Thoughts on 2 1/2' x 6' Indoor Table?

[TisMary]

Doing the necessary preparations to adopt a male (definitely), baby (maybe juvenile) Hermann's this year. Our menagerie includes a Bearded Dragon and a Panther Chameleon - oh yeah - and our dog (he and the 'zards don't interact).

We plan to build an open indoor tortoise table - many thanks for all of the great information on this site. Don't have a good place to put a 4'x8' table, but do have the perfect spot for a 2 1/2' x 6' table. Many posts say "bigger is better" and I totally get that. But, realistically, wouldn't this size be OK for a single male Hermann's (who will have great parents and plenty of TLC!) ? Thoughts?

 

[wellington]

2 1/2 is too small. No it wouldn't be better because the parents would do the right thing.
In the wild they cover a lot of ground. If the enclosure, which should be a closed chamber, not a table for young ones, is only for the cold winter months it could work however quite narrow.

 

[Tom]

Doing the necessary preparations to adopt a male (definitely), baby (maybe juvenile) Hermann's this year. Our menagerie includes a Bearded Dragon and a Panther Chameleon - oh yeah - and our dog (he and the 'zards don't interact).

We plan to build an open indoor tortoise table - many thanks for all of the great information on this site. Don't have a good place to put a 4'x8' table, but do have the perfect spot for a 2 1/2' x 6' table. Many posts say "bigger is better" and I totally get that. But, realistically, wouldn't this size be OK for a single male Hermann's (who will have great parents and plenty of TLC!) ? Thoughts?

If you have a large outdoor enclosure for the warmer months, and you hibernate him during the winter months, then the damage from a small indoor enclosure will be minimized. If you can't make a large outdoor enclosure, and you don't want to hibernate him in winter, then you'll need something larger. As arbitrary as it is, the recommended 4x8 yields 32 sq. feet of walking space. 2.5 x 6 yields less than half of that at 15. Good intentions and TLC don't meet the tortoises space needs unfortunately. Tortoise need exceedingly large enclosures. Larger than any other reptiles. Your chameleon also needs a large enclosure, but that need is satisfied with vertical space, which is much easier to accommodate in cramped living spaces.

Also, its very difficult to sex babies and TSD is generally not reliable from any reasons. So your intended male baby, might end up female. You've got a 50/50 shot at it!