tortoise in conservatory

[kirsty Johnston]

Hi, I got a tortoise on Sunday and I have her in the conservatory. She is a greek spurphi and quite small. We built her enclosure ourselves out of wood and we have an 85 watt uva uvb and heat bulb at one side and at the other side I have her food and water as its cooler. I am waiting for the thermometers to arrive but I am really nervous that because her enclosure is in the conservatory itll be too hot for her during the day and too cold at night. Could anyone give me some advice on if im doing the right thing? Thanks

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Well, the 'advice' is get the thermometers before you get the tortoise if that is going to make you so nervous. By converancy I am guessing you mean a very large greenhouse? Does it have venting based on temperature? What are those temps? You can buy very inexpensive thermoters at 'big box stores', though I don't know if they are there in Scotland. Even for as long as a week or two moderate temps are okay, it happens in the wild that way, "unseasonal" temps is what weather forcasters/reporters call it. It sounds like your setup allows retreat from the heat source, so too hot will be a problem based on the conservancy, not the bulb, and then, well you got to rethink the whole thing, right?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Kirsty, and welcome to the forum!

Let's set the record straight first - the Greek species of tortoise are sometimes called "spur thigh" due to the large spurs on the back legs.

It sounds like you have a baby tortoise, huh? It might be a good idea to move the enclosure into the house until the tortoise grows up a bit. Baby tortoises need to be kept warm. It is hard to keep the conservatory at a good tortoise temperature.

We have a pretty good care sheet on Greek tortoises at the top of the Greek Tortoise section here on the Forum.

 

[kirsty Johnston]

Hi guys. She hatched in 2012 so is 2 years old. Will a conservatory ia similar to a green house but its attached to your house. Scotlands weather can be unpredictable at times and I always had intentions of bringing her inside during the winter months but thought having her in the conservatory and getting natural uva uvb and heat would be good for her. Do you still recommend that I bring her inside? Thanks for your help so far

 

[tortadise]

Welcome

 

[dmmj]

If she were mine, I would keep indoors for another year, prob two. Does this conservatory, block the UVB rays?