Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Me and my dad have been brainstorming ideas for the tortoise we want (I've decided, with the help from you guys, that a CB russian is the best way to go). I'm not exactly sure where the tortoise is going in a few years when I move out, because it's really going to be more of my dad's pet than mine I think, I'm just going to be more of a primary caretaker (so maybe it is more of my pet, lol). So I'm not sure if it will be staying here when I leave, or going with me. That's not really very important, because either way I know it will get great care. Something tells me though that it will go with me, because I think my dad under estimates the amount of work that goes into keeping a little tortoise healthy.

But anyways, here's the actual plan for how I think things will go down. I'm going to start out with a large rubbermaid container, and the lid will be replaced with a piece of plexi with screening for a heat lamp, and an 18" UV light hanging in on the inside. I am going to put about 2-3" of soil in it (with more in some places than others). I will put a warm hide and a cool hide....basically they will be boxes about 1-2" high, 4" wide, and 8" deep (to make it easier for them to get out of sight). I will also put a pile of hay (or something similar...pretty much what you guys suggest) into the corner of the cool side. The water and food dishes will be sort of in between the hot and cool side, but more towards the cool side. There will be a heat lamp on the hot side that gets the basking spot around 90-95 degrees.

So that's the starting point. I have two custom enclosures (4'x2') holding lizards right now, and I was planning on building a third, but instead I think we're going to use the wood and other materials that would go into making the third cage, and make it different. It will be 4'x2'x16" (maybe a little taller) and probably raised up off the ground slightly. It will be wood sides and floor, and a plexiglass top (what would be the best way to ventilate this enclosure?). The lighting will be on the inside, it will be setup roughly the same as the starting setup, and it will double as a coffee table. That's the plan for now at least. I'm not sure how that plan might change between the time that we actually get the tortoise and the time that we need to make the switch over (which hopefully won't be too long).

For the short summers we have here, we are going to make an area where the tortoise can hang out. There's a garden in the back that's about a quarter of a circle, with a radius of 8'. I think we're going to make a brick wall around it (and put an underground barrier), and that will be where the tortoise can get some supervised outdoor activity. This is not really an area where you want to let a pet like that outside on its own for more then just a little bit. We have raccoons, skunks, possums, coyotes, dogs, cats, and the occasional bobcat. I was thinking about coming up with an idea for a top for the garden, but There is a tree in the garden, and the bushes go higher than the wall will go, so I think it will be better this way. Besides, when weather is nice, we're usually out there every day.

How does that sound so far? I think as long as we make sure not to put any pesticides in our yard, it would also be fun for the tortoise to walk around the yard (with supervision), especially in the spring when there are tons of dandelions sprouting up.

One problem I see is the use of a plexiglass top.

Plexiglass will retain the heat and reduce air circulation. This is not a good thing, especially when you are using a lamp to raise temps to 90 . The result will be an overly hot and humid enclosure with poor air circulation. Your tortoise needs a relatively dry enclosure with both cool and hot areas.

I suggest building a screen top around a wooden frame. This allows for the heat and light fixtures, plus adequate air circulation. I've used heavy-gauge screen or chicken wire over 2"x2"s for an enclosure that's about 24"x40".

If you wanted to save some time and a little money, you dont need a top for the rubbermaid. I had my rubbermaid wiht no top. THey can climb out.

I think you meant to say they can't climb out.

If you use one of those clamp-on shop lights for a heat lamp, you can just clip it to the side of the tub or use an object near the tub. I often just placed a fluorescent bulb (UV) on top of the tub.

If you need to keep things out of the tub (cat, dog, child), then consider the wood-framed screen.

Yeah, I already modified the plan. To start, since I need to keep my mom's goofy siamese cat out of the container, I'm going to cut a large hole in the top of the rubbermaid container (11"x29", and I'm going to attach a spare screen tank top I have (20 gallon long size top) to the top, using zip-ties. I'm going to have it upside down so that there's sort of a rim around the screened area to make sure that no heat lamps can somehow slide off and break.

I have two containers I've seen so far that I like. One is about 12" tall, 16" wide, and maybe 36" long....it's a little smaller than I want to get though. I like the height though. I found other containers that were perfect (like 24"x40" or something), except they were only 7" tall, and I figure once I put a thin layer of dirt in it, the tortoise will be too close to the top. One that I saw that I really liked a lot was a christmas tree box. It's like 20" wide by 52" long, and around 12" tall. If I put it on top of my two lizard cages (which are 4'x2'), there would be a little bit of it hanging off, but I think it would make an excellent enclosure for a russian tortoise. Plus, I could use a different screen lid to make the top with (I also have a 48"x12" top that I could use). I'll have to check it out today. Me and my dad are going to a bunch of places to try to track down some things....specifically some topsoil, an appropriate size bin, some hay (timothy hay? That's what Russiantortoise.org suggested), as well as some small things like materials for hiding spots, and a water dish.

We may end up ordering a baby tortoise this week....maybe even today if we can find what we need to set it up.

hi ryan,

one of the products i have found to be of great utility is the large black plastic tubs made for mixing cement and mortar. they are heavy duty, yet light weight, and cost about $10. they measure 36x23x8. i must have two dozen of them. depending on where you live, you can get them at Lowe's, Menard's, Home Depot, or other large builder's supply stores.

you can build a wood frame to fit over the top and fix hardware cloth or chicken wire over the frame. i like the low sides for several reasons. you don't need clamp lights, you can put the reflector housing of your heat lamp on the hardware cloth, it allows you to place your UV *tube closer to the torts, and your heat source can be of lower wattage, because it's much closer than you can get with the large rubbermaid tubs.

*it sounds like you're planning to use a fluorescent tube for UV. these have to be very close to your tort to be effective. when i use UV tubes, they are never more than 8" form the torts. if you go with a taller enclosure you may want to look into a mega ray lamp. these put out much more UV, which will be very important for your young tort.

have fun!

matt

Thanks for the info. Too bad I just got it after setting up the new tortoise setup. I got a rubbermaid bin that's kind of a hazy clear...I'm hoping that the haziness will make it easier for the tortoise to realize it's not clear. If he/she does have any problems with it, then I can switch it with another one.

The container I got is about 34" long, 13-14" wide, and 12" tall (which will be fine until the little guy/girl reaches 4"...we will have the new enclosure done long before then though). It has about 3-4" of dirt in it, so the UV bulb is around 8-9 inches away... in some spots more like 10-11". I really don't believe that those flourescent tubes do much as it is. I personally believe that the proper supplementation is infinitely more important than UV lighting, but being that tortoises seem to do better outdoors, I am using a UV lamp for mine. The bulb I've got in now is a little old, so I'm planning on replacing it this week. If I can find an appropriate sized mercury vapor bulb for not much more money, I will opt for that, at least while the little thing is growing quickly. With calcium and d3 in their diet though, reptiles can do awesome with no UV....I just don't suggest it to anyone, because it's nice to have UV in your enclosures.

I built a similar eclosure for my Bearded Dragon it is 4'x2.5'x18". I used plexiglass for the front instead of wood and used a screen top on a wooden frame. I attaced it with hinges to the box. I added a wooden brace on the top of the cage to attach the heat and UV lights to.