Help Building Baby Red Foot Tortoise OUTDOOR Enclosure

Joined
Feb 16, 2020
Messages
39
Location (City and/or State)
Mexico City
I am going to build an outdoor enclosure for my year old baby red foot tortoise, we live in Prattville, AL, and it gets pretty hot and humid and I thought of keeping him in our backyard for the rest of the year until winter. Right now temperatures go from 70F and have around 60% humidity but it will get hotter and way more humid in the summer time. I need help putting it together like which woods I should use, which plants to grow/plant and other things I should incorporate. I have pictures attached below of the area I'm planning to use and a picture of my whole backyard. The area below is around 10ft x 10ft and my baby tort is 3-4" long. He is fairly small and I am wondering if that space if too big for him, I added a comparison image below with him in the space. Should I just give him the whole backyard or just keep him in an enclosure?

I put him outside almost everyday now and I loose him a lot because he just hides so well in the grass. I am going to replant the grass as well in the backyard because it's all dried out, is there a specific grass species I should use that benefits him? or should I fill his enclosure with just dirt? I am also planning to add some dandelions in the enclosure so he could just eat them whenever he wants to, or is there another type of flower I should plant instead?

I want to put some plants he can hide under in the enclosure as well as some plants he could eat, any ideas?

I am very confused about how to build the enclosure, do I just surround the 10ft x 10ft area with wood and leave it like that or should I add a wooden bottom/ mesh underneath the enclosure? Should I add a tortoise ramp he can walk up and down on? (He likes to climb the hides in his tortoise table)

Should I just cover the whole area in dirt/grass or should I add sand and gravel to a small area?

Should I downsize the area, is it too big?

I bought this water sealant for wood called "OLYMPIC WATERGUARD", if anyone knows about it is it okay to use to waterproof the whole enclosure?

any comments appreciates :)
 

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