I have redone my tortoise enclosure....

[Tortoisekatie]

I have redone wants enclosure. I know a viv isn't the ideal place for him, but I'm working on a table at the moment but thought I would improve his viv that he is in at the moment. What you guys think? Anything you would do differently?

 

[Tortoisekatie]

I'm presuming this means he is enjoying it?

 

[Jacqui]

What a beautiful animal! Love his buddy. Substrate looks a bit dry to me. Are the temps fine? Some folks might want the waterdish buried a bit more, as for me, I like the climb he has to do to get into it, since he is an older one. Like that he has two hide choices.

 

[leigti]

He is a very pretty tortoise. I always like a lot of plants, and varied terrain like hills etc. maybe add some more water to the substrate.

 

[Tortoisekatie]

I can't have fake plants as he tries to eat them! An I'm Not really sure what live plants I can have in the enclosure. I dampened down the substrate shortly after I took the photo.
His little friend my fiances uncle carved for me, he enjoys burying him!

Would it be better to have the water bowl slightly lower, only thing is he kicks all the substrate in to it so it just absorbes all the water.

 

[leigti]

You can put spider plants, Jade,. Look on tortoise table .net and see what they say. You could put large pillows or pieces of slate around the water bowl. And then he will be wiping his feet off before he climbs into it. To make the log safer you can pile up some dirt beside it to make it more of a ramp. Then he can walk up and down it and won't risk slipping off of it and landing upside down under the heat lamp.

 

[Tortoisekatie]

What temps would you recommend? Iv been told a few different ones.

I think I will do that with the log, although he enjoys sliding down it and climbing up and down it I do think that would put my mind at ease

 

[Tortoisekatie]

I have took everyone's advise and I put a piece of slate and he walked straight over and stared to bite it. I noticed a tiny little bug on the slate which I picked up from a pet store. Do I need to take all the substrate out now I have put that in. I'm devastated that all my hard work may have been undone

 

[Tortoisekatie]

After I noticed this I took it straight out and soaked it in boiling water and washed it with my viv cleaner

 

[naturalman91]

i don't know where you heard viv's don't work but thats like what 90% of us here use lol they work great to hold heat

tables aren't ideal actually because they can't hold a steady temp most of the time when people are using tables we get questions like how can i hold the heat better or my enclosure won't stay warm enough well that's simple cover the top make it enclosed

the only advice i can give beside's not doing a table would be if that fluorescent light is your uvb it looks a little to high

 

[Tortoisekatie]

Brilliant, yeh that's my uv bulb. Iv had it about 4 months so I'm going to get him a new one tomorrow, I think I'll get a slightly longer one and I'll lower it.

I was worried about putting him on a table as I live in England and it gets cold here. I was told that they are bad for ventilation and that the glass can cause problems

 

[naturalman91]

Brilliant, yeh that's my uv bulb. Iv had it about 4 months so I'm going to get him a new one tomorrow, I think I'll get a slightly longer one and I'll lower it.

I was worried about putting him on a table as I live in England and it gets cold here. I was told that they are bad for ventilation and that the glass can cause problems

the glass problem all depends no the tortoise i would say i've never had it be a issue but just watch and if they keep bumping it might have to block view as for ventilation i haven't had any problems with that either people seem to think if there isn't ventilation there would be respiratory issues most respiratory issues come from animal's to cold in a damp environment plus it's not like it's completely sealed air proof

the uvb bulb should be about 12 or so inches from the top of the substrate but each bulb has it's own recommendations on height

 

[Tortoisekatie]

He did sit at the glass for a while but I have a fence that I stand near it, (from the hamster section of pets at home), and that has stopped him

 

[leigti]

Look into the Arcadia brand 12% UVB bulbs. They might be okay at that height. Or you can use a high output bulb fixture. I use the high output because mine is about 15 inches above my tortoise.

 

[naturalman91]

i agree with leigti arcadia 12%'s are AWESOME. you can get them at www.lightyourreptiles.com

 

[Tortoisekatie]

Defo Gona look at this! I love the little guy and want to do my best with him lol

I call him a guy but at 3 can I tell if its a boy of girl?