Help getting setup correct

steevwatson

New Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2019
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4
Location (City and/or State)
Edinburgh
Hi I've been researching online but keep finding conflicting information so I thought I'd ask on here for up to date correct information.

First a little background info. A friend was clearing out a flat that was abandoned by a tenant who wasn't paying his rent. While clearing he discovered a tortoise as well as 4 cats in the flat. The poor little guy was being kept in at 3x1 glass tank with a spot bulb and a broken uv tube with newspaper as substrate and no hides. He originally planned to keep the tortoise but after taking it to the vet for a checkup he realised he didn't have the space or the resources needed to meet the tortoise's needs. I've offered to adopt the tortoise and I have experience keeping various reptiles but never a tortoise before. I would normally spend a lot of time researching how to care for any animal before getting it but this time that is not an option.

I collected the little guy this afternoon after only hearing about him this morning so his setup is very much a work in progress and I want to make sure i'm getting it right. Feel free to tell me everything that's wrong and suggest improvements.

I've moved him into a tortoise table I made today. It's too small to use long term as its only 4x3 but I plan to move him into an outdoor enclosure as soon as it's warm enough (I live in the uk) I have a topsoil/sand substrate mix that's about 3"deep some sources say it should be dry some say moist so which is correct? I have a mercury vapour bulb suspended over a large flat rock as a basking spot. The temperature directly under the spot is too warm as it reads 115F and i'll buy what i need to raise the bulb a bit but a couple of inches to either side and it drops to around 100F for most of the warmer end. the middle of the table reads around 80f and the cold end is around 70F. At night when the lights go out the table drops to room temperature which is 70F At one end I've built in a hide box with an extra 2" or 3" inches of substrate and there is a large piece of cork bark at the other end to hide under. I've also added a few pieces of wood and some stones to break up the line of sight and provide something for him to climb over. There is a water dish provided at all times.

Do I have everything I need? What changes would you recommend?

Thanks
Steve
 

Yvonne G

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Do you know what species the tortoise is, Steve? I'd like to see pictures of the tortoise inside the habitat
 

steevwatson

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Joined
Feb 4, 2019
Messages
4
Location (City and/or State)
Edinburgh
Thanks for the quick reply. The vet identified to to my friend as a Russian but I'll post some pictures for you to say for sure. I'm at work just now so will post some pictures tomorrow as his lights will be out when I get home.
 

Markw84

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If it is a Russian / Horsfields tortoise it sounds like you have a good start on a good setup. Please do post pictures of the tortoise and setup and you will get great feedback here.
 

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