Building an outdoor enclosure - do Greeks dig like Russians do?

[biochemnerd808]

I have a silly question: Do Greek tortoises dig like Russians do? I am building our little Greek tortoise an outdoor enclosure for the Summer, and am wondering if it needs to be dug out and lined with hardware cloth like the enclosure for the Russian tortoises does.

He digs a little in his indoor table, but not like my 4 RTs do, just a couple inches to dig in for the night. But if Greeks do make burrows, then I don't want to risk him digging out!

 

[JoesMum]

They dig. But they are not as bad as Russians. Russians like to climb as well, and so to be fair does Joe, but not with such determination. His desire is to get to places he can see. If there's a solid barrier of 8 inches or more, he won't attempt it. He climbs the step into our kitchen which is about 6 inches.

Joe has always exploited gaps. He assumes that his shell will fit through a gap if he can get his head through and will either scrabble or barge until he succeeds.

The danger is if the weather turns chilly. Then they dig downwards to keep warm. Trying to spot a piece of shell the size of a penny when they've dug right in is hard. Sometimes you just have to wait for the sun to come out and your tortoise to re-emerge.

 

[biochemnerd808]

Thank you for the quick response. @JoesMum! Our little guy Boo is definitely a climber - he's half monkey! When he was in the tiny tank he came in from his old owners, he was able to get out of the 12-inch-high walls by bulldozing his half log to the edge and climbing onto it. I made his tort table with 16-inch walls, and ended up having to put a potted plant onto his house because he could get up onto it, reach up, and pull himself over the edge.
So do you think I'll be ok digging down about a foot to put in a barrier, rather than 3 ft for the Russians?