Need Help

[newby]

Hi all

I hope you can help. We (dh) bought 2 Horsfield tortoises from a local pet shop along with a vivarium (which they grew out of so have now got a huge vivarium), and have been following the care sheet we (he) was given. Anyway since reading on another forum that tortoises are not meant to be kept in vivariums I have been doing a bit of research and the care sheet we have is rubbish!! Therefore I am after some advice.

Firstly what do I need to do to the vivarium so that it is suitable. It has a heat mat and a uv light. There is a cave for them to go in as well as wood and a rock thing for them to climb on. Should I just take off the doors and put a mesh up to stop them coming out? Also the floor of it is like wood bits and white stuff that says it doesnt have to be cleaned out for 6 months? Is this right? I do spot clean it every day and they are totally cleaned out every month.

Secondly the care sheet told us what tortoise food to buy so they get a small bowl of that every day along with fresh food. It says to give them a mixture of spinach, watercress and rocket. I didnt think this much so did look into it at the time and also feed them romaine lettuce, dandilion leaves and have bought mixed seeds to grow (total disaster but will be trying again shortly) and pansys to grow for them and I will be trying to grow alot more. Should I just try to give them my own grown stuff (when its grown) or mix it with the shop bought stuff?

Help!!! I know we (he) should have looked into this properly but he believed what he was told when he bought them so please please dont shout at me, I am finding out now everything I need to know so they are properly cared for. I have grown very fond of them hate to think we have not been giving them all the care we should have.

Thanks for any replies.

[alotoffluff]

Hiya!!!!
Firstly, if you have to have a viv, can you take the glass out, as they dont have very good air flow, and you cant get good temps with the hot/cool ends.
The heat mat is unnecessary - especially at this time of year and they produce too much heat.
You should spot clean weekly and maybe do a good thorough clean every 4-6 weeks.
The best thing to feed your tort is weeds, do you have areas where you can go weed picking around you?
There will be lots of other people to help out with this but i have just raised a few points. Hope this helps.

[alotoffluff]

sorry meant to say, spot clean daily!!! DOH!!!!! LOL

[alotoffluff]

Hiya, me again, do you have nutrobal and limestone flour for your tortie also? x

[newby]

Hi
Thanks for replying so quick. What can I replace the glass with? I see them popping up looking out the glass quite alot so am sure they would get out with out it. I do have a large indoor rabbit cage, would that be more suitable?

So they dont need the heat mat at all? Dh bought a new super duper one when he got the bigger vivarium and its on all the time as he was told. Can I just turn it off without upsetting them? Should it go on in winter during the day only?

Nowhere to pick weeds round here except a few in the garden which is why I want to try growing them again. The mixed seeds I have are weeds so will plant them again shortly.

Thanks again. I now see why he shouldnt have bought them from a pet shop!!!

[newby]

Hi

I will keep spot cleaning them daily at least we got that right.

We do have powder to put on the leaves for them. Its T-Rex tortoise dust which again is what the shop recommended.

Thanks

[anna5471]

hi hun dont beat yourself up i too bought a viv for my first torts its the commonest mistake made. my hubby easily turned our viv into a table by removing the glass doors and with a jigsaw cutting away the front and top leaving a 6x6inch square in the top corner for me to fasten my heat source too. also u can remove the heatmat totally hun its unnecessary i think u will find everyone on here turns uv and heat sources off at night and allows torts to cool down as the would naturally and then turn heat back on in morning torts will come out and warm up when they are ready . If u go onto the housing bit on here there are some pics of how to turn a viv into a table with no trouble at all. if u are struggling for weeds do wot i do n ask my neighbours lol u could be surprised they might say yes at u offering to weed the garden for them x hope this helps a bit

[anna5471]

sorry me again check out the housing bit as alot of people use indoor rabbit cages and there are pics of those too so u should b able to set them up in a jiffy whichever way u decide to do it x

[newby]

Hi
Thanks for replying. What heat source do you use? Is the uv light enough. That does get turned off at night. I would rather keep the vivarium in some form as it was very expensive and the rabbit cage tends to get used in winter for the rabbit although that is probably me being too soft!

Not sure about the neighbours weeks though. Good idea but at present we have a problem with stagnant water in the gardens which seems to be killing the grass and plants so was planning on growing stuff in pots for now.

Will check out the housing bit now. Thanks again.

[dolittle]

hi ya, when i first got my tort i had a viv and whilst waiting to get a tortoise table i took the glass out and i had some spare wood from doing the decking so i cut a strip of that and put it on the front just on the inside. it was high enough that they could not get out but also allowed air flow. hope that helps.