Heating & General Advice for Spur Thighed (Greek) Tortoise in Greenhouse

Mortimus

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Hi all,

We inherited a rather large Greek tortoise from my partner's grandmother about two years ago now. The first year we had her we concentrated on making sure she was getting a healthy diet (the grandmother in question had sadly fed her rather exclusively on iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber since she had her in the late 70s/early 80s). We did lots of research and she is now on a proper diet involving all the right food and supplements etc. That first year, she lived in a temporary enclosure in the garden for the summer months, coming into the house at night if it was cool and then hibernated as usual from October to April (we're in the UK).

Last year, we built her an enclosure measuring roughly 6ft by 3ft (1.83 metres by 91.5cm - she also has access to the rest of the greenhouse if she wants, and she often does in the summer, but that is non-substrated and with no artificial heating) within the greenhouse with the correct substrate, a proper 'house' in which to sleep (filled with straw) and an overhead "160w D3" UV basking lamp. She also has unlimited access to the secure garden via a ramp going in and out of the greenhouse for the sunny, warm days in the summer. Again, she hibernated in October and we kept her in a box in the garage. We'll be waking her up in the next week or two as spring hits.

Firstly, is there anything about anything I've said so far which worries anyone?! Is there anything I've mentioned which we really shouldn't be doing or should change at all?

Secondly, as we're in the UK, there were many days last year where it just wasn't warm enough for her in the greenhouse, even with the basking lamp and we had to bring her into the house, which isn't ideal as we don't have a proper enclosure for her there. We want to change that this year, so we're looking into extra heating/lighting, but there's so much info out there, it's a bit overwhelming.

Can anyone provide advice as to what other heating solutions we need to make sure the enclosure/greenhouse remains the right temperature throughout the day and night? I know there are ceramic heating elements - are these available as clamp-type devices that we can attach over the enclosure? I've also read about heating mats, how do they work? How about UV? Do we need more UV light or will the basking lamp provide enough considering she'll be in the garden most days when it's sunny?

Sorry for the long post, any comments/advice will be much appreciated.
 

JoesMum

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Mortimus

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5 Year Member
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Hi JoesMum,

Thanks for the reply - we're in Tamworth, near Birmingham so probably a couple of degrees cooler than round your patch!

Your post was really informative and we're going to certainly get some blue slate chips in time for Mortimus waking up.

Because she lives in the greenhouse when she's not in the garden, she takes herself off to bed in the early evening. Traditionally, we have always then had to bring her in to sleep in a box of straw in the house. However, we'd really like to avoid that this year and let her stay out (in the greenhouse) overnight. For this, presumably we will need some extra heating (all we have at the moment is the basking lamp) to keep the air temperature warm enough for her overnight and then in the early morning when it's cold. Any idea what would be best for this purpose?

When you say she doesn't need any extra UV light, are we ok to keep the basking lamp we currently have, which does emit UV? Or are we risking giving her too much UV?
 

JoesMum

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Create some sort of night shelter in the greenhouse, along the lines of the cold frame that we have for Joe. The straw gave Joe insulation.

As long as temperatures are above 9-10C at night, I really wouldn't bother heating the greenhouse at night for a mature "garden Greek" like this. Your tort will be dry which is important.

At night, it's about ambient temperatures and a greenhouse heater of some sort from a garden centre should do the job.

Carry on using the bulb your tort has for basking (it's known as a MVB). It doesn't matter that it gives out UVB. When it blows then replace it with a cheaper one that doesn't emit UVB.

In any case, the UVB output of MVBs drops off dramatically after around 6-9 months, long before the basking part blows. You can just use this one until it dies :)
 

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