BlueCassowary
New Member
Hi all, I am a new tortoise owner and could really do with some advice to make sure I'm on the right track. First of all, here are some pictures of Elliot and his setup: https://imgur.com/a/7Kcg0yC
- Background: My tortoise is 7 years old and was adopted 4 weeks ago from a friend who did a pet swap and quickly realised she was unable to care for him. He had been with her for 2 weeks and during this time was kept in a cardboard box lined with a blanket and a desk lamp for light/heat. The lamp got too hot so it was turned off for 3 days. She did not bathe him the two weeks that he was with her, though he did have a bowl of water
- Housing: He is currently being kept in a 2ft x 4ft temporary rabbit cage with a mesh top until I can make him a proper table.
- Substrate: is sterilised topsoil from my local garden centre.
- Light and heat: 160w Arcadia D3 Mercury Vapour Basking Lamp and I have a room heater that I turn to 24C in the day and 20C at night. Lights are kept on for 12-14 hours
- Food and water: I have been bathing him every other day and feeding him lambs lettuce and catsgrass and bagged greens until I can grow him some proper food (I have ordered seeds to grow foods from a tortoise site)
- Other: I will be taking him to the vets for a check-up/parasite screen and a beak trim (His beak is very long)
- My tortoise spends all of his time in the 'cool' end of his enclosure in his hide. Even when I take him out to bathe him, he will eat, wander around, then go straight back to his hide and stay there until I get him out again to bathe him, is this normal? His poops and urates etc look healthy and he is going most times he is bathed.
- Are my temperatures adequate?
- Daytime temps: Hot end = 28-30C; Cool end (19-18.8C)
- Night-time: my room heater is set at 20 but his cage is on the floor so I think the heat is going straight up. This morning it said the temp went as low as 17.5C
- I have just shone the infrared thermometer on his shell while he is in the cool end and it says his shell is 23C - is this too hot? Cold? just right?
- If my temperatures need to be higher to make him more active then what should I do? At the moment I am using the 160w D3 MV bulb and while I know about ceramic heaters and basking lamps and strip lights I just don't know which one to get out of all of those options. I know it might also be that he needs more light to make him more active - if that is the case then what do you recommend bearing in mind my current setup.