Russian Tortoise Excercise

[BoggyIsMyTortise]

(He Is Indoor)So i bring my Raussian tortoise boggy outside sometimes and I was wondering how often I should bring him outside and for how long each time.

 

[leigti]

Russians need a lot of exercise. They need a large indoor enclosure if you live in a cold climate and a large outdoor enclosure practically everywhere. Even if they can only be outside for a few months a year. Can you build an outdoor enclosure? A 6 x 12' one would be good. Where do you live?

 

[lismar79]

Make sure outdoor enclosure is secure. These guys are escape artist. They can climb anything.

 

[leigti]

If you absolutely can't build an outdoor enclosure then I would take your tortoise out at least an hour a day and closely supervise him. It is amazing how quickly they can actually move and completely disappear.

 

[axeman25]

You can get a plastic kids pool for him to hang out in for now if you can't build the enclosure right now.

 

[Clunk]

They do need a lot of exercise. I take mine out for about 90 mins weather permitting. He just gets so restless sometimes even when I let him wander around the house. I don't have an enclosure so he has the whole backyard to roam in and plenty of bushes to hide under. I just can't take my eyes off him because he will sneak off (he's done it before, took me 3 hours to find him).

 

[Clunk]

They need LOTS of exercise (I though tortoises were supposed to be slow and sedentary).

 

[Tom]

Here are some ideas for outdoor enclosures:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...table-but-safe-outdoor-baby-enclosures.30683/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/simple-sunning-enclosure.104351/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/cheap-easy-simple-sunning-enclosure.14680/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/semi-underground-russian-box.98590/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

 

[Clunk]

Thanks for the links Tom. I don't plan on building an outdoor enclosure since he's kept indoors and only take him outside for fresh air and exercise. Although it would be easier for me to keep him outside I think it's best for him inside the house because it's a climate controlled, predator-free environment. I also have to take into consideration the winters around here which can be very brutal.

 

[leigti]

Thanks for the links Tom. I don't plan on building an outdoor enclosure since he's kept indoors and only take him outside for fresh air and exercise. Although it would be easier for me to keep him outside I think it's best for him inside the house because it's a climate controlled, predator-free environment. I also have to take into consideration the winters around here which can be very brutal.

If you live in a colder climate you don't have to keep your tortoise inside or outside all the time. My tortoise spends some months outside and some months inside. The outside enclosure is very secure. You can always bring them inside at night also because that's when most of the predator problems are.

 

[Clunk]

I live in a temperate climate so frigid winters, hot & humid summers, wet springs, mild autumns. I've had him 5 years and he has been thriving indoors. I take him outside practically every day except in the winter when sometimes 2 feet of snow cover my yard. I let him out of his room into the rest of the house (under my direct supervision) when I can't take him outside and he loves wandering/exploring/climbing/wedging himself into things.

His room is very large (approx 8' x 10') and even this can sometimes be too constraining for him - when he wants to come out he keeps pushing the gate I have bolted to the door frame incessantly till I let him out. After he's out for a few hours he'll go back to his room and chill. This is another reason I don't think an enclosure would suit him.

 

[Tom]

I live in a temperate climate so frigid winters, hot & humid summers, wet springs, mild autumns. I've had him 5 years and he has been thriving indoors. I take him outside practically every day except in the winter when sometimes 2 feet of snow cover my yard. I let him out of his room into the rest of the house (under my direct supervision) when I can't take him outside and he loves wandering/exploring/climbing/wedging himself into things.

His room is very large (approx 8' x 10') and even this can sometimes be too constraining for him - when he wants to come out he keeps pushing the gate I have bolted to the door frame incessantly till I let him out. After he's out for a few hours he'll go back to his room and chill. This is another reason I don't think an enclosure would suit him.

Some people just don't want to hear it, but I share what I have seen anyway... Then you can't say you weren't warned or didn't know better when the inevitable happens.

Tortoises need to be in large enclosures that are designed for them and dedicated to them. Loose on the floor or loose outside is a disaster waiting to happen. I work with a lot of vets and they show me all sorts of tortoise cases from mishaps, injuries and deaths that could have been prevented if the tortoise wasn't wandering out loose, supervised or not. We just had a member here who let her tortoise out on the floor of her house because she thought the enclosure was too restrictive and wanted her tortoise to be "free" and get exercise. She smashed her tortoises head in the door. I've seen them kicked, stepped on, lost, mauled by other pets, electrocuted, impacted with all sorts of objects they found on the floor, and of course lost. One tortoise got smashed in a recliner and another had a broken leg from a book falling on it from an overhead shelf.

Your whole back yard can be the enclosure if you close it in and make it safe and escape proof, but the tortoise needs its own area. Use the indoor enclosure during inclement weather, and the outdoor one during fair weather. We all live in a temperate climate in the USA.

People will do as they please. It pleases me to share the disasters I have seen in an attempt to save someone else's tortoise from suffering the same fate. Sometimes I am successful and sometimes not. I am asking you to rethink your current course of action before you learn the hard way, as so many others have, at their tortoises expense. None of them ever thought anything bad would happen either...

 

[Clunk]

Oh I know, I've read the horror stories of complacency. I've also read the horror stories of how these escape artists have been found half eaten or run over by a car in the middle of the street because it's difficult to make outdoor enclosures that are truly escape proof (sorry, but I'm not about to spend the money on a contractor to build something made of cement). I had a pen the first year I had him with some metal pieces dug about 2 feet deep in the ground. It rained, the ground got soft and he forced his way through because he's so strong and tenacious.

I live alone, it's just me and him, no other pets. When people come over back into his room he goes. I don't fall asleep when he's out of his room, he is like a crawling infant roaming the house and that's just how I treat him. I can't take my eyes off him. Outside is no good in the winter time, ground freezes like a block of ice. He has his own 8' x 10' room, no furniture, cables for his UVB/heat lamp stapled to the wall above his reach, not some tub or terrarium. You just said to bring him inside in the winter - what's the difference with the winter versus all year round?

Like I said, it's been 5 years with extensive Google-ing of comprehensive (and often contradictory) information on how to raise, feed, care, and house Testudo Horsfieldii.

You're right, people will do as they please. Careless people with too many pets/kids are going to have accidents, that's the bottom line.

Thank you for your concern and advice but taking into consideration yours and the internets' suggestions housing him outdoors in any enclosure (unless I were to build an addition to my house just for him) is pointless if I have to keep him indoors in the winter anyway.

 

[Tom]

It is not just the careless or complacent people, or people with kids and pets that have accidents. It can happen to anyone. This is like the people who they they or their house can't be robbed because they live in a nice neighborhood. The it-won't-happen-to-me attitude. The problem is that by the time people realize they are wrong,its too late.

You don't understand the benefit of an adult tortoise being outside? Exercise, grazing, sunshine? That is not pointless. Its very good for them. Its not hard to make an inexpensive escape proof enclosure for them. There are hundreds of examples from all over the world on this forum. Indoors can be made to work, but outdoors during favorable weather is far superior in just about every measurable way.

I apologize for this turning into an argumentative browbeating, but you understanding these points will be beneficial to your tortoise, and so the risk of possibly upsetting you is worth it to me. I don't want to make you mad, but I do want to help the tortoise that has ended up in your care.

 

[johnsonnboswell]

It's not just about accidents or carelessness. A hard floor with no substrate can deform the tortoises feet and legs over time. The lack of proper microclimates and UVB can show up as problems later. Everything seems fine, nothing has changed, but then it seems like there's a sudden problem.

If you have a room dedicated to your tortoise, turn it into a habitat. Add shallow flats of substrate. Hang a UVB light for him. Put down a water dish.

 

[BoggyIsMyTortise]

Thanks for all the comments and we will be finishing up this weekend and ill post the pic sunday night.

 

[BoggyIsMyTortise]

it will be a 4x10 inclosure