Russian Outdoor Box

[AZTgirl]

I live in Phoenix and have gone through as many of the posts I can find related to Russians and housing them outdoors 24 x 7 all year round. I have a male Russian that is full grown. Right now he is hanging out in a 50 gallon tub inside. He spent all summer outside in his pen with no trouble, but I want to provide something better for him outside and would prefer not to bring him inside and store him in a fridge or garage during the winter. I see a lot of forums where @Tom mentions boxes that he built that are 1' underground and am wondering how that has been working? All the photos I find in the forums no longer exist so looking for any visual support so I can construct a better setup for my tortoise.

Thanks!

 

[Tom]

Here are some pics. It works great here in SoCal.








Its important to note that you need to place the box so that the entrance is facing down hill. This way the rain will not run into it.

The radiant heat panel is just to make those fall and spring nights a little warmer than ambient. We will have 80 degree days in spring and fall, but the nights will drop to 40. I set the thermostat to 60-65 so that they get a night time cool down, but not so cold that they want to hibernate. Night temps in the 40s make them not want to eat or be active, even with warm days. This allowed me to keep them outside longer in fall, and put them back out earlier in spring after hibernation.

 

[AZTgirl]

Tom thank you for the pictures and info...I am wondering if I could build something similar and then keep him outside all year round in Arizona?

 

[Maro2Bear]

Tom thank you for the pictures and info...I am wondering if I could build something similar and then keep him outside all year round in Arizona?

Look up the weather in Kazakhstan. Russians come from a pretty harsh area of Central Asia, I’m sure your Russian can live outside in Arizona as long as you provide the right conditions - food, water, heat, areas to roam, dig, hibernate, etc.

 

[Tom]

Tom thank you for the pictures and info...I am wondering if I could build something similar and then keep him outside all year round in Arizona?

Most of the year will be fine. The problem is winter. You don't have enough of one. Russians need it to be consistently around 39 degrees. Your warm AZ sunny warm spells in January can end up killing the tortoise in several ways. You'll either need to hibernate him with a fridge, or have an indoor set up and keep him warm during the cold spells and cold nights. If you don't hibernate him, you can put him outside on warm sunny winter days, and just bring him in at night and on cold days.

 

[AZTgirl]

Thanks, @Tom . That is what we are doing now. I have him in a 50-gallon tub in my bathroom with UV and basking light and he seems very content. Guess I will just plan on doing that each year and construct the "almost year round" perfect habitat for the rest of the year.

 

[RosemaryDW]

@Tom, as the OP mentions above, the photo links in some of your “how to” threads are no longer working/available. For example, none of the pictures in the tortoise care sheet are available. I meant to mention it to you or @Yvonne G earlier and it slipped my mind.

 

[RosemaryDW]

You can always see if he actually tries to hibernate before hauling him in. Some don’t if they have access to a heat source and some sunny weather, at least not down in Southern California where I am. Just be ready with the indoor enclosure, as you’ve already planned. Apache Junction is drier in the winter than the summer, looks like? So you won’t have as much concern with a cold damp as we do in my area.

Mine hibernates and it’s damp here, so she goes into a fridge, despite having a lovely box based on Tom’s design; I’m not willing to give up the bathtub! She’s quite tied to the shortening of the day in winter, perhaps more so than the weather. But they are all different.

 

[Tom]

Thanks, @Tom . That is what we are doing now. I have him in a 50-gallon tub in my bathroom with UV and basking light and he seems very content. Guess I will just plan on doing that each year and construct the "almost year round" perfect habitat for the rest of the year.

Get him in something much bigger for the winter if you can. A 50 is way too small for an adult Russian.

 

[Tom]

@Tom, as the OP mentions above, the photo links in some of your “how to” threads are no longer working/available. For example, none of the pictures in the tortoise care sheet are available. I meant to mention it to you or @Yvonne G earlier and it slipped my mind.

We know. The third party pic hosting sites are all shutting down. In years past, we weren't able to upload pics directly to the forum like we do now.