what a good indoor tortoise setup?

Question

i dont have one but i always wondered how people keep
their 3 foot long tortoises.

Answer 1

I would use an old wooden playpen or play pool.

Answer 2

The larger species of tortoises, such as Sulcatas (African Spurreds) or Leopards should generally not be kept by people who cannot let them stay outside all year once they get big enough to be awkward.

People who DO bring them in usually set up what looks more like a manger than a tortoise habitat- take a room or a big chunk of basement, etc. (it needs to be pretty big- 10x10 would be too small!), heat it nicely to about 70F on the cool end and about 90F in the hot spot, line it with something to keep the floor warm (often a layer of rigid foam and a few inches of edible hay).

The problem quickly becomes trying to just plain MOVE a 100lb tortoise from the outdoor habitat to the indoor habitat.

An AWFUL lot of people buy these cute little baby tortoises because they are cheap (they breed well in captivity) and have no real idea what the realitiy of a giant tortoise is.

Of course, it is always the tortoise that suffers in these situations.

Answer 3

Outside of a zoo type setup, indoor setups for large torts are not really feasable.

I worked for a Science center that kept a large collection of torts from the tort rescue, in the summer, fine, put them outside in wooden pens.

In the winter...We had them in wooden pens in a room, but with the high heat and their diet, the stench was unbearable. The other tennents in the building were petitioning to have us thrown out.

Also, many people don't realize how active, aggressive and strong one of those big torts is. We had a male sulcata that would climb out of the pen regularly and chase the female workers around. He would come up behind us and butt us with his head...like he would a female tort, and he was like a tank! He could knock you over, and he meant business. And wrestling a very heavy animal, with nothing easy to grab hold of back into a pen is no easy task.

They are smarter, faster, stronger and more animated than people give them credit for. And they also had a pecking order among themselves and regularly had fights to establish their place. Those beaks are sharp!

I have two small species of torts at home. Having become interested in them after working with the larger guys. They are really neat...but those big guys are too much for me to handle.

Answer 4

I have a huge tortoise.

He lives outside. We have a storage shed that has a pig heat blanket and basking lights installed so he was a warm place to stay at night and in the winter.

You can't really keep them in a cage inside. Some people modify their garages to be tortoise pens.

Answer 5

i might say a tortoise table may well be superb (vivarium a no no). Leopard tortoises advance very super whilst adults (seek google for photos) so will prefer an out of doors area whilst older. for sure as those are a tropical species they do no longer hibernate! Congratulations on your new additions!