Sorry for yet another post asking for opinions on an enclosure.

Here is my plan. Please tell me if this sounds reasonable.

I am planning to build a pen for two adult Russians. The internal dimensions will be 8' X 4'. I am planning to make it a total of 32" tall. I am going to put in 6" of gravel (for drainage) and 12" of substrate, leaving 16" of wall. Of course, I'll also fabricate a wire top to keep predators out.

My reasoning for keeping it all above-ground is this. I live in Houston, which means lots of rain and the necessity for good drainage. I figure that by putting it above-ground, it will probably drain much better than one that is sunk into the ground. This would keep the tortoises 18" from the ground.

Now the questions:

I've seen many enclosures that are dug into the ground. Would this work to basically do the same thing but keep it all above ground?

Is 8'X4' large enough for two adult Russians? I'm not looking for just a minimum size. I want to make sure they have plenty of room.

Is 6" of gravel enough for drainage?

I want to do something to keep the substrate from sinking too much into the gravel (although I understand that some mixing is inevitable). I was planning to use some sort of weed-block fabric to do this. Does anyone have any better suggestions?

Thanks in advance for all your posts!

David

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