Menu
header photo

Cosy Tortoises

Innovative Tortoise Housing, Shop, Tortoise Boarding, Ideal Set-Up and Care Information - Established 2007

Tortoise Houses and set-up information

Order your Tortoise housing by Contacting us via e-mail at cosytortoises@btinternet.com or phone on 01890 818584. See our Order Houses page to find out why we request payments when you're at the front of the Order queue.

Find your ideal tortoise set-up based on;

  • ​Whether you keep them indoors or outdoors
  • ​How dry and warm your tortoises need to be
  • The most practical option for your lifestyle and garden
  • The most energy efficient solution


All-Season Tortoise Houses

Perfect for keeping tortoises outdoors with good access to your garden during the day.  This set-up is ideal for common and garden tortoises including most Mediterrranean tortoises who are reasonably damp and cold tolerant. Meaning they adapt well to having access to a UK garden provided that they have permanent access to a heatlamp and a drier hide area both of which are provided in the All-Season Tortoise Houses.

In their natural habitat Mediterranean Tortoises are typically found on low fertility grass meadows. Access to plenty natural grazing is important because they need at least 50% grass in their diet to ensure healthy digestion.

The integrated hides are important for allowing them to mimic the natural behaviour of hiding from the sun during the hottest part of the day keeping stress levels to a minimum.

The most important feature of an All-Season Tortoise House is the provision of permanent access to a heatlamp. This means basking temperatures can be achieved whenever the tortoise chooses, ensuring healthy digestion is achieved, regardless of climate differences compared with their natural habitat.

See the All-Season Tortoise Houses page and Tortoise House Information page for details of this housing by clicking on the underlined links or using the menu at the top of the page.


Outdoor Tortoise Runs

An OutdoorTortoise Run can provide good security, both to prevent a tortoise escaping from an insecure garden boundary and from wildlife or other pets.

They can also be a good way of tailoring your tortoises' diet to only what is found in their natural habitat, rather than them eating all your favourite plants, that may not be ideal food for them either. Please see our Seeds page for ideas of how to improve your tortoises diet by planting our Grow you own Tortoise Food wildflower and herb mixtures.

Paired together an All-Season Tortoise House and an Outdoor Tortoise Run can be a secure long-term solution to housing a tortoise outside when you are out for large portions of the day.

See theOutdoor Tortoise Run page for details of this housing by clicking on the underlined links or using the menu at the top of the page.


Indoor Tortoise Tables

Wood indoor tortoise tables are usually the preferred way of providing indoor housing for tortoises. The only exception being tortoises who need high-humidity environments such as Redfoot tortoises, most other Tropical tortoises and some African species. Higher humidity can be achieved with plastic, glass or fibreglass tables providing they are large enough for good air-flow as well.

Tortoises who are particularly damp, draught or sensitive following an illness may require permanent indoor housing. Essentially, any tortoise table should have as large a floor area as possible, with at least two sides that are easily accessible. Typically, UV lighting and heatlamps are suspended over the table to replicate the heat and light usually provided by the Sun outdoors, essential for the health of all reptiles. The Infra-red (IR) heat produced by heatbulbs mimics the heat from the Sun required for basking that ensures good digestion by reptiles. The Ultra-Violet (UV) light, specifically UVB light allows vitamin D to be produced in skin, which is essential for the uptake of calcium that is so important for the continual growth and renewal of all tortoises' shells. See our Housing Accessories page for information about cost efficient IR heat bulbs, heatlamps and UV lighting options.

See the Indoor Tortoise Table page for details of this housing by clicking on the underlined links or using the top menu.


The Natural Ground Houses are designed to be placed on a perimeter wall at least 6.5 cm wide and 10-20 cm high.  The house hide portion does not contain a base or windows because the Greenhouse-style Sunroom is an attached removable polycarbonate covered run.  The covered run means your tortoises can have access to a much larger warm outdoor area all year round.  This makes them ideal for all tortoises that have a natural habitat warmer than where they are housed.

Tortoise species who require a higher humidity environment will be much easier to house outside in our Natural Ground Houses, because you can wet the ground directly without damaging the housing.  In all other respects they are like our standard All-Season Houses which are designed to house tortoises all year round outside.

<span style=">See the Natural Ground All-Season Houses page for details of this housing by clicking on the underlined links or using the top menu.


Giant All-Season Houses

Giant All-Season Houses are ideal for large groups of small Mediterranean tortoises such as Hermann and Horsefield tortoises that need a fairly dry house large enough to suit their needs when the UK weather means they cannot be outside. They are also ideal for medium Mediterranean species like Marginated tortoises or larger African species of tortoises who come from drier habitats such as Leopard or Sulcata tortoises.  There are three sizes available with different height sides below the windows and overall heights appropriate for the different-sized tortoises.  The overall height is kept to a minimum to conserve energy as much as possible.

See the Giant All-Season Houses page for details of this housing by clicking on the underlined links or using the top menu

Pages Menu

Order your Tortoise housing by Contacting us

cosytortoises@btinternet.com

phone - 01890 818584

See our Order Tortoise Houses page for details about how to pay.

If you need advice before ordering, please see our Contact page and see our Terms and Conditions.


For prices please go to the separate tortoise housing pages by clicking-on these links

All-Season Tortoise Houses

Giant All-Season Tortoise Houses

Outdoor Tortoise Runs

Sloped Covered Tortoise Runs

Indoor Tortoise Tables

Natural Ground Tortoise Houses

Natural Ground Tortoise Runs


Visit our Online Shop to buy Cosy Tortoises

Grow your own Tortoise Food Seeds

Calcium products

Heat and Lighting products


Tortoise pages for advice about housing tortoises based on their natural habitats including which Cosy Tortoises housing set-up we recommend

Mediterranean

Tropical

African


Join Our Mailing List