outdoor enclosure

[lindy]

good afternoon,
I just bought me a 3foot by 8 foot cage it was used for birds. right now its on the lawn so they can eat thru the wire. is there some way of puting the cage on concrete and adding dirt and puting bricks or something on the outside so the dirt stays in. I also have a 100 gal rubbermaid (livestock water troph) can i leave the russians out all the time in these or will i need to bring them in in the fall? I can ad a heat emitter to the cage if that would help or get a little dog house and put a whole in the cage so they can go in there.
also how deep does the dirt need to be, i will be planting them too.
i figured a foot to a foot in a half is that too much? too litle?
thanks

[Bernie]

I'm not sure how you can fix up the bird cage for your torty(s).  I'm having trouble picturing it.  Pictures maybe?  Or maybe someone has some ideas for you.

I bought a large kiddie pool for Hank's outside enclosure -- it's really similar to your livestock water trough.  I'm going to use that for him when it warms up here because he's afraid of the outdoors and on the few days its been warm enough he's totally been digging the pool -- it's exactly like his indoor enclosure only larger.  My guy does not like change. 

Where do you live?  It really depends on your climate whether you can leave them out all winter and if an emitter would be enough.  Do you plan to hibernate your torts through the winter?

RTs like to dig so between 3-6 inches or so is best (leaning toward the deeper is best).  A foot or so would probably make them super happy torts but that might be a lot of Bed-a-Beast bricks.

[Didi]

Hi Lindy:
I think you live in Southern Oregon (from you asking about vets in Medford).  I live in Talent and am about to get two RTs!  I've been doing a lot of research on how to over-winter RTs here.  You will definitely have to either bring them inside or create a heated enclosure for them.  They will die if they freeze!  It can freeze here overnight as early as September, but more likely Oct or November. 

I'm building a modified heated deck box http://russiantortoise.org/deck_box.htm for mine in an outdoor shed where they will be able to hibernate when they are older.  Whether you bring them in or have them outside will depend on if you want to hibernate them.  I'm going to build the enclosure and test it one winter before putting the torts out.  I bought a min/max thermometer to see how cold it will get.  I think they need to hibernate around 40 degrees.  Check the http://www.russiantortoise.org/care_sheet.htm page about hibernation http://russiantortoise.net/hibernation_journey.htm

Good luck and maybe you can come see my setup when I get it done!
Wendy