New outdoor enclosure

[jeffbens0n]

OK, so I know I don't post photos very often but I will try to upload some here for the first time.

I had mentioned a while back about building an outdoor enclosure. Well it is completed and my tortoises have been outdoors full time for a couple weeks now.

I also acquired a second russian from my niece who no longer wanted her. So I now have a male and female russian, and my leopard. Please feel free to offer any advice or criticisms. The overall pen is 16x16 feet. each side is 16x8. One side for my two russians, and one side for my leopard.

 

[DeanS]

Well done...very natural environment

 

[dmarcus]

It looks good and like Dean said very natural, I am sure they are enjoying all the over grown grass and weeds..

 

[Fernando]

There is some very good weed and grass growth in there! Nice pictures!

 

[SnakeyeZ]

I like it... very natural looking.

 

[Kristina]

Looks great! Just watch those sneaky little Russians, they are escape artists and diggers, big time

 

[jeffbens0n]

Looks great! Just watch those sneaky little Russians, they are escape artists and diggers, big time

Thanks! They haven't dug much yet. I hand dug a burrow in the middle of the pen that you can see, they sleep in it at night and have started to dig a little bit in there, but it is mostly through the top soil and down to clay from what i have dug out, so its harder for them to dig. The wall of the enclosure goes about 4 inches underground, and they haven't really dug at it to much. I also plan to line the inside of the wall with small rocks, to discourage digging near the edges.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Nice.

 

[lynnedit]

Your torts should love all of the growth! I am still waiting for more to fill in in mine.
Plenty of places for the female to hide from the male, if needed.
So they are out there full time, do you get many predators?

 

[jeffbens0n]

Your torts should love all of the growth! I am still waiting for more to fill in in mine.
Plenty of places for the female to hide from the male, if needed.
So they are out there full time, do you get many predators?

Surprisingly my male does not bother the female at all. They are both adult size, male is 5+ female is 6+ inches, they just seem indifferent towards eachother. That may change with time though and I would like to breed them eventually and add another female or two.

As far as predators we do have foxes and raccoons to worry about. I have an electric wire around the top of the pen if you look closely in a few of the pics. I got the idea from NEtorts here on the forum and it has worked great so far. The russians sleep in their hole I dug them and my leopard I put in his rubbermaid tub at night and he stays in there, you can see it in the corner of his pen. It has a door with rubber flaps to keep him warmer on any cool nights.

 

[lynnedit]

Your torts should love all of the growth! I am still waiting for more to fill in in mine.
Plenty of places for the female to hide from the male, if needed.
So they are out there full time, do you get many predators?

Surprisingly my male does not bother the female at all. They are both adult size, male is 5+ female is 6+ inches, they just seem indifferent towards eachother. That may change with time though and I would like to breed them eventually and add another female or two.

As far as predators we do have foxes and raccoons to worry about. I have an electric wire around the top of the pen if you look closely in a few of the pics. I got the idea from NEtorts here on the forum and it has worked great so far. The russians sleep in their hole I dug them and my leopard I put in his rubbermaid tub at night and he stays in there, you can see it in the corner of his pen. It has a door with rubber flaps to keep him warmer on any cool nights.

Oh, yes, now I see that wire. They also really seem to like those big tufts of grass. Nice.

 

[RianSeeking]

Very nice. I like the big grasses. I need some prairie like that!

 

[Tropical Torts]

Your enclosures look fantastic, great looking torts too! How high are the walls? you may consider capping the corners as russians are notorious climbers! Good job on their now home!

 

[LindaF]

Nice! I bet your torts love being out in the "wild".

 

[gmayor]

I love how natural it looks very well done job