INDOOR enclosures

[AnythingWithAShell]

10.0 UVB, definitely

Edit: It's for a redfoot though, isn't it? In which case I think (but I'd double check with other redfoot owners) that you should use a 5.0, and make sure you have shady areas for it to hide in.

A redfoot's natural environment is shady, and they don't get huge exposure to UVB, so most keepers use 5.0 UVB, if any, for theirs. But do double check, please!

[reptara]

In my experience a 10 is best
Hope this helps

[SarahAnn]

Hi Everyone,

My fiancee has always wanted a Tortoise, so we decide to get one the other week. The pet shop owner would not sell the tortoise to us because we were wanting to put him in a Tortoise Table set up. SO we had to buy a £200 viv, the owner said the UK was not a suitable climate for a T-Table.
So we totally disregarded his information and dismantled the viv and utilised the ceramic heat lamp and uvb tube.

When we set out the table we put lots of extra soil/sand mix in the enclosed section. We thought being a burrower he would love digging around in there. However he doesnt go in. he wakes up at 9am sits on his basking rock for about 3 hours, has a soak in his water then eats and hes back under his wood cover for about 3pm till the next day...lol Sarah starts work at 8am and finished at 5pm, so she never gets to see him do anything...lol... he was in his viv for about 24 hours and he was "running" all over all day...

I have read about shells becoming deformed, i am feeding IAW experianced owners posts on this site so i know his diet is good.

Like all newbies, i need reasurance from experienced Tortoise owners that:

A- the habitat is suitable
B- He looks healthy
C- is his daily routine normal (i think he's 1)


Your comments would be most appreciated

Thank you

Antony

[AnythingWithAShell]

Originally Posted by reptara

In my experience a 10 is best
Hope this helps

Not necessarily for redfoots though

SarahAnn, you're brave! I would have told the shop where to stick it and got my tort elsewhere, rather than spending £200 for something not needed

Couple of things - watch out that the rock under the heat bulb doesn't get too hot, it could burn. And if you change the ceramic bulb to a household reflector spotlight, the extra light will benefit torty while he's inside. Light levels are key in keeping hibernating torts awake and active throughout the colder months when they are inside and awake.

His shell looks to have started pyramiding, but if you feed him right and keep a check on his monthly weight gain, then you should stop it getting worse. He should be gaining 2-4g a month. If it's a little less, don't worry, but if it's more, cut down on food and see what happens at the next monthly weigh in

Edit: I would probably guess he's older than 1. He looks quite big, and horsfields are often wild caught, so there's no way to determine their age accurately. A WC horsfield can be deceptively small, as growth rate in the wild is much slower. Even though keepers feed carefully, they are 'overfed' in captivity compared to in the wild.

[SarahAnn]

Thanks for that,

Sarah really wanted that specific Tortoise...lol...

Surely if the rock is too hot, he will just stop going on it??

Antony

[Joolz1975]

Originally Posted by AnythingWithAShell

Not necessarily for redfoots though

SarahAnn, you're brave! I would have told the shop where to stick it and got my tort elsewhere, rather than spending £200 for something not needed

Couple of things - watch out that the rock under the heat bulb doesn't get too hot, it could burn. And if you change the ceramic bulb to a household reflector spotlight, the extra light will benefit torty while he's inside. Light levels are key in keeping hibernating torts awake and active throughout the colder months when they are inside and awake.

His shell looks to have started pyramiding, but if you feed him right and keep a check on his monthly weight gain, then you should stop it getting worse. He should be gaining 2-4g a month. If it's a little less, don't worry, but if it's more, cut down on food and see what happens at the next monthly weigh in

Edit: I would probably guess he's older than 1. He looks quite big, and horsfields are often wild caught, so there's no way to determine their age accurately. A WC horsfield can be deceptively small, as growth rate in the wild is much slower. Even though keepers feed carefully, they are 'overfed' in captivity compared to in the wild.

Ive put my little margie on a diet as he was gaining more than 4g a month, i now feed him a little less and scatter it around more to make him go looking for it.

I can tell when hes hungry though cos he stomps around and all i can hear is his little claws scratching around.

Im not worried as he isnt pyramiding and is very active, and i know they are a slightly larger species than other med tortoises.

Hes such a little cutie!

[Kusu_08]

hiya i hav ejust moved Kusu into her new house and thought i would see what yo thought / check if i have missed anything. first her old house she was housed in a viv which measured 3ft by 1.5 ft

she is now in a 4ft by 2ft table


this is what i have bought i know i could have made one for a hell of a lot cheaper bt due to time / my lack in diy didnt think it was worth it



i hope its ok still strugglin to get the times right for her lighting but will get there eventually =] it was my ex bf who dealt with the heating/lighting so if anything needs changed just let me know, it is not quite fininsed i have some more pebbles and such to go in plus her bedding box needs some substrate in.

so her substrate is top soil mixed with the tortoise life substrate as that is what she had in her viv i find tortoise life to be very dusty but seems fine now that it has been mixed

she has a ceramic heat lamp with a thermo control onit which causes it to turn on at 26 0C and turn off at 28 0C (this is what my ex bf set it too)

her light she has 2 15W 2.0 Repti Glo strip lights in aswell which are atm causin some problem and they have decided not to work think my starter unit has broke which is annoying as it is relatively new =[

any comments ?

[e_salter]

re arranged my set up to try and keep the humidity and temp right for my little KING COOPER! lol, heres some new pics of the rearrangment,

[echogecko]

heres my torts new enclosure. its a 4ft indoor rabbit cage

[pauliewalnuts]

This is the table I made for Stella. I made it out of floorboards and an mdf and chipboard base. It took me about 2 or 3 hours to build.
I'm currently using 3 different kinds of substrate (soil/sand, herbigrass and bark)