The Tortoise Table

Hi, we recently rescued a male russian. Aged 3.

We’ve built an outdoor enclosure for him to make the most of the weather (It’s a work in progress). Currently only for daytime use. Would it be safe to leave him outside to live if he had a secure greenhouse/hutch, a dry outdoor area and the relevant lamps?

We have dug him a hide but I worry being in sunny wales that he will be too cold in there at times. Any advice on when to prevent him using it? Or guidance on the rest of the set up so far?

Thanks,

M

Hi DaVinci, and welcome to The Tortoise Table. I must say, you’ve built Leo a really lovely outdoor enclosure — lots of room, lots of interesting things to walk over and around.

If he had a secure, dry area with heat and UVB lamps to provide a temperature of around 30C directly under them, and around 18c - 24c in a cooler area he could be OK outdoors in cooler weather, but what are you planning to do in the winter (they need a body temperature of around 26C just to properly digest their food)? It might be difficult to maintain those temps unless his area was really well insulated, and he wouldn’t want to go outside in freezing, wet weather. Russian (Horsfield) tortoises can take warm and damp or wet conditions, but they don’t fare well at all in cold and wet conditions and can easily develop life -threatening respiratory illnesses. (Lol, there is a reason why tortoises are not native to the British isles . . ). Is his hide safe from getting wet if we have torrential rain? Do you have an indoor set-up with UVB and heat lamps?

Are you planning on hibernating him? If you have only recently got him then it is probably not a good idea to hibernate him this year, as you need to get to know his ways and know if he is a bit off colour, because tortoises have to be in excellent health in order to hibernate. When you are ready to hibernate him we can give you lots of information.

The only other thing about 24/7 outdoor accommodation is security from predators at night. Rats and foxes can inflict horrific damage on tortoises, so it’s not a bad idea, if he is outdoors at night to have a way of preventing predators from getting to him.

Horsfields do have a very strong hibernation instinct, and if you are over wintering him and find him slowing down and not eating, let us know and we will give you some tips on how to keep him awake.

Hope that helps, and please let us know if you have any more questions or problems.

Nina

Thank you. We wanted him engaged & to be more natural.

To be honest we would build whatever was required for him, housing, dry outdoor area, chicken wire etc but then I would be nervous of leaving him out still.

I’m not planning on hibernating him this year, as he hasn’t done it before and want to build him up & get him checked by vets first. Plus as you say get to know him better! I’ll definitely shout out if I think he is slowing down.

I can relate to his heat requirements to be honest!

We do have an indoor set up too. It came with him & wasn’t ideally set up. We’ve changed substrate, given him shade, etc. Have UV & heat lamp on timers for him. It is a viv though which he is fast outgrowing & gets too hot. Now I’ve decided against permanent outdoor living. My next project is to incorporate it into a table so that he has more room, and temperature control is appropriate.

Thank so much for your help. No doubt I’ll need more!

You’ve made the viv as nice as possible, but they are really very bad environments for torts (good for snakes and lizards but not for tortoises), so converting it is a good idea. I have a couple of photos of converted vivs but my computer is on the blink, and I’m on my iPad and don’t have access to them today, but will post them tomorrow after laptop is fixed. Basically you can just take the doors off and sit it inside a much larger box. In the meantime here’s a link to a humorous and useful article by someone who has recently converted theirs: https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/tor ... 00roMp4Wf0

In the short term you could take the doors off (or at least one door) and put up a board or something just tall enough to prevent him from climbing out. That will open it up a bit and provide better air circulation which is really important.

The other thing I would do is replace those wood chips with a better substrate. Horsfields are a burrowing species and in the wild they live on a sandy soil, so the best substrate is a mixture of ordinary sterilised topsoil and children’s play sand, both of which can be bought at garden centres, Homebase, etc. Then you just give it a light spray every couple of days to keep it from getting dusty. He will love burying himself completely in it. The other thing about wood chips is that they are a bit of a fire hazard, because if a bulb blows and hot pieces of glass land on the chips they could catch fire.

I think permanent outdoor living in this country is difficult, but you are absolutely right to have him outdoors as much as possible, and the UVB from the sun is far superior to what we provide artificially indoors, and your outdoor enclosure is really lovely, so I think he is very lucky to have found a home with you.

I was going to attach a good care sheet for Horsfields, but I can’t seem to find how to do that on my iPad either (so frustrating!), but I’ll either send it tomorrow or ask Lin to post them here tonight.

Cheers,
Nina

Here are the bits Nina said she would send Da Vinci, and I want to compliment you on your outdoor summer setup, its very nice and I bet your little tortoise loved it this summer.

Lin

https://www.tortoise-protection-group.o ... 014New.pdf

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Thanks both.

Ah yes! Those pictures capture exactly what I have in mind.

His substrate was wooden cat litter pellets originally. I was advised on another forum to replace with orchid bark which is what you see here. Underneath it, is a soil/sand mix but a reptile shop version. I’ll minimise the bark on the top!

My other issue is weaning him of retail pellets for his diet. He doesn’t eat well if I take them away! My husband & teens are starting to call him King Leo due to the care & attention he is getting. Lol.

Sounds perfect then. Did you also see the link to the care sheet in Lin’s post? I hope it will be useful.

Tortoises can be really stubborn about giving up their favourite foods. They do like pellets because the manufacturers put flavours in that attract them, but most pellets are far too high in protein and can cause too rapid growth and consequent shell deformity. Here’s a link to our article on moving your tortoise to a healthier diet: https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/tor ... 035Lcp4Wf0

Basically, wet the pellets and mush them up. Cut up the good food into teeny tiny pieces and mix a very small amount into the pellet mash. That way when Leo takes a bite of the pellets he will also get a bit of the good food. Then each day gradually add a tiny bit more of the good stuff and gradually decrease the pellet content until finally it is all good stuff. You can also go cold turkey, but at this time of year when many tortoises are losing their appetite anyway because they want to hibernate, I think I’d go for the slow method.

Nina

I prefer the 'cold turkey' muself. A fit healthy tortoise is not going to starve itself and can weeks without food (think hibernation and the 3-4 wks wind down). He is playing you and seeing how much of those puppy dog eyes you can take before you give in. However I can see him only going without for a few days.
Good luck.
Lin