Gettin started

So I was thinking about adopting one or two tortoises (redfoot or russian, nothing that gets more than 14 inches in size) in the next year, and I've just started trying to work out what kind of housing they'll need both indoors and out (I think in my area, they'd only be able to be outdoors during the summer after glancing at their temperature requirements.)

My plan for my enclosed, heated porch includes having a "jungle" of plants, and my thought was that the tortoise enclosure would be in this area and would include a few plants for them to snack on, but i'm not sure this is feasible. I was thinking of building them a playpen-sized enclosure with a solid bottom and chicken wire or mesh sides, but giving them the run of the porch when we're home. Again, I've only done a bit of research at this point, so I'm not sure this will work.

So I guess after this lengthy ramble, that I'd like to know how other people in cooler climates keep their tortoises , and I'd love some advice on what would work best in my situation. My hope is that I can build them a really cool enclosure from scratch, but if people can link me to photos of ideal enclosures, that would be really helpful.