Jurassic Pork
Member
Hi everyone,
In a month or so I'm going to be getting two red foot tortoises from my friend and I need some advice on what I should be doing with the vivarium set up and general red foot care.
Having researched a bit already I think he has been neglecting them, so I'm determined not to make the same mistakes that he has.
1) His current set up doesn't have any night time heating. I'm from the UK and it gets pretty cold here in the winter months. Being tropical tortoises I know they need constant heat and humidity. I'm assuming they've somehow adapted to cooler night time conditions.
Would you suggest I get a ceramic heat emitting bulb? I'm not sure about correct wattage though and how it all attaches to the vivarium. An explanation would be really appreciated.
2) My mate has said that he bought the male tortoise from a pet shop a number of years ago and he already had some pyramiding. Do you recon this is from a lack of humidity in the enclosure? Going forward if I get a spray bottle and mist the vivarium a couple of times a day, would that suffice? Also is it okay to spray their shells directly?
3) the male is a cherry head and the female a slightly older and larger red foot. They have been kept in the same vivarium for years, however I will be separating them as I have read they should never be kept in pairs as it could cause the female distress. I've ordered a custom made 6ft vivarium, which should give her a lot of space.
4) substrate - currently they just have a layer of orchid bark chippings. I'm going to get some coco fibre bricks to mix with the bark chippings. Hopefully it'll increase the humidity levels and allow them to burrow.
I'd really like to get them a few plants for their vivariums. Would a couple of fake ones be okay?
Any other suggestions on what to do would be greatly appreciated!
In a month or so I'm going to be getting two red foot tortoises from my friend and I need some advice on what I should be doing with the vivarium set up and general red foot care.
Having researched a bit already I think he has been neglecting them, so I'm determined not to make the same mistakes that he has.
1) His current set up doesn't have any night time heating. I'm from the UK and it gets pretty cold here in the winter months. Being tropical tortoises I know they need constant heat and humidity. I'm assuming they've somehow adapted to cooler night time conditions.
Would you suggest I get a ceramic heat emitting bulb? I'm not sure about correct wattage though and how it all attaches to the vivarium. An explanation would be really appreciated.
2) My mate has said that he bought the male tortoise from a pet shop a number of years ago and he already had some pyramiding. Do you recon this is from a lack of humidity in the enclosure? Going forward if I get a spray bottle and mist the vivarium a couple of times a day, would that suffice? Also is it okay to spray their shells directly?
3) the male is a cherry head and the female a slightly older and larger red foot. They have been kept in the same vivarium for years, however I will be separating them as I have read they should never be kept in pairs as it could cause the female distress. I've ordered a custom made 6ft vivarium, which should give her a lot of space.
4) substrate - currently they just have a layer of orchid bark chippings. I'm going to get some coco fibre bricks to mix with the bark chippings. Hopefully it'll increase the humidity levels and allow them to burrow.
I'd really like to get them a few plants for their vivariums. Would a couple of fake ones be okay?
Any other suggestions on what to do would be greatly appreciated!