stigrk
New Member
Hello TortoiseForum,
I am a new member and also a new tortoise owner. My tortoise is an Eastern Herman I got about 4 weeks ago, the previous caretaker and the CITES papers claims it is about half a year old.
Since this forum seems mostly american I will use imperial units in the post. (Fahrenheit, inches and feet), please forgive me if I slip in a metric measurement by mistake ?
I have built an indoor enclosure for my tortoise, about 40 by 20 inches in size and the design is based on what I could find of information from the Internet (before I read a lot on this forum) and I would like to get some constructive critique for my design and perhaps ideas for improvements. If I had found this site earlier I would probably have made some changes to my design.
First: I know the enclosure is not big enough for a grown Herman Tortoise. However, it is big enough right now as the Tortoise is still quite small (2 inches) and I plan to build a new one as the Tortoise grows.
I also live in a country with a rather cold climate (Norway in northern Europe). When the tortoise gets larger I may perhaps have it outdoors in the warmest months of summer assuming I also provide some extra warm/lights. This summer I may perhaps carry the whole enclosure to my balcony on really warm days so the Tortoise can get some real sunshine and not only artificial UV lights. it is not that heavy and should be okay to lift.
Key data about the enclosure:
From the design stage. I am using two types of lights:
3D Render from before actual building:
Building has started:
The finished result:
Temperature measurements during the day:
Tortoise soaking:
If I had to build it again I would have made the following changes:
Best Regards,
Stig
I am a new member and also a new tortoise owner. My tortoise is an Eastern Herman I got about 4 weeks ago, the previous caretaker and the CITES papers claims it is about half a year old.
Since this forum seems mostly american I will use imperial units in the post. (Fahrenheit, inches and feet), please forgive me if I slip in a metric measurement by mistake ?
I have built an indoor enclosure for my tortoise, about 40 by 20 inches in size and the design is based on what I could find of information from the Internet (before I read a lot on this forum) and I would like to get some constructive critique for my design and perhaps ideas for improvements. If I had found this site earlier I would probably have made some changes to my design.
First: I know the enclosure is not big enough for a grown Herman Tortoise. However, it is big enough right now as the Tortoise is still quite small (2 inches) and I plan to build a new one as the Tortoise grows.
I also live in a country with a rather cold climate (Norway in northern Europe). When the tortoise gets larger I may perhaps have it outdoors in the warmest months of summer assuming I also provide some extra warm/lights. This summer I may perhaps carry the whole enclosure to my balcony on really warm days so the Tortoise can get some real sunshine and not only artificial UV lights. it is not that heavy and should be okay to lift.
Key data about the enclosure:
- Size approximately 40 by 20 inches.
- Substrate is a mix of some dark aquarium sand mixed with soil/mulch sold from the local pet shop. (Dark sand so the tortoise does not confuse the sand grains with seeds and attempt to eat it).
- Substrate about 3" deep, planted with grass, flowers and various plants edible for the tortoise (bought a tortoise seed mix bag from an online reptile shop).
- I have also planted a couple of larger plants that is edible however the tortoise seem to prefer using these for shelter and not eating
- Two dishes, large one filled with water to tortoise chin height and the smaller one is used for food
- A flat stone to keep a plant clear spot under the MVP basking light. This also seems to elevate the temperature slightly on the basking spot.
- A corner with cork bark and hay provides hiding opportunities
- Temperatures at daytime, is a gradient from 94 at the basking spot (on the stone) to the 72-75 at the hideout corner
- The enclosure is kept in a room with a rather high ambient temperature so even at night it should stay 70-72
- Humidity is in the range 50-75% half an inch above the substrate
- I have mounted a Raspberry PI with a wide angle camera on the top of the enclosure.
- This way I can monitor the enclosure over the Internet when I am not at home.
- It is a Near IR camera so I plan to add IR lights so I can monitor it in the dark as well. (IR is invisible to human and tortoise eyes).
- I have planned to add several temperature and humidity sensors to the PI and display this as well, for now I measure manually using a "gun type" thermometer
- Daily soaks in water outside the enclosure in a plastic container. Frequently it poops and urates at this time but not always if it has already pooped in the enclosure
- Food and water dish is cleaned and replenished every day, poop is removed and once in a while the hay in the corner is replaced with new hay
- I clean while the tortoise is soaking
- I also check the substrate under the cork bark once a while and mist if starting to feel to dry
- It seems Dandelions are its favorite food, especially the yellow flower part. Will not eat anything else if they are available so now it only gets that a few days per week
- I sprinkle some powdered calcium supplement on the food a couple of times per week
- I measure the humidity and mist the whole enclosure couple of times a day, the plants in the enclosure also needs some water
- The first two weeks the Tortoise mostly burrowed under the substrate in the corner with hay and ate very sparingly. I had to carefully dig it out once in a while to give it a soaking and food
- Retreats halfway into in the shell when handled but does not seem to panic, emerges from the shell quickly when put down. I would say it seems apprehensive but not very scared.
- The last two weeks now the Tortoise eats very well and seems to have established some kind of routine:
- Lights on (by timer) at 8 AM, often I can see the head poking out from the hay in the corner shortly after, but it usually stays partially hidden for a couple of hours.
- Around 10 AM, the tortoise fully emerges and walks to the basking light
- After half an hour it walks over to the food tray and starts eating
- It sometimes enters the water dish by its own volition but these visits are usually very short and it do not poop or leave urates in the water
- After eating or watering it usually spends some time at the basking spot again
- Spends a few hours walking around inspecting the enclosure, typically stops and sniffs the plants, nibbles at a few of them but does not really eat of them.
- It seems to be used to eating from a dish, perhaps I am observing learned behavior from the previous caretaker?
- Around noon it gets the daily soak
- Some days it eats a second time followed by some basking time
- Usually it retreats to the hideout corner and burrows around 2 PM
- Some days it has a second outing in the evening around 7-8 PM, usually not for more than one hour
- Lights out by timer 9 PM (at my latitude this is also the natural sunset time)
- It seems to vary a lot how deep it burrows
- Sometimes it digs all the way down into the substrate
- Sometimes it is just under the hay
- Sometimes it does not actually burrow but just hides in the cave created by the cork bark in the hideout corner, then I can usually see it deep in there looking out
- Except the very first day I have not observed the tortoise scratching at the walls, trying to climb or escape from the enclosure
- The tortoise sleeps and/or hides most of the day. I assume this is normal instinctive behavior while the tortoise is still so small to avoid predators?
- The tortoise has put on weight since I got it (I measure it before soaking).
From the design stage. I am using two types of lights:
- One T5 type tube UV light that runs the length of the enclosure. This provides normal and UV light but very little warmth.
- One MVP spot that provides normal and UV light and also warmth, this is the basking spot
3D Render from before actual building:
Building has started:
The finished result:
Temperature measurements during the day:
Tortoise soaking:
If I had to build it again I would have made the following changes:
- Made it larger so the tortoise could have stayed in it for longer
- Made it less open so I do not have to mist so often (I am considering adding some plexiglass to improve this)
- Perhaps made changes to the substrate mixture after reading this forum
Best Regards,
Stig