

ascott

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That's extacly how I feel: I don't want the poor thing "imprisined" 24 jours a day. This is something very few members have been able to understand, I regret to say.

Well, there is no way that I can think of to say this without someone possibly hearing my words the wrong way...but I am sincerely going to try;

You have elected to host/house a tortoise and force it to live in a captive environment...every environment (outside of their natural unconfined wild lands) is going to be an artificial environment-- within which they are forced to live, imprisoned if you will--to stay in line with your wording.

Lets say you have a piece of property that is hundreds of acres, fully fenced (and even, then the tort would likely eventually run into the perimeter fencing and pace there--because we don't know what will drive the tortoise to venture out to find a satisfactory location to initially set up the fencing on the hundreds of acres right? we can only go, "here this looks good" to us) fully established to replicate their natural wild land, all inclusive of native vegetation, plantings of all actual geographical plant life, mountains or streams or washes or any other thing that naturally would occur in their native land..... So you go through this entire procedure, the hundreds of acres looks good and so you add the tortoise...well, the area you have set up is still a forced captive space, a space of your choice...a place where you will still force the tortoise to remain, imprisoned...now, yes the environment is well thought out, it is well planned and finely executed....which means to "us" the tortoise "should" be happy...again, all by your standards of good. Yet, if you took an aerial view of the space, what you would still find is that you have tortoise in a confined space that is not their natural wild land, just bigger...period.

The entire point of my story is this. You have elected to host a tortoise, a species that can walk for long distances, sets up different locations in the wild to assure that their needs are met...not any one spot can satisfy all of the needs of the wild tortoise--so it is built into them to travel over large areas to acquire the food and micro climates they instinctually need, along with searching out the occasional hook up with the opposite sex to procreate their species....these are all things that we simply can not match when we take a tortoise and put it in a forced captive situation, they have only the choice we offer and provide for them....

This is where it is imperative that there is understanding of your responsibility as the host---you will want to establish the best set up for the tortoise in your care....the tortoise depends on you (without knowledge of this relationship) to offer at least the basic needs for the tortoise to pick from to assimilate their existence in that environment and in a way that allows them to be as mentally sound as possible....

You are the one that owes it to the tortoise to not create a tortoise environment that is suitable to your likings, but rather to the tortoise likings and overall safety.....just how I see it.

I always have the feeling of failure when I look at the enclosures here---the reason that I have this feeling is that I know all of these things....I know that no matter how large I make the enclosures here for lets say the CDTs, they will never ever come in line with the wild land that each of them at one point in their lives travelled, freely. Never. This is the point that I wish that whoever stripped them from their wild land had just left them alone, alone to do what they are designed to do....live free. Yes, living free has its hazards, but what doesn't? Death is part of life.
 
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It really is a touchy subject.. And everyone who has a opinion is very passionate about that opinion. I didn't post this question for other people to judge other people for their opinion on the matter. But the one thing about the matter is, we all love our pets and want the best for them. This is almost on the lines of raising children. There is no manual. You just have to do the best you think how to. And there are plenty of subjects on that matter that call people to have strong opinions. Everyone is entitled to a opinion. I just wanted some input. I didn't want other people to get pissed at others and judge. Again. We all want the best for out amazing pets.
 

smarch

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It really is a touchy subject.. And everyone who has a opinion is very passionate about that opinion. I didn't post this question for other people to judge other people for their opinion on the matter. But the one thing about the matter is, we all love our pets and want the best for them. This is almost on the lines of raising children. There is no manual. You just have to do the best you think how to. And there are plenty of subjects on that matter that call people to have strong opinions. Everyone is entitled to a opinion. I just wanted some input. I didn't want other people to get pissed at others and judge. Again. We all want the best for out amazing pets.
There are a lot of subjects you'd think are random and wouldn't hit a sensitive point but that ends up happening often, but you put it right, we have proper care books out there... so I guess in part they kinda do come with a manual, but it doesn't cover everything nor each individual, we just have the manual to help the thrive.

One point I thought of to this is, its also hard to provide UVB light and nice heat spot/ cool side while theyre out of a specific enclosure where if you set up lights it may as well be an enclosure. I think theres a difference between letting the tortoise hang out versus letting it blow off steam and "stretch its legs" and in which case they don't need to stretch their legs if they have a good size enclosure. I know when Nank's set up in a big enclosure out winter sprints will stop because he wont need to blow off energy. So I guess i'm a rare occasion on this that sees both sides right now.
 
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Absolutely! Yea there are lots of info out there. I was talking about the metaphorical care manual. I was fortunate enough that I was given massive amounts of plywood for me to build her enclosure. I have a nice set up for her. But today is absolutely beautiful here. Not a cloud in the sky so I have a 50 gallon tub for her set up outside. I'm still new to owning a tort but from what I did read a lot on is that natural sun and heat is second to none. So I have my Russian outside soaking up the sun. Just checked on her and she's having a blast in the sun. I appreciate everyones input.
 

johnsonnboswell

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That's extacly how I feel: I don't want the poor thing "imprisined" 24 jours a day. This is something very few members have been able to understand, I regret to say.

I understand it completely. I'll bet that everyone else who advises against tortoises on the loose understands it, too. In my experience, they are less active in the winter and tolerate a smaller "holding cell" indoors quite well, especially when they have an outdoor habitat for the good weather.

Back in the dark ages, before the Internet and forums of this sort, I let my crew live on the floor in my room. In my next place, they spent the summer on the enclosed porch. I'd never go back to that. I would consider making an entire room into a garden/habitat with a deep substrate, if I had the room, but I will never go back to turtles or tortoises on the loose with no proper set up.

I've often wondered how they'd do with a habitat on the floor with proper substrate, light, temps & humidity, regularly scheduled feedings, but an open door to go in and out. That seems like it might be a workable compromise. If anyone were to try it I'd love to know how it went.
 

angie1980

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I do same as Gillian I bath them first so less chance of them messing on the floor which is wood flooring , once they are put back I just do a quick mop round as I would every day regardless if the torts have been out or not
 

Tom

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That's extacly how I feel: I don't want the poor thing "imprisined" 24 jours a day. This is something very few members have been able to understand, I regret to say.

If you don't want your tortoise to feel imprisoned, the solution is to make your enclosures big and interesting. Make it not prison-like. Exposing your tortoise to all sorts oh potential hazards is not a good solution in my opinion. If you could see what I have seen a the vets offices, I'm certain you would reconsider this practice.
 
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