The Drawing Zoo: A House for the Tortoise

Like many of The Drawing Zoo's animals, Bowser the Tortoise was given to us from another home no longer able to provide care. In August of 2015, we had about a week to set up a tortoise pen before he was to arrive. This was our experience.

Bowser is a 13 year old Russian Tortoise who weighs 1lb, 1oz and will likely not get any larger. He eats a variety of plant life, from weeds to herbs to flowers and cacti. When this species lives outside (from May-September) it is important to follow these parameters:

Part shade, part sun
Minimum 4'x4'x1'
Barrier beneath cage
Access to food and water
Drain
Places to dig & hide
Escape/predator proof lid

The first step in our journey to build Bowser a happy home was to find a good location for the cage. We chose to place it between two large maple trees. After observing the sun orientation over the yard for a few days, we agreed that this placement was both sunny and shady. We outlined our idea with paver stones.

From Home Depot we purchased two 6ft long boards and two 8ft long boards that were pressure treated without arsenic. This was the hardest part of the project! We can't just use any wood. We had to find a wood that could withstand the weather, but not treated with anything harmful to Bowser. Then my fiance and I could finally put the frame together! It is very important that the tortoise cannot see through the walls of the cage. A tortoise won't understand that he's behind glass, acrylic or mesh and try to crawl through the wall, resulting in injuries. It seems counter intuitive to a person's values, but when a tortoise is in a cage or pen and cannot see through the walls, he or she just accepts the space they are in and makes a home in it. The minimum space for a tortoise this size is about 4ft x 4ft x 1ft but we don't really like doing the minimum. Our pen ended up 6ft x 8ft x 1ft.

Once the frame was put together we placed it between the two ideal trees. At this point, I should mention that we attempted to dig around the perimeter of the cage. The idea was to bury construction mesh or chicken wire so that predators like foxes or raccoons cannot dig into the cage, nor could our very capable tortoise dig himself out of the cage. But we ran into a blessing in disguise...
The tree roots are so big, tangled and plentiful under the cage that it was near impossible to dig in that area. Talk about a happy accident! Just to be safe, I did end up lining the inner and outer perimeter of the cage with bricks as a digging deterrent.

What was next on the check list? A drain. This is hard to see in the pictures, but I used a pick-ax to dig a 1ft deep into the cage. It took a while to find a small area between the roots to dig down. I then, filled the hole with river rocks. Basically, we want to make sure that in heavy rain water will drain out of the cage and prevent our tortoise from drowning. Some other tortoise owners use PVC pipe under the cage to accomplish the same thing.

Next on the list was the fun part, setting up a digging and hiding area. Tortoises are built for digging. That is how they stay hidden from predators in nature and how they cool down on a hot day. They have 4 large toes/claws on each foot and unlike turtles, they are not webbed.

I laid down a big log to create a make-shift retaining wall in the cage. Then, I filled the area with organic top soil. Just like wood, we can't put anything treated with chemicals that would be harmful.

Then I added big slabs of bark, branches and terra-cotta pots so that the tortoise had plenty of places to hide and dig to his heart's desire.

https://thedancingturtleee.wordpress.com/about/

Almost done! In addition to sun, shade, hiding places and a digging area, tortoises also need access to food and water. The water part was easy. We added a water dish near the drain. The tortoise can eat grass but also needs weeds (see previous posts on dandelions) and flowers. So even though it was very labor intensive and time consuming, I planted marigolds, geraniums, hibiscus, hostas and weeds in and around the cage. These plants double as hiding places or shady places for Bowser to relax. I also offer him veggies from the garden to just round out the diet.

*Note that Russian Tortoises cannot have fruit, regardless of cute memes you see. Their digestive system is so slow to glean nutrients from grasses, herbs, weeds and flowers, that if they have fruit, it will ferment in their bellies and make them sick.

For aesthetic reasons, I painted the outside wood.

And last but not least, a lid for the cage. My fiance build the frame of lid and I stapled this hardy plastic construction mesh to the frame. I was warned by those with experience, that chicken wire is not a safe material because raccoons can still squeeze their hands through the mesh to injure or kill your pet. In addition to the mesh, we also added a pad-lock and weights as extra security.

*Note that I do not hate raccoons or think they are "bad" animals. I value them as part of the environment, and simply do not want them to not have access to my tortoise.

After a few months I noticed that Bowser enjoys his digging areas. He enjoys it so much that he pretty much demolished the hiding places I made for him. I rebuilt these hides a few times before I decided there was an easier way to protect him from the elements. I placed an acrylic sheet and wooden plank on the north facing side of his lid. Both additions provide shelter from the rain. The wood plank provides shade and the acrylic has a greenhouse effect, giving him a "hot spot" to use when he chooses.