Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My little baby russian tortoise (well...my dad's, that I am raising for him) is doing well in his starter enclosure. I figure there's two more steps up from it.

-Right now he's only about 2" in length, so he's in rubbermaid container that's about 34"x14"x14" or so...? I think.

-Closer to christmas time I plan on stepping up to a 52"x22"x14" 'christmas tree box' that I saw at walmart a little while ago. This would technically be 'good enough' for him for his whole life, but I don't settle for 'good enough, sooo....

-When I buy that enclosure for him (the christmas tree box), I am going to start construction on his final enclosure. I have already built an enclosure for my bearded dragon and one for my mali uromastyx with the help of my dad's friend that were each 4'x2'x2', and they turned out fantastic. I was originally planning on a 4'x2'x2' enclosure for simon the tort, but I think I'm going to get another sheet of plywood and instead make it 6'x2'x2', so he has more room to roam. How does this sound? He also has a spacious pen outdoors that we are finishing construction on next summer, complete with a japanese maple tree. This will only be used when we are outside to supervise him though, as there are many predators in our neiborhood. The indoor enclosure will be modified from what I did for the lizards. The viewing window will be about 8-10" from the floor of the enclosure to allow for a few inches of dirt, as well as enough height that he will not be able to get to it to try to walk through it. There will also be a lot of ventilation around the sides, and a removable wood top (we need to keep the cat out).

So what do you think so far?

6x2 for one russian is great!

Just make sure there is adequate ventilation. A solid lid could create a lot of heat build-up and high humidity.

Good luck.

Thanks! I've take that all into consideration, and I think I want to put circular vents all around the upper sides of the enclosure, which should provide enough ventilation (since there will be so many of them). Plus, for the most part, I use low-wattage bulbs to heat my reptiles. In my 4'x2' enclosures, I sometimes have a hard time getting the right gradient, but that's because those lizards need very high temperatures too. I think a 6'x2' enclosure, with a low wattage bulb that gets the basking temps right around 95 or so, and adequate ventilation, should have a perfect gradient.

As for the humidity, my cages get a little humid about twice a week, when I add water to the soil. It's not bad humidity though. I've found it's actually kind of good for them. A lot of the same affects of giving them a bath, but without the hassle. With heat lamps going, the water from the top of the soil is all evaporated within that day (usually), but it does leave some nice humid places to go to underneath certain hiding spots and stuff.

You could install a small fan in the top to keep air moving through the enclosure. I keep small fans pointed into my indoor cages to keep the air moving through them.