The Tortoise Table

Hi, first time Tortoise owner. We have a 10month old Hermans Tortoise called Truck and will be building him an outside enclosure just for warmer days.

I wanted to make it interesting for him and wondered what substrate to use, I have topsoil and playsand, I plan to leave a grass patch as well, the border will be pressure treated wood roll sunk into the ground so he can't dig under it.

What stones are fine to use as substrate too? My dad is making a cold frame for Truck to go in to get warm and a mesh cover for the enclosure and he'll have another hide to go in too, there's a rosemary busy and lavender for shade as well.

Is there anything else I would need?

Thanks

HI Anandita and welcome to The Tortoise Table!

It sounds to me like you've got a good plan for your outdoor enclosure. I would make it as big as your space will allow, as tortoises do love to wander and explore.

Regarding substrate, you can use topsoil and playsand (which is what we use in indoor enclosures), but really ordinary garden soil is perfectly fine. You can increase interest by having nice rocks for him to walk around, flat pieces of limestone (I wouldn't buy any -- just if there are any that you can pick up in the area), a little area of gravel -- but it should be largish so that he can't eat it -- is fine. It's nice for him to have different textures to walk on, and you can have that small area of grass if you want, but it's not necessary, and large areas of grass aren't that great to have, as in the wild they live on a sandy soil and wouldn't have a nice grass.

For plants, if your rosemary and lavender are planted outside the enclosure and providing shade within it, that's fine, but if you are planting them inside the enclosure make sure that you don't plant them close to the walls, or he will use them as a ladder to climb out (ah, but I've just notice that you are having a mesh lid, so that would prevent him from climbing out anyway.

I plant decorative grasses in my outdoor enclosure because they don't tend to eat them, and they can provide shade and a nice place to hide. A particularly good one is called Carex 'Frosted Curls', and it grows up and then falls over like a waterfall and they love hiding under it.

It's good to have a water dish in there, in case he fancies a drink -- I just use a plant saucer partly sunk into the ground. I also have a sort of tunnel in my outdoor enclosure that mine love. It's one of those curved roofing tiles and they walk under and through it, but also love climbing on the top of it. Sort of like this: https://www.roofingsuperstore.co.uk/pro ... ezEALw_wcB but don't buy one, as you can find lots of stuff in skips and things, and also you can't predict in advance if your tortoise is going to like it. I've attached a photo of mine standing on top of their tunnel.

Can't think of anything else at the moment, but I would say that basically you've got all the essentials covered and no need to spend money on anything else -- I was just throwing out a few ideas.

Nina
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Great, thank you. I love your photo, I'll definitely add all your suggestions

We’d love to see photos of your enclosure when it’s finished. I think it’s going to be a nice one!

Nina

Thank you, I'll upload some as soon as it's done

Sorry me again

I've dug out my tortoise enclosure, it was grassy. Do I need to line it before I put in the topsoil or can it just go straight over the top of the garden soil?

Thank you

Hermann's tortoises aren't such ferocious diggers as Horsfields, so if you've buried the walls of the enclosure 6" or 8" into the ground, then I see no need to line it at all. Also, I don't see any great need to use topsoil, as any garden soil should be fine (unless it has had weed killer or something sprayed on it). Lol, no one buys topsoil and puts in on the ground for them in the wild -- but if you already have the topsoil there's no harm in putting in the outdoor enclosure (or you could use it indoors instead). Really looking forward to seeing photos! Remember not to put structures or plants right next to the walls as they will use them as ladders to climb out.

Nina

Thank you so much for all your help, I really appreciate it