I Hooe that you can advise on a couple of points....we have just made our outdoor enclosure for our 4 one year old Herman's her in Germany. As the weather is really quite bad on and off, we haven't made an indoor section yet. When the weather is good, we take them from their indoor enclosure in a basket covered with a towel and bring them back in when it gets cool early evening. Is it ok to do this or is it terribly stressful for them? They seem quite happy to be outdoor and race around. When we bring them in, we bath them and they always go straight to their caves and sleep. The other question is, should the outdoor enclosure be covered? We have our own cats who walk through at times though don't seem at all interested in the torts. There are some plants and weeds growing though if we have to cover the whole enclosure, then we are limited as to what else we plant from a height perspective. I guess that whilst they are not sleeping overnight outdoors and only out when we are around then maybe it's not too much a problem just yet.

Any words of wisdom would be gratefully received

Em

Hello Em :)  Tortoises can get stressed by being moved around if at all possible its best to keep outdoors in as natural an environment as possible.  I understand this isn't possible at the moment but something to work towards.  As for the cover I would say yes if the tortoise is small as they can be taken by large birds and other animals such as dogs.  Mine are bigger so I don't cover anymore plus they have a very large enclosure which is not practical to cover, it is down to personal choice though.

Hope this helps Wendy :)