New tortoise owner
 

My husband has bought me a Mediterranean Spur-thighed tortoise (graecca) for my wedding anniversary and to be honest I feel so stressed as I am not sure how to care for it. I have had that much conflicting information giving to me. It is currently in a tortoise table in the garage with a basking light and uv light. It is quite small it is two years old. Is it to small to be outside?, will it get cold? do I fetch it back in a night? Help lovely people?

welcome Chezza,

First off you must be stressed cause you've posted under for sale thread and people might look there ! There is a delay until you do 5 posts, just in case your a spammy. Then you can post big style ! there will be lots of questions. For me he can go outside on in secure pen. I would bring in at night but personally my little ones come in around 16.00hrs as they will start to bury. Little ones heat up quick and cool down quick so keep an eye. Try and avoid wet or overly damp grass also - I put mine on wooden slats on grass with a little house on top - plenty of pickies to look at for ideas on here from everyone. do allow hiding areas , little plants or pots or cover at least out of the sun. Think like a wild thing ! Gordon does. CB

I agree with Clare, it's quite warm now, so on warm days he can go out in a secure pen, personally I wouldn't hav his table in the garage, it's too dark and cold, torts need a good background room temp and plenty of natural light, even though they have uv and basking lights on the table. Give him plenty of time to get settled in. Please don't panicked or worry too much , they are quite tough little creatures, and we can give you all the help you need.
Give him plenty of warm baths while he is settling in to his new surrounding, and keep offering food, they sometimes don't eat for a while when in a new home.
Please ask away.

Oh thank you.
ooppss didnt realise I had posted in the for sale . Not very good at technology
If you wouldn't keep him in the garage where would you put him? in the house?

Also how do i get out of
the for sale into a different forum ....sorry people i am pants at this xx

Firstly, welcome. :-)
Great advice already. With this lovely weather we're having, it's a great time to get your tort outside. A secure enclosure with hides, plants and water dish can be fun to put together and doesn't have to be too elaborate for your little one. As mentioned above, there are tons of photos on here, so browse and search and get some nice ideas. Hopefully it'll be something your hubby will be happy to help with.
Does your lovely tort have a name?
Hopefully you'll be feeling less stressed before long and able to feel more confident about looking after your tort and start enjoying all the fun and addictiveness tort husbandry brings. :-)

Hi there Chezza, I have two Tunisian spur thighed torts, that I've not had very long & I was a complete beginner like u. The forum helped massively! I keep both of mine in separate bunk bed type tables in the lounge. It doesn't seem to disturb them when I have the TV on, although I keep it quite quiet, and i use one light which is furthest away from them, so it's not to bright. They get up and go to sleep around the same time every day, I keep the temperature around 18 degrees at night when their lights are out. It would just depend on how much room u have & how noises it would be in ur house i.e. Kids etc.

Yes, bring his table into the house, but as the weather gets warmer, he should be able to go outside more and more. So get started on an outside enclosure, it great fun to create an outside habitat.

Welcome to the forum. I will leave the experts to advise as you can see I have horsfields.

Lots of good advice here for you.

If you could manage to post a picture of your tortoise, we could ID the actual species. As graecas are broken into a few subspecies. Some hibernate some dont:0)