Advice for hermans outdoor pen in the uk

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Trashytort

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I am going to be taking in a 27 year old hermans tortoise as a rescue. The lady he belonged to has dementia and can longer care for him.

I have a large garden so will initially accommodate him in the outdoor pen he arrives with, but I am looking to build a new enclosure which will give him as much as a near wild life as I can create. I have never kept any sort of tortoise as I am a dog person but I have always wanted a tortoise, so I want to get this right for him.

We don't have great weather in the uk so how do I provide an enclosure that is safe and will keep him happy in our weather?

I have no knowledge so everything is from scratch here. I have looked up some plants that they can eat and seen that it is good to provide different surfaces such as pebbles and bark for them. What else do I need to be thinking about when I plan this enclosure? I have had a look through this section but there are so many threads and I am finding it a bit confusing.
 

Kymiie

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Hello Trasytort.
Welcome to the forum!

I am also from the UK, Mansfield in Nottinghamshire!!

I have a 4 year old herman, named Crush!

Crush lives inside, but when summer comes he does go outside for pretty much all of the day,
Outside he has a rabbit run, quite big with a house at one end incase he would like shade!
(I would take a photo, but its waiting to be hosed down...has cobwebs etc)

xx
 

alfiethetortoise

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Welcome to the forum.

I also have a hermans, ages two. She lives inside from September to May ish when the weather is warmer. I bring her in every night, because i dont trust temperatures not to drop (we live in the Lake District, UK) In the summer she lives outside in a tortoise summer house. You can buy them or you can use a rabbit run or even make your own with wood and chicken wire. The thing to remember is that if you have cats nearby, or dogs, your tortoise summer house will need a lid to keep out unwanted visitors! Alfie's house has all the usual things in - water, food, a hide. I tend to move it around a bit - on the grass if we are in and i can keep an eye on her (she likes to dig - watch out for that :p) or on the patio if we go out (i put some hay and sand-soil mix on some heavy plastic on the patio). I also put in a few soft pebbles because she likes to climb on them. If it rains, or becomes chilly, she usually goes into her hide and burries herself. When i bring her in at night, she always goes for a bit of a bask before going to bed.

Um, i think this is everything! Hope it was some help :)
 

Trashytort

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Thanks guys. I guess the next question then is how much space will I need for an indoor enclosure? The indoor size is going to determine whether or not I can really take on this tortoise as we will be restricted on space indoors.
 

alfiethetortoise

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It will depend on the type of enclosure you go for. At 27 i imagine the tortoise you will aquire is going to be big :). Alfie is nearing 10cm. She is in a vivarium that is 3 feet in length and 1.5 feet in width. Many people disslike viavirums and you will see a mixed view here on the forum. I like the vivarium because i can keep my toddler out, and i can controll the temperatures better. Also, it looks good in my front room! In summer, i take one or both the glass panes off overnight. The other choice is a totoise table, these are more open and people like them because they have more ventilation. If you have children or other pets your table will need a lid. You could also have a 'pen' type enclosure. I have seen tortoises kept in the very large metal wire cages with plasic bottoms which usually house rabbits or guinni pigs. They are fairly inexpensive. So lots of options :p
 

Trashytort

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Thanks, thats really helpful. As I do rescue I already have a lot of those types of cages you refer to, but I didn't think a 4x 2ft cage would be big enough to house an adult tortoise in? I would hate to use something undersized. It would be a perfect option, but I wouldn't do it just because it was easy for me, I would need to feel assured the tortoise would be happy.
 

terrypin

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hi at 27 he will of course be an adult so depending on what part of the uk you live he should be good to live outdoors when not in hibernation.does your large garden have a greenhouse he could get access to in case of long rainy peroids or a rabbit hutch you could adapt for overnight accommodation.i would ensured my garden is escape proof and allow him free range.
terry
 
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