Need help and info on Greek tortoise please!

Status
Not open for further replies.

Seaturtle93

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2013
Messages
7
Location (City and/or State)
Delaware, New Castle
Hello! I'm new to this site (like just created my account this morning new) and also new to owning tortoises. I actually just got my Greek tortoise yesterday morning, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. I spent the better half of my day (yesterday) building an enclosure for him because I didn't want to just stick him in a glass tank. But now I've got a lot of questions and I'm really sorry if this is the wrong forum or they're just really repetitive questions but I just want to make sure I'm covering everything.

So the enclosure I built him was originally supposed to be 4ft long by 3ft wide and about 2 ft deep, but my mom decided to take over and it ended up being 4ft L by 4ft W by 1ft D. Is that too big for him?

Second, his substrate- right now I have this puzzle like mat thing covering the bottom of the enclosure with newspaper on top of that. I was planning on keeping the mat in there, taking out the newspaper, and putting in this bark in the bag says its 100% pure fir bark. I haven't put in in yet because when I started browsing this site I kept seeing that everyone uses bark to soil to moss and coconut stuff. Am ok using the bark I found? And Is it ok to keep the mat on the bottom? I only have it there so that any waste or moisture doesn't rot out the bottom. I didn't paint the bottom or put any protective sealer on it because I didn't know how long it would take to dry, if it would be harmful to him later on down the road, and I also did have that much time and didn't want to keep him sitting in this plastic bin.

Third, his lighting. I'm going out in a few to build an over hang for his lights to hang over, but before I do I want to make sure I have the right things. Right now I have on 10 inch deep dome lamp fixture, I still have two more hours until the store opens to go get another one for the basking bulb, it the dome big enough (I don't know if there are bigger ones) or too big? And then here's where I'm completely paranoid now, I stayed up way too late browsing the forums last night and came across this one where someone was having trouble with their tortoises eye sealing shut, and in one of the feedback comments some one said that they should change out their UV-B spiral bulb because its been known to irritate their eyes and sometimes cause blindness! And that's where I started really freaking out because I'm pretty sure that's what my UV-B bulb is, I've attached pictures (hopefully the show) , and I would like to know if I need to get a different one. The employee that was helping us yesterday realized that we had gotten the lamp fixture but not the bulbs so she went to grad them for us. The UV-B bulb is a 26W Repti Glo 2.0 UVB bulb. The other bulb is a 75W Halogen basking spot 2x lux. Am I good or do I need to take them back and get different ones?

And then I have a temporary hide box that is just a shoe box that i cut a hole into, I was thinking of making a more permanent one, should i make it out of plastic, wood, or rocks ( that would be permanent attached together).
Lastly his food, I put some in there around 6 this morning right now its roman lettuce and some chopped up carrots, how small should I tear up/ chop the food? At the store they had this pellet looking food in there with mushed up looking veggies, am i feeding him the wrong things?

I almost forgot! I picked up this large reptile water dish, but now that I'm looking at it, it looks way too deep and not wide enough, I only filled it up halfway though, would I be better off just with something else? I have this really wide bowl that is pretty shallow that I think I could put some rocks around to keep him form possibly trying to dig underneath and tip it over.

I also have this zoo med thermometer / humidity reader, its just this one this combined together, but I'm pretty sure that I need another thermometer of the other side right?

That's all that I can really think of right now, I'm sure I'll think of a million other questions later, which I do apologize for asking so many and typing so much. But thank you so much for taking the time to read this!
Cheers,
-Amanda
I used my phone to take these pictures and the light on it isn't that strong, I can take better ones after I find my camera. Sorry if the don't show up I can't tell if I attached them right or not.
Box1.jpg
Box2.jpg
supply.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:

wellington

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Tortoise Club
Joined
Sep 6, 2011
Messages
49,660
Location (City and/or State)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
I can help on some of your questions. First, that is the wrong kind of bulb. That is a coil bulb, don't use it. You can get the tube type flourescent or a mercury vapor bulb. The mercury one will fit in your fixture. Second, I would take out the mat and paper and line the enclosure with plastic, like a shower curtain liner. i afraid the mate might mold and that would cause illness. An enclosure is never too big. I would use either plain dirt, pesticide and fertilizer free, or coconut coir. Get a large, but not too deep, plastic or clay flower pot saucer for a water dish and a flat rock or piece of tile to feed on, it helps keep their beak trimmed. The cardboard shoe box is fine for a short time. You can make one out of either wood or plastic, it's up to you. Others will be along to help with more.
 

Seaturtle93

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2013
Messages
7
Location (City and/or State)
Delaware, New Castle
wellington said:
I can help on some of your questions. First, that is the wrong kind of bulb. That is a coil bulb, don't use it. You can get the tube type flourescent or a mercury vapor bulb. The mercury one will fit in your fixture. Second, I would take out the mat and paper and line the enclosure with plastic, like a shower curtain liner. i afraid the mate might mold and that would cause illness. An enclosure is never too big. I would use either plain dirt, pesticide and fertilizer free, or coconut coir. Get a large, but not too deep, plastic or clay flower pot saucer for a water dish and a flat rock or piece of tile to feed on, it helps keep their beak trimmed. The cardboard shoe box is fine for a short time. You can make one out of either wood or plastic, it's up to you. Others will be along to help with more.

Thanks so much! I'll work on getting the mercury bulb today!
What about cypress mulch? I live in Delaware and I'm having a hard time finding coconut coir around me.
 

Greektortnamedleo

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2012
Messages
55
The coconut coir should be at any larger chain pet store or do a google search for a local reptile store or "exotic pet" store. They will have it in a range of sizes of bags. There are several threads on here about how to prep the coir for the tort to prevent excess humidity. I am no expert, just been scouring these pages for as much info as possible. If you have a question don't be afraid to try the search feature. I am sure you are not the first one who has come up with most of the questions you have being a new tort helper.
 

Jlant85

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 24, 2013
Messages
1,108
Location (City and/or State)
California
Pictures! Of the tortoise and the enclosure! [FACE WITH STUCK-OUT TONGUE AND TIGHTLY-CLOSED EYES]
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top