Replicating natural habitats of tortoises

[FLINTUS]

It would be something interesting to see. I don't know whether you saw the tort that was rescued by a member on the TT forum, sub-adult hermanni I think. Fed cottage cheese and grapes, on woodchips, without water and in a ft sq viv or something like that and had been kept that way for a few years. Seems to have survived and is doing OK now.

[Lisamn]

Originally Posted by alley cat

Well yes, that will probably keep your tortoise alive, the question is about whether it is beneficial to the tortoise to provide more than this.

I am not saying it has to be anything fancy just interesting for the tortoise, things to hide in, sight barriers, plants to shade under, soil to dig in etc. If it can replicate what the tortoises natural environment would be, how can that not be beneficial? if it works in nature and the tortoises thrive then it makes sense to me that it can only be a good thing!

If you own a dog would you just shut it in a kennel and provide it with its basic needs but not bother to walk it? or not bother to give it any mental stimulation such as a toy? or stroke it? or play with it? I think most dogs left in this situation would bark and form repeated habits probably similar to Polar Bears used to in zoos.

Yes, I agree Alley. I was responding to Flintus asking the question about their basic needs.

[geordie mark]

Can anyone tell me what the ideal conditions for an outdoor pen would be ? I have half of it with turned over soil and a couple of pansys in it he gets shelter here too in the form
Of a half plant pot for now (he normally comes in at night as if it ain't screwed down here..)
And the other half is just grass which has weeds and clovers in it. Should the weeds maybe be
Retained but alot less grass ? More stones or something maybe ?

[EJ]

Why wouldn't any tortoise benefit from the same setup?

Redfoots come from relatively dry areas for the most part.

Originally Posted by FLINTUS

What do people think of this? I've tried to do so to a certain extent with my red foots, having a river kind of area, a mini jungle-which mainly has native s.american plants- and a savannah area. Or do you think there is no point of doing this? Just interested to hear people's opinions.

[NATURALIS]

i think the more natural you can make there enclosures the better , nothing worse than a bland enclosure .

[kazzabb]

Originally Posted by geordie mark

Can anyone tell me what the ideal conditions for an outdoor pen would be ? I have half of it with turned over soil and a couple of pansys in it he gets shelter here too in the form
Of a half plant pot for now (he normally comes in at night as if it ain't screwed down here..)
And the other half is just grass which has weeds and clovers in it. Should the weeds maybe be
Retained but alot less grass ? More stones or something maybe ?

Hi Geordie Mark, I don't think anyone knows what the ideal conditions for an outdoor pen would be, other than trying to make it interesting, and not too wet if it's a Mediterranean species. So, free-draining, some grasses maybe like carex or stipa, or some lavender or rosemary, some stones, some small rotting tree-trunks or branches laid horizontally, a sandy area, some shelter too in case of too much rain. Mine have outdoor basking lamps underneath transparent plastic greenhouse things. If you don't want your grass to look too flat, then lift 2" up with a spade, and chuck some topsoil underneath, so you make little hills. Some water dishes - not deep though. And make sure it can't see out - ie; not chicken wire all the way to the ground. Karen

[Suze65]

Totally agree with Karen and also, for med torts outside even on a cloudy day is better than inside under a basking bulb, mine definitely are more active outside in natural daylight. They don't need 32 degrees to be active and interested in life!

[Levi]

Originally Posted by FLINTUS

Just a question for testudo keepers here in the UK as I can't get my reds out often due to weather, would the temps they receive in gardens really mimic the wild conditions? Britain is quite humid in general and obviously cold compared to most temps around the med. I'm sure the temps would drop as low as this sometimes but not all the time. So on this basis is it better to have them with natural temps but under artificial UV? From my limited knowledge of testudo I would say no, better outside but surely this is worth considering?

It doesn't have to get that hot for my ibera to seek some shade, just a nice sunny warm spring day with the odd cloud passing and she will be hiding in the grass or under a bush for most of the day, she will pop out again once she has cooled off. (Obviously nothing like that so far this year).Most of the time it would be too hot in the wild anyway and they would find shelter quite early in the morning and then wait all day for the cooler evening.

If a warmish sun is out it doesn't matter so much what the ambient temperature is (within reason), radiant heat is far more important than air temp. I put my girl out on her bank the other morning at only 10°C as it was sunny for a change, she got warmer, just very slowly (she is pretty heavy).
Regarding UV, there is plenty of it around in the UK, not as intense as the Med but as it is a lot cooler here they can stay out longer to soak it up, my ibera never had UV lamps or D3 supplements and she grew fine and fast.
Suppling them with a little extra heat if needed is important, mine has her lamp on for a couple of hours most mornings, it is very useful to have a basking lamp in a nice warm coldframe/greenhouse type setup with a decent sized enclosure attached.

[Merlin M]

Actually the UV level can be just as good as the med, parts of the UK get very intense sun when they get it that is! Scotland I know gets a lot of UV in the summer

[sandy]

Originally Posted by Levi

It doesn't have to get that hot for my ibera to seek some shade, just a nice sunny warm spring day with the odd cloud passing and she will be hiding in the grass or under a bush for most of the day, she will pop out again once she has cooled off. (Obviously nothing like that so far this year).Most of the time it would be too hot in the wild anyway and they would find shelter quite early in the morning and then wait all day for the cooler evening.

If a warmish sun is out it doesn't matter so much what the ambient temperature is (within reason), radiant heat is far more important than air temp. I put my girl out on her bank the other morning at only 10°C as it was sunny for a change, she got warmer, just very slowly (she is pretty heavy).
Regarding UV, there is plenty of it around in the UK, not as intense as the Med but as it is a lot cooler here they can stay out longer to soak it up, my ibera never had UV lamps or D3 supplements and she grew fine and fast.
Suppling them with a little extra heat if needed is important, mine has her lamp on for a couple of hours most mornings, it is very useful to have a basking lamp in a nice warm coldframe/greenhouse type setup with a decent sized enclosure attached.

My iberas are the same, they have been out in temps around 10 12c grazing in the sun.