...just soaking up a little sunshine...

Did you know that even when the temperature outside is only about 70 degrees, you can still let your tortoise(s) spend some time soaking up natural sunlight? When the air temperature is 70, the ground temperature in the sunlight is usually much warmer. Getting natural UVB light is SO important for a tortoise's health...

Getting some good, healthy natural sunlight

Our tortoise garden is mostly shaded this time of year, so I have found that putting the tortoises into a kiddie pool for a few hours on a sunny day works well. I just move the pool around the garden to keep it in the sunshine.

It looks a little make-shift... but it was still healthy for the torts

Out of curiosity I measured the temperatures:
Air temp: 72 degrees F.
Ground temp in the shade: 59 degrees F.
Ground temp in the sun: 80 degrees F.
Temperature on the tortoise's shell: 89 degrees F.

It is DEFINITELY warm enough for the Russian tortoises at such temperatures!

Have you let your tortoises spend any time outside lately?

I built a little tortoise house!

Today I built our Russian tortoises a little tortoise house. Its purpose is to provide a spot that is generally drier and warmer in the mornings and more chilly days. 

Jill is modelling the little house for me

 It has real siding, and a slanted plexi glass roof, so the rain will run off. The total cost was $0, since these are all re-claimed materials. It doesn't look 'fancy' but it will work great, I think.

The plexi glass allows the sun to shine inside to warm the interior.

The inside of the shelter is fairly roomy - 18" x 13" - so all 5 torts can, in theory, fit in here. Because Russian tortoises are territorial little space hogs, only 2 or 3 will end up spending the night in here.

An added bonus of the plexi glass: I can peek inside at the torts!

In addition to this very slapped together rustic tortoise house, I'm also working on building a cold frame (like a small green house) that has polycarbonate siding. I got lucky at a nursery close-out sale and got a whole stack of odd-sized pieces for $5. 

Buttercup meets a snail V2.0

Our little Marginated tortoise got to meet another snail. It finally rained here, so there were quite a few in our garden - I think these are European snails. People are always surprised to see them in our area. Regardless, the design on this particular snail's shell looked really pretty, so before feeding it to our redfoot tortoise, I took a few pictures of it with on top of Buttercup. 

Giving snails a ride makes me grumpy! (Or maybe that's just my face)

I found a nice sunny spot on a rock in your back yard that was the perfect staging area for these pictures. No flash or extra lighting was necessary.

Weeee!

Hopefully in the next year or so we will have some home-hatched Russian tortoise babies... which will start out about the same size as this snail!

Two beautiful shelled creatures...

On a side note, it is a real pain to rinse snail trail off of a tortoise shell. It's not quite water soluble, and kind of sticky. I don't put anything but water on Buttercup's shell, so I finally just scrubbed it a little with an old toothbrush.

Breakfast time.... and they are all still a little grumpy.

The outdoor enclosure of my Russian tortoises is planted with a variety of weeds and other edible plants... but at this point in the year, a lot of the weeds have been grazed away. I end up having to collect food in our yard and my friends' yards every few days.

'We're not ready to eat yet. It's still too early'

Today when I fed the tortoises, the Russian torts all came over to the food pile, and then promptly all sat down facing away from each other. I quickly took a picture - they have gotten so used to having all the space of the tortoise garden that I think they were a little grumpy about the sudden proximity to each other!

Our Russian tortoises' outdoor enclosure

Our outdoor tortoise enclosure is finished! I like to call it our tortoise garden - since it is built in the spot that used to have flower beds. I still have to hang the fish netting to protect the 5 Russian tortoises from crows and hawks, but otherwise it is fully usable. I have made the frame for a nice little cold frame, but still need to install the polycarbonate sheets. I'll post pictures of that when it's done.

The railing and hardware cloth are installed

I built a railing out of cedar, and installed hardware cloth for additional safety (to keep the tortoises in, and to keep kids out). The tortoise garden has 2 points of entry, where the railing is lower.

Timmy, one of the 5 tortoises who roams here

The tortoises really seem to love roaming about, digging in, and exploring. I have learned each of their favorite spots, so I know where to search to find them in the evening! Roz is the master digger: he makes burrows 2 ft deep that I have to pull him out of!

The view from the ground

I am still working on making some nice dry hiding spots for the tortoises. Until those are done, I've put a board in there (propped up by some rocks), as well as some flower pots.

The view of the length of the tortoise garden

The little seedlings from the tortoise seed mix are starting to come up - the tortoise garden will be filled with plants pretty soon where right now there is mostly dirt.

Plenty of room to roam!

My kids like to help me me bring the tortoises outside into their garden in the morning, and back inside in the evening. I try to involve them in the care, and my oldest son, who is 7, can already identify some of the plants that are edible for tortoises.

Driftwood hide

My friend gave me this nice piece of driftwood (in the picture above). The salt in the wood has helped preserve the wood, and the tortoises have dug out a nice little burrow under it. I have noticed that some aggressive spiders have started making funnel webs under there, so I need to set up some spider traps out of reach of the tortoises. I don't mind garden spiders, but it seems like this kind might bite the tortoises.

Lady enjoying the rocky basking area -
It's shaded for part of the afternoon, but the rocks are warm

I have tried to construct the terrain of the tortoise garden such that it has hills and different environments for the tortoises: dry shade, moist earth, sunny dirt, sunny rocks, different shrubs and plants and weeds. Each of the tortoises seems to have their favorite spots.

Little Jill, enjoying some sunshine

The tortoises got soaked before going outside this time, so their shells are pretty clean in these pics. I have to admit that I think grubby, dusty tortoises are the cutest of all... so next time I will post pictures of nice dirty tortoises instead of clean shiny ones!

Boo outside

Can you spot little Boo, our Greek tortoise, pretending to be a rock in his outdoor enclosure? 

Boo, trying to blend in

Boo is doing well, but he doesn't particularly seem to like being outside in his enclosure. He spends most of the time hiding in the little hide house, or under the weeds. Since he spends less time exploring and eating than I expected, it's starting to look a bit like a jungle in there... time to harvest some to feed to the other tortoises!

Outdoor enclosure progress - it's usable now!

I've been working on finishing our tortoise garden for some time now - and it is now finally usable! It is so important for tortoises to spend time outside, roaming and grazing and basking in the *real* sunshine. I started this project months ago, hunting for materials in the 'free' section of Craigslist, planning, digging, building... and little by little it has come together: a 5ft x 30ft outdoor tortoise enclosure.

A few of the tortoises, roaming about. All the plants are edible for the tortoises.

A lot of the plants I grow in our garden are safe for tortoises. I removed the ones that are poisonous, I added a few more safe ones, and also put out the Tortoise Lady's seed mix that my friend gave me. 

Those pavers get nice and hot in the sun!

Digging a trench all around the garden, and filling it with river rock and pavers in order to prevent the tortoises from escaping, was such hard work! However, I know it was necessary, and now I don't have to worry about any tortoises digging out.

Below is a view of the tortoise garden before I installed the hardware cloth (which is similar to chicken wire, but with smaller holes). As mentioned before, I first dug a trench all along the edges. I dug down until I got to solid packed clay/rock. Then I filled the trench in with river rock and pavers. I placed flat 11" x11" cement pavers over the filled-in trench, and then built the border, using re-claimed pressure treated wood a neighbor gave me. The posts are cedar, except for the corner posts, which I also got from the neighbor for free. I still need to build a railing on top, to make it all look a bit nicer, now that the hardware cloth is attached - I'll post pictures of that later. Finally, I am attaching fish net above it all, coming down from the eaves, to keep out crows and hawks.

The partition between Lady's area and the others will come down
once she has been with us for a few more months.

In addition to the shrubs that were already there, and the plants that I added, I also tried to make the landscape in the tortoise garden as interesting as possible. I made little hills, I put in dirt and rocks with different textures, and I built a few different hiding opportunities.

Timmy climbing up on top of one of the hides...

Tortoises are little tanks... they like to bulldoze, and I am fully aware that the tortoise garden won't stay as 'put together' as I would like it to. Do you see Timmy climbing onto the hide in the picture above? She has knocked all the rocks off of the top in the meantime. Oh well...

Lady pigging out on some turnip greens

Below is a view of the length of the tortoise garden, as seen from the edge of our lawn. These pictures are a few days old, so the hardware cloth isn't up yet. I'll post more updated pictures later on. The eaves of the roof overhang about half of the width of the tortoise garden, so it actually is pretty dry towards the back, even when it rains. I will have to run a sprinkler there during the heat of the summer to keep the plants happy.

The view of the length of the tortoise garden

We have all enjoyed watching the tortoises roam in a more natural environment. They always loved walking around in the grass, but we always had to worry that they would escape! Now we can sit back and relax.

Mila, coming out of the shade to get some more sun

If you are planning to build a tortoise garden, I recommend you research plants that are safe for tortoises. Some of them are delicious to the torts, others might not taste great to them, but are harmless if they do happen to take a few chomps out of something. There are good lists of tortoise-safe plants HERE and HERE.

Three of the tortoises roaming about

Raspberry leaves are a favorite snack for my tortoises, and a few of them will nibble on the hosta. The tall phlox (see above picture) is tasty to them, as well. The hens and chicks, dandelions and other smaller plants get mowed down pretty quickly...

Two of the tortoises grazing

Turnip greens seem to be a favorite. If it gets eaten down too far, I'll just put a gallon milk jug over top (with the bottom cut out) to protect it for a week or so, to give it a chance to grow back.

Lady enjoying the shade

A few weeds had naturally grown in this area, and are slowly being eaten away at.

Mila snacking some more

At the end of each day, I bring inside my very grubby, but very content tortoises. We have raccoons in our neighborhood, so I don't want to risk a tragic night-time event.

Do YOU have a spot in your yard where you can build a tortoise garden? An outdoor enclosure can be a s large or as small as you would like... and if you use re-claimed materials like I did, the cost will be virtually free, except for good old back-breaking digging and sweat...

Lady gets some outdoor time

Our outdoor tortoise enclosure for the Russian tortoises is still not quite finished (soon! Oh so soon!), so the tortoises have to take turns spending time outside in make-shift roaming areas. I leaned boards together, propped up with other boards and rocks and other things, to prevent escaping. 

Lady ate those daisies right after I took the picture

Lady loves to walk around and graze. It is surely no accident that she is this huge! That girl can EAT!

Lady, finding more flowers to eat.

We have had Lady for a little over a month now, and she is doing splendidly. She is SO friendly! Every time she sees me, she runs over to the edge of the enclosure to where I am. She will eat right out of my hand, and is not shy around the kids, either.

Look who found a hot spot in the rocks. 

I am happy that Lady has joined our little tortoise family. She is still in quarantine until September, and then I hope to introduce her to the others.

Sunshine and weeds = tortoise heaven

We have enjoyed a few gorgeous days here in the Pacific Northwest... and so the tortoises have gotten to spend a lot of time outside!

Boo seems to really enjoy the outside enclosure I built him.

I seeded his enclosure with The Tortoise Lady's seed mix, and I am so happy to see how well everything is growing in, now. I also transplanted a variety of tortoise-safe plants, and in spite of Boo grazing on them, there is still plenty left over.

Gotta love that little frowny face!

While I miss watching the tortoises inside, I know that good old 'real' UVB is so important for them, and I know they love having the extra space to roam.

Working hard, building the new outdoor enclosure

In past Summers, the Russian tortoises have spent a lot of time outside in the sun, either roaming (under supervision) the lawn, or in large rubbermaid bins, the kid pool (without water) etc. - this year I decided it was time to put a more permanent outdoor enclosure in place. The west-facing flowerbeds seemed to be a good option, so I am working on converting them.

The wooden structure is about 1/2 done. It will be 5ft x 30ft.

I got some 4-ft sections of pressure treated lumber from one of our neighbors. They aren't the ideal size to work with, but it is hard to argue with 'free' and so I am making it work.
You may notice that I have irises growing in the area where the tortoises will be. Those will all be dug up before any tortoises are allowed in there... I'm just waiting for them to finish blooming. I want to transplant the 'fancy' irises, and will give away the 'normal' ones.
I have already planted or transplanted many tortoise safe plants into this area, and I also seeded it with the Tortoise Lady's seed mix (thank you, Lynne!). I'll still have to supplement with tortoise food I collect, but I am sure the tortoises will have fun chomping down on the good edible greens!

I dug a 'no-escape' trench, and filled it with river rock.

 Russian tortoises are incredible diggers, so when building an outdoor enclosure, it is important to make sure the tortoises will not escape. On the end (not shown here) I dug a deep trench and placed the pavers in there vertically. This took me nearly 6 hours for a 5-ft section... the soil was pure clay below the flower bed soil, with lots of rocks. I decided on a different solution in the front, 30-ft section: I dug the trench down to where the really rocky clay soil begins, about 6-8 inches, and then filled the trench with river rock. I anchored the cedar support posts in the rock, and placed cement pavers over top the trench. The pavers sit below the wood, so if the tortoises try to dig at the wooden edge, they will get nowhere.

The Russian tortoises got to play inside the makeshift pens while I worked

Not wanting to waste a perfectly good sunny day, I used some of the lumber to build some make-shift pens for the Russian tortoises. The one in the back was for Lady, who is still in quarantine. The one in the front has the other Russian tortoises in it. The plastic pans that I usually use for soaking provided good shade and shelter.

Mila, enjoying the sunshine. 

I took close-ups of all the tortoises, but only Mila's picture really turned out today. Do you see where the dark pigmentation is starting to grow into the bright yellow new growth? Yay for UVB!

Tortoises sunbathing 'in the nude'...

While I am having fun creating tortoise flowers and tortoise cozies for my Etsy shop, and modeling them on my own tortoises for cute pics, the fact remains that in the end, good old nude tortoises in good old real sunshine are still the best.

Timmy, my large female, basking

We had some beautiful weather here last weekend, so I let the torts roam around the grass in the sunshine. Even with good artificial UVB lights, tortoises are still happiest and healthiest in the 'real' sunlight. 

Roz, my male, right after being hosed down with some nice warm water

I am working hard on finishing the Russian tortoises' outdoor enclosure, so soon they will be able to spend most of the day outside.

Little Jill, photogenic as always

Until then, I have to enlist my kids to help me keep track of the tortoises while they walk around... or I let them spend time outside one at a time...

Roz, enjoying the sun rays

 Look at Roz' shell (above). It is finally starting to grow normally, with growth all around the scutes.

Jill, resting in the grass after walking all about

 I am very curious to see what little Jill looks like when she is fully grown. She is so gorgeous now, but I suspect that as the darker colors fill in, she will probably look fairly 'normal' - which I am totally fine with.

Jill, exploring

 Jill was described to me as 'very timid' but really, she is quite the little go-getter.

Jill, again, hiding in the grass

I somehow missed taking pictures of Mila in this set. So here is a picture of her from the day before:

Mila, eating a dandelion. Gotta love that pink tongue!

I hope we have many more of these beautiful, sunny days!

Boo update

Little Boo, our Greek tortoise, is doing SO well! He has gained quite a bit of weight, he is eating lots of new weeds and greens I pick for him, and he is much more friendly.  

Boo still hides when you first pick him up...

When we first got Boo, he felt alarmingly light when you picked him up. Now he feels nice and heavy, like a healthy tortoise should. If you look in the picture above, you can also see a nice bright new growth ring showing up. I'm happy to see that the new growth is nice and smooth.

...but then he comes back out of his shell, and squirms and sniffs you!

I love Boo's little tortoise face. He has huge eyes, and a funny little nose...

Boo from the side. Such a handsome little dude!

Boo also has a nice new outdoor enclosure now that he spends the daytime in. A few months ago I found a big 6'x4' heavy-duty-plastic koi pond on Craigslist. I excavated a hole, filled the hole with gravel, drilled drainage holes into the bottom of the pod, put more gravel into the pond, covered the gravel with landscape fabric, and put the dirt back in, now mixed with some leaves and a little sand. 

Boo, on top of the little hill I built in there

The outdoor enclosure is on the west side of the house, so it is shady there until about 11am. Because of this, Boo stays indoor during the morning, and then once the sun hits this area, I bring him outside. He'll spend all the sunny days outside, but when it is pouring, he gets to be indoors, since cold, wet weather isn't good for these little guys.

Not much is growing in there right now...
I transplanted a few plants and weeds, and I seeded the whole enclosure
with a tortoise-friendly seed mix my friend gave me. 

Because this side of the house gets direct afternoon sun for several hours, I had to make sure to create multiple micro-climates for Boo. I built him an insulated tortoise hide out of an old recycling bin and a cement mixing tub, filled with organic top soil. He can dig down into there if it gets too hot.

The view of the Koi pond - the tub in the back is 1/2 of the hide house.

The water dish is missing from the picture above - but you can get a general idea of the enclosure. There is a hill, some rocks, some plants, a hide house (in the pic above the roof is missing from it).

Boo likes the thistle and the rosemary plant.

 I only have pictures of Boo hiding while he's in the enclosure, but he actually really enjoyed walking all around and exploring. He sunned himself for a little while, and finally dug down into the dirt.

The outdoor enclosure with the lid down.

The above picture shows the enclosure with the lid on. This is to help protect Boo from any hawks, crows, or cats that might happen by during the daytime. The odd green grassy stuff came with the lid (used to be part of an iguana cage), and still needs to be trimmed. It will provide some nice dappled shade when I finish trimming and attaching it better.