The Book of Om: Or, Adventures in Tortoise Keeping, New Zealand edition

Stitchpunk

Active Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
206
Location (City and/or State)
Auckland New Zealand
Take a look at a post I made recently for the tub set up I use when I take my tortoise on road trips. -Maybe it will give you some ideas as to lamps etc...
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/car-travel-set-up.134511/
neat set up. I'd be a bit worried about having a light on a portable stand due to the cats. Also I'm not sure that I'll be able to get a MVB, they seem to be very few and far between here (well,the non-spiral ones anyway) whereas I can get hold of Reptiglo tubes easily.
 

Stitchpunk

Active Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
206
Location (City and/or State)
Auckland New Zealand

I'm genuinely heartbroken, way more so than I would have expected. Thinking of buying a blank tee and getting out the stencils and bleach to make a "we can be heroes, just for one day" shirt. He made it more than ok for the misfits to be ourselves; he made different GLORIOUS.
 

Prairie Mom

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2014
Messages
4,340
neat set up. I'd be a bit worried about having a light on a portable stand due to the cats. Also I'm not sure that I'll be able to get a MVB, they seem to be very few and far between here (well,the non-spiral ones anyway) whereas I can get hold of Reptiglo tubes easily.
You can attach the lights on stands in multiple places very easily. I have SIX cats, no problems when my first closed chamber was in a tub like this set up. You can put Ceramic heat emitters in the lamp for day and night heat. I don't know anything about Reptiglo tubes, but I'm assuming you could screw a tube light fixture into the walls. ??? Just a few thoughts from an amateur keeper:)
 

Stitchpunk

Active Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
206
Location (City and/or State)
Auckland New Zealand
You can attach the lights on stands in multiple places very easily. I have SIX cats, no problems when my first closed chamber was in a tub like this set up. You can put Ceramic heat emitters in the lamp for day and night heat. I don't know anything about Reptiglo tubes, but I'm assuming you could screw a tube light fixture into the walls. ??? Just a few thoughts from an amateur keeper:)
oh ok,that's good to know. Thanks :)
 

Stitchpunk

Active Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
206
Location (City and/or State)
Auckland New Zealand
Here's an interesting link from the NZ Turtle Rescue website about lighting for reptiles:

http://www.turtlerescue.co.nz/turtle-lighting-setup

Pity the images are broken, but even so it provides what seems like good (if rather technical) information about UVB lighting and the effectiveness of different types. Though tbh it made my eyes glaze over a bit. I don't Maths. I'm looking around for a MVB but not finding anything so far. Trixie, Exo-Terra, Reptile One and Arcadia tube lights seem to be about it for options here. If anyone can give me any recommendations or warnings about any of those brands please do!
 

Stitchpunk

Active Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
206
Location (City and/or State)
Auckland New Zealand
Got a couple of cabinets with sliding glass doors on my watchlist that would convert into nice habitats. But really....... I should go with tubs, I think. Come next summer the tort will move outside ; the thing is though I don't know if s/he will hibernate come winter, or stay awake but need to be moved indoors. I don't know what to doooooooo!
Also there is a 1yo Hermann's for sale right NOW which is in Auckland and which could go straight into an outdoor enclosure. But the Mr thinks I should wait (aka "I don't really want you to take $850 out of our savings right now".) I don't think he has any idea of how much indoor lighting and heating is going to cost. *sigh*
 

Stitchpunk

Active Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
206
Location (City and/or State)
Auckland New Zealand
Reached that point with enclosure research where I'm just getting more and more confused by all the conflicting information. The breeder likes the indoor rabbit enclosure that I first looked at, which everyone here seems to think is too open. The breeder thinks that with our high-ish humidity year round the enclosed ones can get too damp and cause shell rot.

AlanRickmanTable.gif
 

Stitchpunk

Active Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
206
Location (City and/or State)
Auckland New Zealand
I found MVB bulbs! And the instructions for building a table enclosure at the Tortoise Table website which I like the looks of. Hollywood Fish Farm carries the MVB in 2 wattages. The price though! Eek!
 

George Coats

New Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2015
Messages
12
Hey! I'm a fellow kiwi down here in the South Island, few months back I was just like you searching for tortoises but I finally bought two of trade me from a breeder up by the bay of plenty. (https://m.facebook.com/ReptileWorld.co.nz) Also tried doing the same contacting the reptile park got a reply a month later saying they have Greek spur and Hermann yearlings for sale at 750 each, also I tried asking them about the other species such as the cherry heads, leopards and more but they can't sell them. :/
 

Stitchpunk

Active Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
206
Location (City and/or State)
Auckland New Zealand
Hey! I'm a fellow kiwi down here in the South Island, few months back I was just like you searching for tortoises but I finally bought two of trade me from a breeder up by the bay of plenty. (https://m.facebook.com/ReptileWorld.co.nz) Also tried doing the same contacting the reptile park got a reply a month later saying they have Greek spur and Hermann yearlings for sale at 750 each, also I tried asking them about the other species such as the cherry heads, leopards and more but they can't sell them. :/

Hihihihihi! Yay! So what did you end up getting? Thanks for the FB link, I'm not on there so I usually forget to look for info there. What sort of enclosures have you got set up?
 

Stitchpunk

Active Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
206
Location (City and/or State)
Auckland New Zealand
Ha! Of course you beet me to it!:D I JUST finished typing to you in the Garden chat asking if you heard about dear Alan:(

You're fabulous, my dear!!!!:D
Nah, I'm just a giant nerd is all. What. A. Week. And not in a good way. I have a "tribute wall" going on my office doors now, I covered them in Terry Pratchett stuff when he went *sob*, and never took It down; now I have Bowie and Rickman pictures up there too.
 

George Coats

New Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2015
Messages
12
Hihihihihi! Yay! So what did you end up getting? Thanks for the FB link, I'm not on there so I usually forget to look for info there. What sort of enclosures have you got set up?
I ended up getting two yearling Hermanns and setup (down below) was all brought from Animates but this was just temporary as I'm building a new table twice as big and I'll be sure to upload pictures when finished. :)
 

George Coats

New Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2015
Messages
12
If your wondering what I used for the enclosure it's just a large plastic tub with a wooden scaffolding top to hold the lamps. P.S your best bet is a tortoise table not the rabbit pen, if a tortoise can see through the fence it's going to constantly try to escape. Unless you put a line at the lower level of the pen so it can't see out, maybe some wooden planks or something.
 

Stitchpunk

Active Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
206
Location (City and/or State)
Auckland New Zealand
If your wondering what I used for the enclosure it's just a large plastic tub with a wooden scaffolding top to hold the lamps. P.S your best bet is a tortoise table not the rabbit pen, if a tortoise can see through the fence it's going to constantly try to escape. Unless you put a line at the lower level of the pen so it can't see out, maybe some wooden planks or something.

The rabbit pen has a pretty deep plastic tray. But yeah, I'm thinking a table will be best/easiest for doing the lighting set-up. The sooner I get it done the sooner I can start monitoring the temps and make any adjustments (such as closing in part of it if need be.)
 

Stitchpunk

Active Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
206
Location (City and/or State)
Auckland New Zealand
image.jpeg Ok, decision made. I bought 3 of these 60 litre tubs with lids from Bunnings. They will probably sit on a trestle table as a bit of a cat deterrent. I'll cut holes in the sides and join them into 1 big tub filled with fine grade orchid bark. Some sort of rail overhead will hold the lighting/heating, and if need be I can use the plastic lids to help keep in heat or humidity. It won't be gorgeous, but it only has to last a couple of years until the baby is old enough to go into a permanent outdoor enclosure. I'm going to get the bare bones set up done as soon as I can so that I can take more accurate temp readings and then figure out the niceties of the lighting and hopefully get some live plants underway.
 

George Coats

New Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2015
Messages
12
View attachment 162483 Ok, decision made. I bought 3 of these 60 litre tubs with lids from Bunnings. They will probably sit on a trestle table as a bit of a cat deterrent. I'll cut holes in the sides and join them into 1 big tub filled with fine grade orchid bark. Some sort of rail overhead will hold the lighting/heating, and if need be I can use the plastic lids to help keep in heat or humidity. It won't be gorgeous, but it only has to last a couple of years until the baby is old enough to go into a permanent outdoor enclosure. I'm going to get the bare bones set up done as soon as I can so that I can take more accurate temp readings and then figure out the niceties of the lighting and hopefully get some live plants underway.
Looks good. ;)
 

Stitchpunk

Active Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
206
Location (City and/or State)
Auckland New Zealand
The very beginning of the tortoise table

image.jpeg

Currently reading 50% humidity and 88F in there with no lighting or heating. Next step will be to make holes in the sides and join them into 1 big container, then add substrate and build bridges between each tub. hopefully by the time I get to the lighting it will have cooled down a bit. I've been hard at it for 6 hours reorganising this room and doing housework and I am dripping! Cold beer beckons....
 

New Posts

Top