My Outdoor Russian Enclosures

[Tom]

They are nearing completion. I think in the first pic you can see my overhead sprinkler system. This automatically waters the two raised planter areas in the russian area and the two next door in the other enclosure where "Big Daddy" the SA leopard tortoise lives all alone.

Here is the smaller pen in the foreground. It measures 4x16' and I just finished my prototype russian underground box. I'll make another thread for that one. My group of six from Carol S live in here.

Here is the left enclosure. Each of the bigger ones are 8x24'. There is 8' of over head shade across the back, and you can't see it well, but there are makeshift houses in the back for them. I used upside down dishwashing tubs and paving stones and covered them all up with a mound of dirt as a temporary pen until I can get all my underground boxes built and installed for them. Their water bowls are back there in the shady area too. My group of 6 from Melissa live in this one.

And the right one. I just planted the raised planting beds last night, but in a couple of weeks it will be nice and green. I have 8 tortoises from a breeder I found at a CTTC meeting living in here.

Questions and comments are welcome.

 

[kathyth]

Absolutely fantastic, Tom! Nice job!

 

[lynnedit]

Speechless! Very nice, so secure. Clever to include the raised beds right in the enclosure. Harvest and feed...

 

[Tom]

Speechless! Very nice, so secure. Clever to include the raised beds right in the enclosure. Harvest and feed...

Oh yes! I forgot to mention that the wire extends 18" into the ground all the way around and its an 18" foundation on the back wall too. It is completely enclosed from top to bottom too, and the door is open in the pic, but usually it stays closed unless I'm working in there. Some people have mentioned that they can climb the wire, but I've been putting all 20 of them in there for sun since last year and they haven't done it yet.

When our winter rains come that whole area is thick with weeds. This year I intend to put down pavers and I'll have to cut the weeds way back so they can move around. It gets far too thick in there for even the little russians to get around.

 

[Tom]

Here is that same area in late Spring. About half the weeds had already died, been eaten, or been trampled by this point. By June it is all just bare dirt again no matter how much I water it.

Here is what that same area looks like right now:

 

[lynnedit]

Pavers work well as a pathway!
I can't imagine a more secure enclosure.

 

[Carol S]

Tom: What a fantastic enclosure! You did a great job!

 

[Tom]

Here is what the ground in this same area looks like right now.

Tom: What a fantastic enclosure! You did a great job!

Thank you Carol.
Did you see this one?
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/semi-underground-russian-box.98590/

It features some really cool little yearling russian tortoises.

 

[TortoiseRN]

Nice work Tom!! Do your RTs still borrow even with your in-ground box? I recently put a doghouse in my outdoor enclosure half of them use it and the others tried digging under it. Maybe I should bury the doghouse!?? Lol


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[Tom]

Nice work Tom!! Do your RTs still burrow even with your in-ground box?

Last night I put them in there. Tonight 5 of the six dug in for the night outside the box, but I put them all back in after dark tonight. I expect it to take at least a couple of weeks to "train" them to use it. Time will tell.

 

[TortoiseRN]

It's fantastic man!! You have such great ideas.

 

[Tom]

All of them slept overnight in the box. Temp in the box dropped to 69. Outside ambient dropped to 59.

 

[tortadise]

Looks great. Do you plan to keep them out there all year?

 

[Tom]

Y

Looks great. Do you plan to keep them out there all year?

Yes but I am debating what to do with them in "winter" as my climate is not consistently cold enough to hibernate, but not consistently warm enough to be up and eating. Most people in my area just leave their russians outside with some sort of makeshift dry area, and they do fine. Well I don't want fine. I want EXCELLENCE. I'm looking at 3 main options and considering all of them.
1. Pull them all in the fall and hibernate them in a fridge for completely controlled safe conditions.
2. Add radiant heat panels to the tops of the underground boxes and set the temp to 65-70, to prevent hibernation entirely, since most of our winter days are sunny and up into the 70s or higher here. Our winter nights are cold and drop into the 30s or 20s sometimes.
3. Leave them alone and let them fend for themselves since it seems to work for everyone else around here.

I'm leaning toward number 1 because I KNOW it will work and be totally safe. 2 and 3 are uncharted territory for me, but they might work just fine. I'm open to insight, experience sharing, and suggestions.

 

[tortadise]

Yeah same here. Weather can be super cold at night but warm during day,

 

[Wanda]

Great enclosures, i would like something like that when i upgrade my enclosures (which will be soon .... Sshh don't tell my husband
Do your girls just dig down in their pen when nesting or do you give them a dedicated laying area?

 

[Tom]

Great enclosures, i would like something like that when i upgrade my enclosures (which will be soon .... Sshh don't tell my husband
Do your girls just dig down in their pen when nesting or do you give them a dedicated laying area?

Mine are all CB juveniles between one and two years old. I won't see eggs for probably another 5 years or more, but I sure look forward to it!

 

[68merc]

I learned that blue jays will turn a baby Russian on his back. So i understand and like the enclosure. Not sure I could sell it to my wife though...

PS: the baby is fine.

 

[Tom]

I learned that blue jays will turn a baby Russian on his back. So i understand and like the enclosure. Not sure I could sell it to my wife though...

PS: the baby is fine.

Here is a trick that sometimes works for me. Buy it FOR your wife. "Look honey. I made this new cage for you, so you don't have to worry about the blue jays flipping our babies any more. Wasn't that nice of me?"

 

[Wanda]

Mine are all CB juveniles between one and two years old. I won't see eggs for probably another 5 years or more, but I sure look forward to it!

Any chance of a peek at how you house your adults ?!