Vinyl Fence for Adult Sulcata

Schatzi011

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We are going to put up a new fence in the next few weeks. We really like the look of the vinyl fences, but I'm not sure if they'll be strong enough. Currently, my guy is still pretty small (he just weighed in at 45 lbs), but he is growing quickly and I think he'll be over 100 lbs in the next two years.

Does anyone use vinyl fences with large Sulcatas?
 

Yvonne G

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A tortoise becomes accustomed to his boundaries. He realizes his world is inside that fence, whatever type of fence it is. If he can't see through, under or over it, he won't try to break through it. But if you allow him outside the fence, or give him a female then take her away, all bets are off. Once he learns there is a whole other world outside his walls, he will try to get through the fence.

I think a vinyl fence would hold a sulcata.
 

Schatzi011

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Okay, good to know. Even though we have a much larger yard for him (4000 sqft), he still paces the fence at times. When he was in our small patio, we took him out regularly, but he would climb on the fence all the time. He scratched up that fence and even the house pretty good on the patio. He doesn't climb the fence anymore, but probably because now we don't take him out and he has a fair amount of room to roam.

I don't know if they get less active when they get large, but so far he has been a very active tortoise. People are always surprised to see how much and how fast he moves. Recently, my sister was telling me people are so impressed with him because the larger tortoises they normally see are in the zoo and hardly move at all. Whereas he is moving nearly all day long. He stops to chomp grass for a bit, and in the morning he sits out in the sun till he is up to a good temperature, but besides that he is on the move.
 

Tom

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What king of vinyl fencing? They have the 3 or 4 railed stuff for horses, or they have the solid wall stuff.

As long as its a visual barrier, your tortoise will have no reason to challenge the fence.

Some tortoises will pace up and down in the same space. Yvonne show pics of Dudley's "tire" tracks one time. If your tortoise does this and rubs on the vinyl in the same spot day after day, you might have to add an obstacle in his path, or put up a plywood skirt along the bottom 12-16 inches of the fence in the rub spot.

Its pretty normal for big sulcatas to be active all day in nice weather. That is one of the things I find most endearing about them.
 

Big Charlie

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Charlie paces up and down along our fence (ours is wood) but I've never seen him attempt to climb it or ram it. He does ram the garden furniture; I think he only does that because he thinks he can fit under them, even though he can't.
 
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