Outdoor enclosure help!

[james1990]

hey guys,
i am in the early stages of building an outdoor enclosure for my russian. im a newbie so just want to ask a few questions. with them being burrowers i was going to dig down, then put flags or slates etc before putting the substrate on so even through digging he wouldnt escape. my main question is what to put on top, i was thinking patches of grass, soil, bark cuttings, sand ? as i say im new to this so your help would be great !! cheers!

 

[Rhyno47]

Build a pen on top of the soil. Add 5 inches of lose top soil inside the pen. They only dig down a few inches plus once they hit the hard bottom natural layer they should stop digging.

 

[GBtortoises]

Much of their burrowing activity, or lack of it will depend upon whether or not their requirements are met within the enclosure in terms of adequate hiding areas. My Russian tortoises never begin to burrow until the fall when the nights begin to get colder. All summer long they all reside under their shelter at ground level.
When they do burrow the average length of the burrows are about 12" long, some have been up to 24" long and most are 4-8" under ground at the end. I've never really observed Russians (or any tortoise species that I have) digging with the intent to escape. Most I've ever seen tend to try to climb over.

 

[Cameron]

like GBtortoises said, mine don't dig either, plus i hibernate them indoors. when i built the enclosure for them, i was real paranoid about them digging under and out. so, i started by digging down 12 inches and laying a hard plastic net type fencing material so they couldn't dig farther down. then i filled that 12 inch deep hole up and built up another 2 and half feet of landscape timbers. I then filled it in with our natural dirt from here, then put a layer of topsoil, then a mixture of sand and peat. so, in order for them to dig out, they have to go through about 3 feet of dirt and clay and then dig through the barrior underneath. turns out, they don't dig at all! they sleep in their hide and kinda bury themselves up half way. other than that...nothing. here is a link to my enclosure. it has worked great so far for me....

http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-13704.html

hope this helps!

 

[stells]

Just fill in back in with the soil you have dug out... then you can do what you like decor wise... plant it up well... add hides etc...