Barn
New Member
Hey guys, I'm new to this forum and this is my first post. I have a 4 year old horsefield tort (called Rocky) and I have decided it's time to build him a nice new enclosure.
Currently he's in a 1.5m x 0.6m open table top enclosure, I realise this is a bit small which is why I really would like to make a larger enclosure. Throughout the years I have alternated between soil/playsand and various aspen beddings (I always ensure they're dust/chemical free), and I've found that he seems to prefer burrowing in the aspen so that's what I generally use as a substrate. I've always used a 100W MVB to provide UVB and basking heat.
Where I live (in England) we rarely get nice hot sunny days on which he could go outside. So he does spend the majority of time in this enclosure, but I do let him roam around the house (under my supervision of course) every now and then as he likes to explore .
So now I've come to build a bigger enclosure! I've rearranged my room a bit and I'm thinking of building a 2m x 1m enclosure! I'll also build a little hut in there for him too. I was thinking of building it with 300mm high walls, so I could have the substrate nice and deep. For lighting and heat, I am going to stick with the 100W MVB, but as it's more than twice the size of the previous enclosure would I need extra light/heat?
I use a ceramic floor tile bottom side up to provide a rough place for him to eat and also it retains heat for him to bask. I also have an exo-terra water bowl for his water. His current enclosure includes a couple of rocks, a log, and some artificial green plants, so I'll be putting all of these into the new enclosure too.
Okay so my questions are:
Will this new enclosure be big enough? Or shall I try to increase the size further?
What should I do about lighting/heating arrangements?
I've heard mixed reviews about aspen substrate for tortoises, even though I think mine enjoys it, what do you guys think?
What could I add to the enclosure to make it more exciting for him?
Anything I missed feel free to mention.
Thanks so much for reading through all this haha any comments/suggestions/criticisms/questions are welcome!
Thanks again, Barn
(Oh p.s I'll be building it out of MDF which I will line with sticky-back plastic to make sure its waterproof so that if it gets wet it wont rot.)
Currently he's in a 1.5m x 0.6m open table top enclosure, I realise this is a bit small which is why I really would like to make a larger enclosure. Throughout the years I have alternated between soil/playsand and various aspen beddings (I always ensure they're dust/chemical free), and I've found that he seems to prefer burrowing in the aspen so that's what I generally use as a substrate. I've always used a 100W MVB to provide UVB and basking heat.
Where I live (in England) we rarely get nice hot sunny days on which he could go outside. So he does spend the majority of time in this enclosure, but I do let him roam around the house (under my supervision of course) every now and then as he likes to explore .
So now I've come to build a bigger enclosure! I've rearranged my room a bit and I'm thinking of building a 2m x 1m enclosure! I'll also build a little hut in there for him too. I was thinking of building it with 300mm high walls, so I could have the substrate nice and deep. For lighting and heat, I am going to stick with the 100W MVB, but as it's more than twice the size of the previous enclosure would I need extra light/heat?
I use a ceramic floor tile bottom side up to provide a rough place for him to eat and also it retains heat for him to bask. I also have an exo-terra water bowl for his water. His current enclosure includes a couple of rocks, a log, and some artificial green plants, so I'll be putting all of these into the new enclosure too.
Okay so my questions are:
Will this new enclosure be big enough? Or shall I try to increase the size further?
What should I do about lighting/heating arrangements?
I've heard mixed reviews about aspen substrate for tortoises, even though I think mine enjoys it, what do you guys think?
What could I add to the enclosure to make it more exciting for him?
Anything I missed feel free to mention.
Thanks so much for reading through all this haha any comments/suggestions/criticisms/questions are welcome!
Thanks again, Barn
(Oh p.s I'll be building it out of MDF which I will line with sticky-back plastic to make sure its waterproof so that if it gets wet it wont rot.)