Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I live in Atlanta and would like to add a tortoise to our family. I can build a large and secure enclosure outside and I'm wondering if Testudo hermanni would do well in our Georgia summers. I pondered a Russian but I believe we are too humid here.

If the winters get too cold they can obviously be inside then but I'd like to have them outside as much as possible. I'm building an outdoor enclosure for my iguana so I figured while I was building I could do a good tortoise habitat as well. I haven't really found any information specific to maximum temps and humidity levels for Testudo hermanni.

Thanks!

I used to keep my Green Iguana (my fave liz to this day)in an outside enclosure with tortoise, albino Bullfrogs a pond and live tree. It worked fine, but my tortoises were rainforest critters as are Iguanas. You would be combinding a arid animal with a tropical one. Outside enclosures are a world of fun and very interesting when you can have aquatic, two dimensional, and three dimensional animals living together. Maybe you could find a ared tree lizard or tropical tortoises. Then again maybe you could make an Oasis environment! Now that would be too cool! There is a box turtle in Mexico that lives in a very small Oasis in the middle of the desert. Ive never seen in done in a man made environment but I bet there is a zoo somewhere that has. See if you can talk to Collett Adams at the Brownsville Zoo. Here in Florida we have Oak ridges, where the pine forest/wetland stop and the high and dry start. It was always the best of both worlds to collect reptiles. One side a aquatic mud snake and on the other side of the streem a Coachwhip! I might have talked myself into building one now!! GOOD LUCK. Vic

So the answer is that it is too humid in GA for a Testudo hermanni to be kept outside? Bummer.

I don't mix animals from different continents, even if they have similar housing requirements.

Because of central air/heat the inside of our house is perfect for arid/desert critters so we have a fair amount of those.

Maybe a redfoot tortoise for outdoors here?

If your in a high and dry area then outside will work for most of the year. You can shield from rain so the ground doesnt get to wet. Build the ground up and use gravel under the fill like a French drain to channel the water away. If you live near Oakeefanokee (sp?)then,nope! Mixing animals from different parts of the World used to be taboo to me to until I saw pictures of the earth from outer space and then realised,they are already mixed together in one place. I built my outside enclosure attached to my house. It was an L shape already so I only had two sides and a top to go. I installed big floor to cieling windows for viewing, and could open them for feeding and taking pictures. The live tree inside formed a huge canapi over it for shade. It was a lot of fun. I havent built one YET at my new place but made up for it in other ways. VM