Hi - Newbie here

[fairywings75781]

Hi All

My name is Tania and I have recently (last week) acquired a young (approx 1 year old) Horsfield Tortoise. We believe it's a female and I have called her Esme.

I found her on a Facebook selling page. I have been been interested in having a tortoise for sometime after having one as a child. I was told she came with everything she would need. When I collected her she had a dog chewed "table", a bag of soil from the garden (I know this because the man told me he dug it up from there), a normal desk with a normal bulb in it. The seller told me she did not need a special lamp. The seller did not give me any food for her as he had run out of salad. I realise that this is probably not the ideal scenario for buying a tortoise but I am determined to provide her with the best home possible. For the first few days we kept her in an old, empty drawer still using the desk lamp while I researched and ordered the necessary equipment.
At the weekend we moved her in to her new indoor home and all has gone well apart from a problem with the new lamp bulb. I ordered this one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
but basically it keeps going out, flickering and buzzing. Amazon are refunding me and I have now ordered this one instead:
http://www.bluelizardreptiles.co.uk/...s/844046003850

This is Esme in her temporary home:


and now in her new home:


A couple more pics of her:



I have been reading about pyramiding - do you think she has this?

I am in the process of now growing weeds for her and also gathering materials for an outside habitat for her as well. So far I have purchased some border logs and a cold frame the same as this:

Will she be ok in the garden enclosure without an electric heating source? I was planning on bringing her in at night.

Please feel free to give me any advice or remarks on my plans.
Thanks
Tania x

[houseofcutler]

Hi There and welcome,

Esme looks very cute although a little undernourished. This would probably have something to do with how the previous owner kept her.

Your new table looks good and the Arcadia bulb should provide the D3 that she has been missing out on. You should try to ensure that the basking area of the table is kept at about 34 degrees and the cool end of the table is 20 Degrees.

You may need an additional halogen bulb just to provide a heat source to supplement the Arcadia bulb.

Re: Food - I get all of my information from here: http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/
You can filter to all the stuff that is safe to feed. This will tell you what weeds you can go out and pick and suggest things you can grow.

If you a building an outdoor run, there are a lot of ways to go about this. Personally I don't have one as my garden isn't big enough. Essentially something similar to a raised bed will provide an area for you to put them outside for a bit. However you may want to consider whether or not you need to cover this to protect Esme if you are not going to be there watching.

If you look in the housing thread page you can find other peoples posts to see what they have done. There is also an outdoor run photos thread that may give you some ideas.

Anyway - I hope this bit of information will help to start you off. If you explore the forum there is loads of information and photos and you can always post new questions for things you cant find.

Have fun...

[becciwales]

Hi and welcome, you've come to the right place to get good advice!!

She's very cute.

I agree with the above reply.

I don't have an outdoor run yet as mine are still small, but I'll be making one soon.
I use a halogen bulb for my basking spot and have a UV tube light as the combined bulb I bought blew quickly twice so I wanted something different.

Do you have any supplements? I use nutrobal as a multi vitamin and limestone flour for calcium on alternate days. I also have a cuttle fish bone to help keep the beak trim send a source of calcium.

Your enclosure is looking good

[fairywings75781]

Hi

Thank you for your replies. I am concerned that it was said that she is looking undernourished. How is that recognized in a tortoise? She is eating well, I have been giving her florette salad in the mornings and weeds in the afternoon. I have also been adding a supplement powder. I have not seen her drink anything yet, although I have been bathing her a couple of times a week.
I had been maintaining her basking area at around 30 degrees, so will look at lowering the lamp a little.

[BeatBeat]

What a little sweetheart and I love her name. The picture of her looking at you whilst easing is adorable. How lucky she is to have found you. Good luck. This is a brill forum for finding out things. Very supportive and informative people here.

[Suze65]

Hi Tania,and welcome, you've come to the right place. Sounds like she's been lucky finding you, doesn't sound like the previous owner was ideal.
She does have quite a bit of pyramiding for such a young tort, poor hydration is the main reason for this. It might ease out a little as she grows but I think not a lot. The main thing now is good diet, supplements , and hydration ( baths 2/3 times a week ) available water and keep the soil slight damp ( not wet ) .
Good luck

[sandy]

Certainly does not look undernourished to me:0)
The previous keeper, certainly did not do a lot of research on how to keep tortoises. As your tortoise has quite high pyramided scutes.
Hopefully as you are asking the right questions, your tortoises shell and health will improve immensely.
Just remember the only silly question is the one not asked:0)

[fairywings75781]

We have now had Esme for a couple of weeks. She seems to do doing well. Last weekend we completed her outdoor enclosure. Hope you like it. So far she only spend Sunday outside as it with lovely weather but hoping she will start to get a bit more use out of it when it warms up a bit more.

[lonelylayla]

Wow - that looks great Esme is a lucky girl she's certainly got lots of different textures to travel over. Could add a piece of slate perhaps on the floor, it's such fun tortoise gardening

[Suze65]

Tania that absolutely fantastic, I think she will be very happy in there, but I would put a mesh top over it as she is still so small.
As Lynne , tortoise gardening is such fun. Well done