C&C for tortoises?

[ferndalezoo]

Our family has been asked to take in a pair of redfoot tortoises sometime this week. They will be bringing with them a "tortoise table" that is similar in dimension to our C&C cavy cage (3x5 grids), but (a) they will eventually need something a hint bigger and (b) it's ugly. Would a C&C work for tortoises?

[Seonta]

Turtles are very very stubborn animals. I love them though and have rehabilitated some in the past. The only real issue I can see with them is that corners are often the first thing they try to go through. They often pop up the corners or push the sides outwards to escape. They very well might figure this out. you would definitely need to use a base that goes higher than the shells, and maybe further if they seem to put their heads through the bars. Also, you may want to do some quick research if you haven't already on that particular species of turtle- I haven't had any of that type so I don't know the heat and humidity index for that species. Turtles are interesting but if they decide they want to they very well might escape from a C&C cage... I would ziptie the corners at least and make sure they can't get their head in and pop up the cage.

Edit: by turtle I do mean tortoise.

[ferndalezoo]

We're well versed on the care of this species, just exploring other options for housing them. "Tortoise People" don't think "cage", usually, rather than "modified tank". We would definitely not use the connectors (our cavy cage is ziptied together already) They do require a heat-source and UVB, but I think that if we use something like linoleum rather than the Coro, it might work....

[lissie]

I just saw a tortoise cage in the gallery.
Hedgehog/Tortoise Condo - Side View - Guinea Pig Cage Photos

[Seonta]

Actually instead of linoleum what you might try to do is just have part of the cage completely boxed in with the coro. so that all the light is captured and reflected back in the cage. They will need part of the cage cooler than the rest at least. I've put flat walls on the floor before (like linoleum) and they just put their head down where the base of the wall is (it was a little heavier than the grids) and he popped it right up on his neck and crawled out.

I had to do something similar to the link provided above, had to add an nondetachable base so that the bugger couldn't escape.

[ferndalezoo]

Thanks! I'm still mulling it all over. Their "table" will last them for a bit yet, so we don't have to make any decisions any time soon. They haven't even arrived yet-- just trying to figure it all out beforehand.

[Seonta]

If they are females you may want to look into their breeding process. For instance painted water turtle females will regularly lay eggs so if you don't provide them a place to dig and lay the unfertilized eggs they will hold them inside until they turn into stones and it can kill the turtles.
If they are male and female they will breed and make more turtles...

[ferndalezoo]

Like I said, we are well versed in their care, just looking into the housing issue.

[Seonta]

Originally Posted by ferndalezoo

Like I said, we are well versed in their care, just looking into the housing issue.

Alright, sorry.

You could go here: tortoiseforum.org to see if anyone there has had success with a similar type of habitat.

[willow2]

It may work it you put a lid on it, from looking after my neighbours tortious I found she could climb over loads of things and was very determined too!