Some of you are familiar with the problems that I have been having in my yard with human predation (luckily none of my animals have been effected yet), and therefore understand why they spend the vast majority of their time in indoor housing, but I was recently brainstorming about how I might do things differently when I move in a couple of years, and here are some of the ideas I came up with:
-6' privacy fence: We have a chainlink fence right now and the yard is easily viewed from three roads. Several people who I don't even know have already asked me what the big wooden box with a screen top (my small 6'x6'x2' outdoor russian enclosure), and that bothers me. Out of sight, out of mind, so I think this is the first step I will have to take.
-Enclosure Dimensions: Initially I was thinking that the smartest thing to do would be to build reinforced walk-in enclosures, but again, the structure would have to be about 7' tall and I'm sure it would be visible even above a privacy fence, so now I am thinking that sticking with a lower height and building reinforced tops might be the best idea, because less people will know that they exist.
-Foliage: I think this goes along with the low sided enclosure idea, but planting lots of foliage around the enclosures should also help keep them out of sight.
-Disguise/Confusion: I'm also an avid gardener and hope to have the vast majority of the yard in my future home planted with fruits, vegetables, etc., and I am working with raised beds right now. Raised bed gardens with bird cloth over them would bear a striking resemblance to tortoise enclosure with hardware mesh tops (especially since both of them are heavily planted).
-Keeping my mouth shut: When I was asked what the wooden box in the backyard was, I stupidly replied that it is a pen for my tortoises. I think the most important thing that I can do given my situation is to just avoid letting anyone know that the tortoises are back there.
It's unfortunate that I have to come up with ideas to keep humans out of my tortoise enclosures, but with the problems we had in the past summer I know it is necessary. I don't plan on keeping the tortoises outdoors when we are not outdoors in our current home (my fiancee and I are living with my parents for the time being), but I really want to be able to change that in our future home. Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Another thing I just came up with: Making sure that the enclosures are heavily planted and offer a lot of hiding areas. At times this past summer when the russians were out in their small outdoor enclosure it took us quite a while to find them all in the foliage. I assume that they will spend a lot of their time hiding/blending in in that case and be less likely to attract any attention.
-6' privacy fence: We have a chainlink fence right now and the yard is easily viewed from three roads. Several people who I don't even know have already asked me what the big wooden box with a screen top (my small 6'x6'x2' outdoor russian enclosure), and that bothers me. Out of sight, out of mind, so I think this is the first step I will have to take.
-Enclosure Dimensions: Initially I was thinking that the smartest thing to do would be to build reinforced walk-in enclosures, but again, the structure would have to be about 7' tall and I'm sure it would be visible even above a privacy fence, so now I am thinking that sticking with a lower height and building reinforced tops might be the best idea, because less people will know that they exist.
-Foliage: I think this goes along with the low sided enclosure idea, but planting lots of foliage around the enclosures should also help keep them out of sight.
-Disguise/Confusion: I'm also an avid gardener and hope to have the vast majority of the yard in my future home planted with fruits, vegetables, etc., and I am working with raised beds right now. Raised bed gardens with bird cloth over them would bear a striking resemblance to tortoise enclosure with hardware mesh tops (especially since both of them are heavily planted).
-Keeping my mouth shut: When I was asked what the wooden box in the backyard was, I stupidly replied that it is a pen for my tortoises. I think the most important thing that I can do given my situation is to just avoid letting anyone know that the tortoises are back there.
It's unfortunate that I have to come up with ideas to keep humans out of my tortoise enclosures, but with the problems we had in the past summer I know it is necessary. I don't plan on keeping the tortoises outdoors when we are not outdoors in our current home (my fiancee and I are living with my parents for the time being), but I really want to be able to change that in our future home. Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Another thing I just came up with: Making sure that the enclosures are heavily planted and offer a lot of hiding areas. At times this past summer when the russians were out in their small outdoor enclosure it took us quite a while to find them all in the foliage. I assume that they will spend a lot of their time hiding/blending in in that case and be less likely to attract any attention.