Russian tortoise housing

I am looking into buying a russian tortoise but the one downfall I see is that most recommend outdoor housing. How important is this compared to taking it outside for periods of time? I live in wisconsin and when it is not too cold the humidity can be in the area of 70%+. What do russian tortoise owners do typically?

mine occasionally goes outside, my setup at moment 50 gallon tub with topsoil(no pesticides-fetalizors) one hide for him, one of those ramp walkways waterers. i let him room some of the house before i get ready to mop every now and then. i have a 100 watt mvb on a zilla-gooseneck lamp, heard zilla is not geart so also have back-up clamp lamp. not trying to down, this site but check out russiantortoise.org they have great setup and a whole forum dedicated to what your talking about

Tortoise tables and plastic 50gal bins or christmas tree bins work great for indoors. Pretty easy to setup really. Check my iherp link for some pics of my simple setups. Subtrate should be something like organic potting soil or cocoa-fiber stuff (the expandable bricks at the petstores) mixed with a little children's playsand. Should hold some moisture (not soaking wet, but damp when they burrow into it). If they don't get sun, a uvb bulb will be needed. Either a combo uvb + heat in one lamp (MVB) or a seperate tube UVB bulb + a seperate heat bulb (100 regular house bulb will do). Feed them only grasses, hays, leafy greens, dandilions, etc. No fruits and veggies. Maybe some pumpkin or squash for a treat now and then...

We keep our twwo little girls in a 40 tank. I used black spray paint comletely around on the bottom few inches of the tanks glass to keep them from seeing out and driving themselves crazy. For lighting we use a UVB bulb (tube style) and for heat a ceramic bulb. They are healty and happily munch greens at every meal.

Outdoor housing is recommended for many tortoise species because they like to graze, they like to have space to move, and they like to dig.

You can provide those opportunities indoors, but it's so much easier if you house them outdoors, which is why it is recommended.

I have a pen I put mine in during the warmer months here in Western WA. They do really like it. So much grass and tons of weeds - it must be like heaven for them :) Russians are diggers though, and can climb better than you might think. So keep that in mind if you decide to try an outdoor pen at some point....

I also have 4 box turtles that are kept outside year round (currently hibernating) and 2 bigger sulcatas that stay outdoors with a heated shed to go to when not out grazing. Then a small sulcata that is kept indoors except for the warm months like my russians.