Help with my enclosure design for adult species of all kinds.

Texastravis

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Looking to redo some enclosures. Going for a good consistent design that will work for most species. The current target species would be leopards though. They are my first priority.

Here are my thoughts:

-Keep group numbers a bit smaller. I plant to keep no more than 4 adult leopards in these enclosures. May end up being more like 3 if males fight at all.
-4'x8' insulated house split down the middle. So technically like 3'-6" x 3'-6" internal dimensions for 4 leopards.
-Cold frame out of the front door to allow basking even in cold weather. On cold days I could prevent them from grazing but keep them with access to the cold frame for some sun.
-Two smaller separated grazing enclosures rather than 1. I find it is easier to keep grass growing by giving it a break from grazing. Some days I could allow them in the primary and other days in the secondary.
-Total grazing would be about 50 SF per tortoise. I will have some bushes, hides, and water holes so maybe more like 40 SF per tortoise for grazing. As I am typing this, I am thinking that this might be too small for adult leopards. They might over graze a bit. I may need to make these 100 SF per tortoise? Any thoughts on this? I do not want too much area that would require me to get the weed trimmer out all the time.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. I am also planning on having the house very well insulated so I will probably not have a hinged roof. I will have some decent width doors though at 18" or so. I do not plan on needing access to the house very often at all unless it is for repairs. I will make the roof at least removable but with a drill. The cold frame will have a hinged roof so I can hop in and get down on a knee and pull tortoises out if necessary.
 

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MichaelL

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Sounds awesome and looks great!! I haven't kept leopards before, but I came imagine that they would overgraze that area. If I were you I would make it bigger while you can, before it is finalized.
 

Texastravis

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Why are you splitting the primary pen from the secondary? Why not just one big space for each of the 2 torts?

Karen, this enclosure design would actually be for a maximum of (2) groups of (4) tortoises. In other words, a single group of 4 tortoises would have half of the 8x4 house, half of an 8x4 cold frame, and 2 pens. The reason for 2 pens is I was trying to utilize the common practice of pasture rotating but on a much smaller scale. Cattle ranchers commonly keep cattle on a single pasture for a set number of days and then move them to another pasture to let the previous pasture "rest" to maintain healthy grass. This also lets me have a little more flexibility with other things such as ant treatment, fertilization, and planting rye grass or other seed in the fall. I am not for sure going this route yet but I am certainly considering it. Another option would be to have a front main pen and then a secondary one in the back that is just occasionally opened up.

As for grazing area, each leopard currently has 250 SF which allows the grass to regularly overgrow. I do have 1-2 leos that can somewhat keep up with it but it is still probably too much. I do think 100 SF-200SF per tortoise would be better though but started with 50 SF/tort based on google.

In my experience, leos seem to do better in smaller areas. I cannot explain why. They seem to get lost in larger overgrown enclosures, not know where their house is, be out in the sun too long, lose sight of the water bowls, etc.
 

Yvonne G

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I like the 'split' idea. I have a fence-that-goes-nowhere in my sulcata yard. I makes him have to walk all around the fence in order to get to the other part of the yard. More exercise plus a visual barrier.

Your design looks great to me. You've put a lot of thought into it. Let us know how it works out.
 

turtlesteve

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Looks great. Even rotating pasture you will be adding supplemental food. A single 9” tortoise can take 60 square feet down to dirt here in SC.
 

Texastravis

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I like the 'split' idea. I have a fence-that-goes-nowhere in my sulcata yard. I makes him have to walk all around the fence in order to get to the other part of the yard. More exercise plus a visual barrier.

Your design looks great to me. You've put a lot of thought into it. Let us know how it works out.

I sure will. Will likely have a build thread for it for some side fun and constructive comments.
 

KarenSoCal

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Karen, this enclosure design would actually be for a maximum of (2) groups of (4) tortoises.

Ah, yes...now I understand. That makes good sense. Thank you for the detailed explanation.

Leopards get pretty big, right? I'm surprised that 3 or 4 of them could fit in a 4x4 nightbox. They will be nice and cozy!
 
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