Q: what do you think of this cage? 

A: Well you got me there. I don't like talking about things I don't have experience with like indoor husbandry of tortoises.

I know many people are successful and I would rather see you get an opinion from someone experienced keeping animals in those types of environments

For my taste I will say it's very nicely done, and I like the topography of the cage.

While this cage looks interesting I don't see it promoting a lot of walking activity. Now you have a Yellowfoot, and again I do not have experience in that venue but this would never work for a Galop or an Aldabra it isn't enough to just plow over some rough terrain they need to walk (or Run).

On the right day you can see a 7' Aldabra circle his 4×8 foot pen a few times, that's a lot of distances. Now I am not sating they do it every day but there are times they are quit active and I am saying they need that activity.

The second part of your question opens up a whole bag of worms. "Do Tortoises need cage mates?"

I want to preface this conversation by saying when it comes to behavior and tortoises wanting company, I only have my experience to draw from.

Now it's true I have been doing this for 30 years and I have hundreds of tortoises, but still my observations are particular to my conditions, cages and my involvement with those animals. So the short answer is yes, Tortoise like the company of other cage mates and its stimulating, the only time I see problems is in the case of mutable males, however that is also species specific.

The long answer is, I think there needs to be a lot more conversation on tortoise behavior, that is why I am writing an article on the "Differences of behavior between Galapagos and Aldabra tortoises".

I hope to have that one up by Monday. I have many years of stories and observations and I think some will be quite surprised. Some will probably think I am nuts as well.