Am I Being Cruel To Be Kind, Or Just Cruel?

[John506]

Since I cut my vivarium in half to make a tortoise table, my tortoise spends alot of her time under her light for heat.

Over time her shell looks dryer, and dryer, and dryer, starting to flake and go crispy. I'm guessing it is the cause of her sitting under her light for alot of the time, and this is dehydrating her.

I do bath her daily but she is still ever so dry.

I have made a humid hide and put it underneath her heat light. The light is shining in the box and it is nice and warm in there for her. She pushed the tub out of the way, climbed down the side and back under the light.

Am I being cruel by making her have to sit in the humid box instead of directly under the light for heat?

I just don't want her to dry up and I know that she is under her light.

Thanks.

Edit: She is a 2 year old Horsfield.

[the mighty P]

is she useing the hide at all? ahve you tried adding some plants to the table so she can hide under them?

[John506]

She will reluctantly go in after she gives up trying to move it out of the way.

There aren't any plants in there at the moment but I built her a little hut that she will hide under, but most of the time she seems to like to be out.

It's the heat she likes more than anything, I make her a little mound of hay under her light and she will climb to the very top and stretch her neck up to get as close as possible, but it is just drying her out...

[the mighty P]

have you thought of a heat mat for inder the substrate? although im not sure how good they are for tortoises as i have never used one, there are lots of experienced keepsers on here that would be able to advise on that

[kazzy]

what are the temps under the light and in the cool end,, im not a torty person but from reading other posts i know the temp is really important and may help other people advice you best

[SWsarah]

if your tortoise is spending all its time under the heat lamp, most of the time its telling you its to cold in the cool end

[John506]

Under the light varies 30-35 and cool end varies 20-25.

At night it gets cold in the room.

As far as my research went they are the best temperatures and I adjusted the heat light to get it to 30-35.

I'm baffled.

[SWsarah]

What suppliements are you using?
Diet?
Any pics of shell?

[John506]

I'm sprinkling Nutrobal on her food daily.

Feeding her on bags of salad leaves, and white clover weeds (only weeds in the garden in this weather).

I give her the occasional tomato as she appreciates it as a nice change from leaves from time to time.

This picture was taken a few weeks ago, and her shell is looking even more dry now.

[Mrs Mental]

First off the best substrate for her would be top soil or top soil/playsand (70%/30%)

Temp wise for a Horsfield - they like it slightly lower than the rest of the meds so 30-32 is fine, 35 is too hot for him. Cool end early 20's is fine. Any hide that you use, humid or otherwise should be away from the basking spot. I provided a humid hide for my Horsfield and he never used it.

Have you got pots, stones, decor etc all round the table as well? They need some things to keep their interest and for stomping about on.

Is he eating, poo'ing and wee'ing as normal?

I expect he'll take a while to get used to his new environment - sometimes they can find changes quite unsettling.

Increase his daily baths to twice a day and make sure you spray/wet his food when feeding and that he always has a fresh supply of water to drink or waddle about in.

Hope some of that helps


ETA - pelase do not use a heat mat with tortoises, its not recommended = just adding this as one poster had said to try it.