Enclosure size? How big should it be?

[Akuma]

The Swedish Protection Agency of Animal Rights state that a tortoise the size of 20 cm (~8 inches) should be house in an enclosure the size of minimally 1 cubic meter (1550 Square Inches)

The tortoise I have right now is 15 cm (6 inches) long and his enclosure is pretty near 1 cubic meter.

I've been given the opportunity to get a smaller and more fesable enclosure for him, though it is significantly smaller (around 30 %)

Is this size suitable for a tortoise like him?
What does the animal rights law state when it comes to sizes of smaller tortoises and what are your recommendations?

Cheers

 

[dmmj]

In the US I am unaware of any min. size law, there may be one but I don't know of it, When determining enclosure size I use 1 square foot for every square inch of tort, min.

 

[tortoisenerd]

I would never downgrade the size of a tor's enclosure once they have already been living in the larger one. That could stress them out. I think the size you have now sounds great and the smaller one would both be too small, and wouldn't be a good idea as he is used to this larger one now. As a tortoise grows, the enclosure should grow with it, or else it seems like it is getting smaller because the tort is growing. You never want to decrease the enclosure size. I am not sure if your tort is full grown, but if he grows a significant amount more, you'd actually want to consider increasing the size.

 

[Akuma]

I am not sure if your tort is full grown, but if he grows a significant amount more, you'd actually want to consider increasing the size.

The African Pancake Tortoise (Males) never grow more than 15 cm in length. Mine is fully grown and will never out-grow his enclosure.

He has been living in his enclosure for 2 months now and I'm pretty confident that I could fit all his rocks and caves inside the smaller enclosure as well which would like near identical to his old enclosure.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

So why do you want to put him in a smaller enclosure? I wasn't sure what you meant by "fesable". You posted photos of the current one that you built for him in your apartment and it was an excellent space that you spent a lot of time and effort constructing. Why change it now?

 

[tortoisenerd]

I still stand by my answer, even if he is fully grown. I do not think it is fair to the tort to downgrade the enclosure size once he is used to a certain size. How would you like to be placed in a room 24/7, get used to it for awhile, and then be put in a smaller room 24/7? Just my opinion. I think you need to at least be providing that same floor space indefinitely from now on. If you want something more efficient, change the layout/dimensions, or make something two stories, but don't reduce the floor area. It doesn't matter if all the furnishings fit. If you do downgrade the size significantly, I would expect to see some behavior changes, including moodiness, inactivity, pacing the walls, climbing the walls, etc.