Pancake Outdoor housing

[CourtneyG]

*little note*I live in Alabama, and summers are really humid, and my tortoise will only arrive sometime from the 10th to the 20th, it all depends on the person I am buying from when they will ship out to me.

Right now it is currently winter so my pancake is staying indoors but come summer time I want to have him or her outside during the daytime.
Because of where I live I cannot build a nice outdoor enclosure, so instead I am getting a sandbox that comes with a lid. I will only put the lid on when it rains and the tortoise will come in the house. I am going to build a little hide out of slate stone and the substrate will be a mix of topsoil and sand and there will be a soft mesh stapled around the top but lose enough on one side I can slip him or her in. There will always be a water bowl and food in the food bowl. The place I am going to put him gets sun in the afternoon, but mornings are in the shade, There will be a plant in front of the box on the side of his or her hut, so when the sun does shine on that side of the house he or she will have a cool hut to hide in.
Alabama weather in the summer can be from the 80sF-100sF and the humidity can dance between 60-100.
I know these guys do not like humidity, but I would like to have him be outside during the day and inside at night, he has to come in at night the raccoons and maybe opossums we get will break into his home if I leave the lid off.
So would it be okay to have him outside during the day time?
I can provide more information if you would like on what I am going to do if you still have some questions or concerns.
Also I am South African and my mum and her friend took care of the confiscated tortoises that could not be released back in the wild back home in SA, so dietary needs and indoor husbandry and all that what not are well known.

 

[Jacqui]

Hi! So this would be along with having an inside setup for the days when it's too cold along with those nights? I would suggest building a regular lid where you can have full ability to get into the enclosure rather then "lose enough on one side I can slip him or her in". My experience is that never works well and the tortoise will always be just out of reach or you will need to work on something also out of reach from the small hole. Not to mention the built in radar tortoises have for finding holes and weakspots and managing to escape at those points.

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome. I don't know about the care of pancakes. However, your outdoor summer housing doesn't sound bad. I would not use the sand though, it can cause impaction. Others that know more will be along soon.

 

[CourtneyG]

I have in inside tank for him that is still being built. It is about a 55gal tank that I have the glass that is a few inches about his or her height covered in black construction paper so he or she does not run into the glass and hurt themselves, also the tank has a lid that slide in and out of place and is locked in place by a screw off to the side of the lid.. For the outside sand box I was thinking of building a dome out of metal wire and the soft mesh and attaching it to the box with clips, that might work a bit better than soft mesh stapled on to it. I would also make sure the dome did not have loose space so that he or she could escape. so would it be alright to put him or her outside during the summer time in Alabama?

 

[Jacqui]

Yes it will be fine having him having some outside time, weather permitting, in the summer time. Also the sand should be okay, as long as you have it in a mixture that has only like no more then 20% sand. Also, remember to have small holes in the bottom, even a few on the sides at substrate level for drainage, just incase a heavy rain storm happens by.

 

[CourtneyG]

I was planing on when it rains detaching the dome and putting the lid of the sand box on to keep it all dry, and putting the lid on to keep outside creatures out causing havoc in his or her box. During the summer we usually stay dry since every summer we are in a drought and do not get much rain, we normally get a lot of rain when winter starts. Okay for the advice on the substrate for the outside box, the inside tank substrate will be compressed pellets of some sort, it is the same stuff the guy who is ordering my tortoise uses in the tanks of his tortoises.

 

[Jacqui]

Sometimes rain catches folks by surprise or "light" showers that turn into a fast, but short lived heavy rain. I have heard too many stories of drowned tortoises, because of the unexpected rainfall and their amounts, not to make lots of holes.

Ummm pellets? I would put a caution in that most pelleted substrates are poor choices between mold, creating a poor walking surface, ect..,

 

[CourtneyG]

He loves the stuff and find that it works well, but it does make for a bumpy surface, but I imagine a padloper will do well on a bumpy surface, but if I do not like the substrate I will change it for the mix of sand and topsoil. It also makes for easy spot cleaning and then about once a month change the substrate out for fresh substrate, he has never had mold problems with it, and he keeps multiple animal species on it, he owns the local pet store. I live in the middle of Alabama, we do not get Tornado problems and he or she will only be outside when I or my mum are home to keep an eye on him, and that usually puts it when there is sun on that side of the house.

 

[Tim/Robin]

I recommend that your outside enclosure has some sort of inward protruding lip or edge rather than a lid. This will keep the pancake inside and allow sunlight in. Pancakes are excellent climbers and are fast. They will surprise you at what they can scale!!! Pancakes also like the rain. When hot here, I will sprinkle mine with a hose and they all come out of hiding and seem to like it.