Building An Outdoor Tortoise Enclosure 🐢

[@LorisHartland]

I was SO beyond excited to see this video pop up!!!! I love Sheldon and your vids on her!!! What a cute play area! Husband and I watched this video closely and took notes bc we have been tossing ideas for Blue my Herman’s outdoor enclosure and we haven’t a clue where to start! Thanks for the ideas! Xoxo 💕🐢

[@BeckysAnimals]

Awww! I'm so pleased it has given you ideas for gorgeous Blue! There are some amazing ideas on Pinterest too. I've seen quite a few people using raised beds as enclosures and we have a little sun trap against that wall. Ours definitely isn't the best yet and we need a bigger variety of plants and hides but I feel like it's a really good start. I've tried keeping plants alive in her indoor enclosure and it doesn't really work for me, I'm so pleased we now have somewhere we can put her in the sunshine and not worry about her eating something that isn't good for her or loosing her haha. Can't wait to see what you come up with for Blue

[@MiraNecole]

thanks for showing me this video! I'll give a thumbs up so I can look back at it whenever there might be something I'd like to try, my mum just grew some pansies for my friends and they seem to like them ^^

[@BeckysAnimals]

You're welcome :) Sheldon loves Pansies too! I still need to add a lot of stuff to her enclosure, mostly plants and hides but I hope it gives you some ideas

[@MiraNecole]

one of them gobbled the pansy... I guess he loved it! (the pansy plant only bloomed 2 pansy flowers... which is what I gave... so it was enough to give one each!) whilst the other, he ate half of the flower, Idk if he wasnt sure of what to make of it XXD

[@BeckysAnimals]

Hahaha awww! They sound like characters :) x

[@MiraNecole]

every individual animal has their own special character to them ^^

[@joannemain86]

Lovely set up 🐾🐾🤗🤗❤❤

[@BeckysAnimals]

Thank you :) We have lots more plans for more hides and edible plants for her to enjoy

[@similarrose5811]

Sooooo cute 🐢

[@livccosplay]

Aww this is so cute. At the moment my tortoise just goes out onto the grass inside a pen which isnt ideal but in england we dont get much warm weather anyway😂 he much prefers being inside. But he does love exploring.

[@BeckysAnimals]

I was the same, it seems to rain constantly!! We have been very lucky the last few weeks though so luckily she has been able to enjoy it! :)

[@chillionionpeas6429]

I love tortoises and have 3 of my own

[@Kyle22030]

Does he get scared or traumatized when you move him from inside to out?

[@emileyfisher]

Good question! I was wondering the same thing :) But she is a girl by the way :)

[@BeckysAnimals]

That is a good question! When we first got her she didn't like being handled and would hiss when we went to pick her up but I did a lot of work with her and sat by her enclosure a lot! Now she doesn't mind being picked up and quite likes sitting with me on the sofa watching TV, sometimes she will snuggle into my arm (as much as a tortoise can snuggle haha). Occasionally she doesn't notice me approaching her enclosure and it will make her jump so I talk to her as I'm going up to her now. She's happy to be picked up, carried and popped down outside now and doesn't hiss or withdraw into her shell. She also started to stomp around and make a racket when it's time to go out, I think she's just slowly learnt that I'm not a threat and that she gets a lot of enjoyment out of it. :) x

[@Kyle22030]

TheSmallPetShop Thanks! Sorry for calling her a him 😄

[@BeckysAnimals]

She's used to it, we were calling her a him for the first couple of years...and we named her Sheldon :') haha

[@jinlee912]

Could we possibly see her when it's time for her to get her outside time? It must be so adorable!

[@schildischildi2812]

Good set up but the only thing that misses is a coldframe

[@BeckysAnimals]

Thank you, I have a couple ideas to improve it in the spring :) What would you make the coldframe out of? As far as I understand glass filters out most UV rays so then she wouldn’t get the UV coming through.

[@schildischildi2812]

@@BeckysAnimals you can use acrylic glass. The most of them are permeable to uv.

[@BeckysAnimals]

Thanks, I’ll look into it :)

[@johnwebber232]

I would cover it . One of my tortoises was attacked by a fox . The fox dug underneath.

[@BeckysAnimals]

I'm sorry to hear that, I hope your tortoise is okay! Sheldon currently only goes in it while we are around to supervise her. I'm wondering about covering it with netting.

[@johnwebber232]

Use wire mesh . Yes Bessie o.k now but expensive vets bills, had to take her to specialist animal hospital.

[@tylerreardon3052]

So is this enclosure completely self sufficient... where as you can leave for a week and not worry about feeding

[@BeckysAnimals]

Not at the moment, I haven't got enough variety in there yet and the plants aren't very established (Sheldon is very good at killing young plants haha). I still pick extras and put in for her but hopefully I can get it self-sufficient in the future :) I also bring her inside on cold/wet days and during the night as UK weather can be so unpredictable.