Radiated tortoises always belong in an outdoor enclosure during the warm season, in sunny and dry weather! Provided that the sun is shining, the outdoor enclosure is located on a southern exposure and the animals can warm up in a heated cold frame or greenhouse, radiated tortoises are allowed into the outdoor enclosure already from 15°C outside temperature. Only during longer periods of cold and wet weather and low temperatures should the radiated tortoises be kept exclusively in heated, enclosed shelters or in the indoor enclosure.

If the sun is shining, we let our animals already at the beginning of March for a few hours in the outdoor enclosure, so that they can refuel extensively UV light and fresh air. Over midday it may then have mild temperatures of 15 to 20°C. Sometimes there is still some snow in the outdoor enclosure, but this does not seem to bother the animals. At the latest from 16 o'clock all animals must be again in the heated turtle house. The night is always spent in the transitional periods in a heated and protected indoor!

Warm and dry summers our radiated tortoises are allowed to spend day and night in the outdoor enclosure. In midsummer, all lights and heating elements in the cold frames and in the indoor enclosure remain switched off. The roof flaps of the cold frames for the hatchlings are then always open to prevent overheating. In summers with tropical nights, we also close the entrance to the indoor enclosure for the adult turtles, so that they can spend the night under bushes in the outdoor enclosure as close to nature as possible.

In order to benefit optimally from the natural sunlight, we also try to allow the stay in the outdoor enclosure as long as possible in autumn. If the weather remains sunny and dry, ray turtles can make forays into the outdoor enclosure during the day until the end of October. However, the animals should then always spend the nights in heated and locked shelters. At the latest when the power of the sun decreases, the outside temperatures drop below 15°C and there are persistent wet and cold weather conditions, radiated tortoises must be brought into the heated winter quarters until the next spring.