Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am new to these tortious. I have a hatchling it is a few months old and right now i keep it in a 55 gallon indoors. But i was thinking about puting the tortious outside because everything i read says that you should put your tortious in a out side inclosure. I started to build a 5x5x3 inclosure out side with a top and i am burying chickin wire 1 1/2 feet deep and i will have wood for the out side buryed at the same depth it will have a sceen top. The temp here in the day gets as high as 105 during the day and drops to about 65 thats the highs and lows. I would like to know if it would be a good idea to keep it out in the summer. I will bring it in once it gets colder. Tell me what i should do thanks to all that helps me out.

The pen sounds great. He needs all the natural UV light he can get. But be careful of two things--temperature and predators. The temperature can be too hot for a baby, but if you give him a lot of shade sources--boards placed across the top, or ledges inside the pen, he can self-regulate his temperature nicely. The chicken wire is a good idea, but make sure it is across the top of the pen, too. Because most predators look at a small tortoise as a meal complete with a bowl. Even a cat can kill and eat a small tortoise. As he gets bigger, this will not be a problem. My big female, Rapture, weighs almost 50 pounds, and there is not a predator in this state that could take her down, because of her size, strength, and toughness (and attitude--lol). But when she was younger, we had to vigorously safeguard her safety from dogs and other predators. Be careful, but have fun. Chicken wire ought to keep out almost all of them--hawks are a problem, too, hence the wire. Good luck, and have fun and be careful.
menagerie