Planning outdoor enclosure

JanelP

Member
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
82
Location (City and/or State)
Idaho
So I am begining to plan where my outdoor enclosure will be for my leopard tortoises. They are only 7-9 months currently but I figure start now so I can get the area going and the plants growing so it can be ready.
So I thought about using this area here by the house. This tree shades this area all day. It gets about an hour in the morning first thing then intermiant thoughtout the day with about an hour before the heat of the afternoon once it transitions west behind the house. Around the corner of the house is in the sun all day except for a couple very early morning hours. So Idaho weather from may-sept highs 60-100 lows 50-70 the other months can be pretty wintery so they will be moved inside.

My questions are.
how much actually non shaded sun do they need access to in the day? I can make it "L" shaped around the corner to make sure they have access to the full sun area if possible. Also for a 5-10 year plan, I understand bigger is better. These are babcocki, whats a comfortable size for 10year olds? so I can make them decent.
IMG_20180630_150349.jpg
 

wellington

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Sep 6, 2011
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Location (City and/or State)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
You can plant shade but not sun. In a colder state it's better to have as much sun as possible and plant the shade if needed.
I purposely bought a house with a south/sunny yard and no trees. I built a shed for shade and planted shade. In the fall and early spring they get more outside time then if I hadn't done it this way. Sometimes they are out a couple times or so in November.
Remember, they can take 80-100 and plus some as long as they have some shade to get into if needed. In AZ the opposite would need to be done.
 

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