Cicada killers and juvenile outdoor enclosures

[collinmcd]

I just built this outdoor enclosure, it's covered In shade until 9 in the morning but the rest of the day it gets direct sunlight. There are tons of cicada killers around his habitat though and I have no idea how they would interact with a tortoise..(aggressive/dangerous?)

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Collin:

We have quite the wasp problem too. So far I haven't seen any interaction between the tortoises and the wasps. I've even seen Dudley drinking out of his waterer and there were several wasps hovering over the water at the same time.

 

[Laura]

direct sun may be too hot.. can you provide shade?

 

[collinmcd]

direct sun may be too hot.. can you provide shade?

Yeah definitely, im still brainstorming ways that I can make shade!

 

[Tom]

I had to look up cicada killers, since we don't have them here. We have tarantula wasps. Big giant suckers that are like 3" long.

Where in the country are you?

And finally, shade should be a priority during these hot summer months. It only takes a few minutes for a small tortoise to over heat and die in some areas... Be careful.

 

[collinmcd]

I live in South Eastern Pennsylvania, and yeah I have seen many of these guys around 3 inches too. I'm building a "lean to" to put against the concrete wall that is next to his pen. It will provide shade for at least 3 feet of his pen and still leaves him room to bask and get rays.

 

[Tom]

Awesome. You guys have some cool bugs back East.

 

[collinmcd]

Whereabouts are you located Tom?

 

[Tom]

Southern CA. We have some cool bugs too, but I'm used to all of those. Your bugs are new and novel to me.

 

[TortoiseBoy1999]

Southern CA. We have some cool bugs too, but I'm used to all of those. Your bugs are new and novel to me.

Tom lives an hour away from me so I know what he's talking about. Those bugs are all new to us.

 

[mary t]

You guys kill me.. Bugs -I don't hang around long enough to see what they are especially how long they are.. I'm such a girl! Anyway.. I use an umbrella in my tort yard for shade.. Works great and looks cute.. I also used some bamboo to construct a little shelter for shade then grew a grape vine over it.. So Willie can snack while he relaxes.. I call it his tropical bar! Wow,,, I really do sound like a girl! Oh well his habitat is super cute!

 

[Lilithlee]

All I know about these wasps is that there the most harmless of wasps. Males can't sting, only female but both can bite. If you leave them alone, they live you alone type wasps.

 

[Weda737]

I just can't handle bees... they make me scream like a pansy. I'm getting better though. The only interaction I've seen with my tortoise and bees is when we were out in a clover patch and there was a small bumble bee looking thing on a clover flower, my tort took a few steps toward it, turning his head to look at it, then walked away. We have honeybees out the wazoo too but they just hover up around him looking for another flower.

 

[Nixxy]

Oddly enough, they rarely interact.

They are a big ones, but as Lilithlee said, generally harmless. Honestly, the only time they would sting/bite is if they were very agitated. This can happen if a cat/dog pesters them, but a tort would most likely ignore them in general. They certainly won't bother your tort.