Newbie Help New Tortoise Vivarium or Table

[d4funky1]

Hi,

We are about to buy our daughter a Horsfield (18 months) for her birthday.

We would like her to enjoy it all year round and have come to the decision not to hibernate it if possible.

Having visited many pet shops they have told us that a vivarium would be the best option as it is easier to keep to the right temperature during the winter.

Having browsed online people are under the impression that glass would not be best for the tortoise and stress it out?

We would like our daughter to be able to see it however as she is wheelchair bound.

Wondered if anyone could offer any suggestions that would put us on the right track?

So far we have been advised:

Vivarium
Lamp & Bulb
Heat Mat
Wood Chips
Feed and Bathing trays
Food
Calcium
Log Hide

Including the tortoise a price of £250

I look forward to hearing from you.

Many thanks
D4

[Suze65]

Hi and welcome, are planning on buying the tortoise from a pet shop, if so be very careful. Many pet shop tortoises are imported, while this is perfectly legal, ask your self do you want a tortoise that has been through the stress of being imported. There are many excellent private breeders here in the uk, many on forums like this.

Viv or tortoise table, depends on how warm your house is over the winter. If you are using a tortoise table, you will need to keep the room temp at about 22c in the day and night time temps about 17/18c. Wood chip is a big no no for any tort, top soil is best from any store like home base , B&Q , etc . All torts like to scratch or dig, Horsfields especially love to dig deep and bury themselves.
You will need a basking bulb and a uv bulb, or a combined bulb. Water dish, eating slate, a hide. That's the basics.
Food, weeds and flower are best, you can mix in some salad leaves like florett,
And lastly calcium powder and nutrobal or similar. Good luck.

Remember pet shops want to sell you stuff, you don't need a log hide, you can use half a plant pot on its side.

[Catwoman63]

Hello and welcome, I know some owners keep their torts in vivs, and I think over winter if your house gets cold it might be a good idea and you can open the glass doors a little each end for air circulation (but not enough for the tortoise to get out, I have never used heat mats, as they are warmed up with the basking heat bulb (I keep the basking area temps between 32-34c and cool end between 22-24c ) I don't use wood chips for my horsfields, as they like to dig so sterilised top soil is the way to go, they also need a humidity between 40-60% and with wood chips you won't be able to achieve this successfully. Have you not thought of buying your tortoise from a breeder? This way you know where the tortoise has come from as quite often buying one from a pet shop they could have an underlying illness or riddled with worms.

Anything else you want advice on then members on here will be happy to help x

[Catwoman63]

Originally Posted by mediterraneansuze

Hi and welcome, are planning on buying the tortoise from a pet shop, if so be very careful. Many pet shop tortoises are imported, while this is perfectly legal, ask your self do you want a tortoise that has been through the stress of being imported. There are many excellent private breeders here in the uk, many on forums like this.

Viv or tortoise table, depends on how warm your house is over the winter. If you are using a tortoise table, you will need to keep the room temp at about 22c in the day and night time temps about 17/18c. Wood chip is a big no no for any tort, top soil is best from any store like home base , B&Q , etc . All torts like to scratch or dig, Horsfields especially love to dig deep and bury themselves.
You will need a basking bulb and a uv bulb, or a combined bulb. Water dish, eating slate, a hide. That's the basics.
Food, weeds and flower are best, you can mix in some salad leaves like florett,
And lastly calcium powder and nutrobal or similar. Good luck.

Remember pet shops want to sell you stuff, you don't need a log hide, you can use half a plant pot on its side.

SNAP x

[Suze65]

Originally Posted by Catwoman63

SNAP x

High five Bev

[Catwoman63]

We must have been typing our replies at the same time x

[Suze65]

Great minds

[Catwoman63]

......think alike x

[jumblebee]

Hi! I'm a newbie as well but thought I could offer a few thoughts

If you decide that your house is warm enough overnight for a table instead of vivarium, then I have one of these for my horsfield hatchling: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

could you maybe build a base for it that is sturdy enough to hold the weight (it's quite heavy with a layer of top soil) but has enough space for your daughter to get close in her wheelchair? Maybe a bookcase either side and a piece of Mdf across them for the enclosure to sit on?

That enclosure is only really suitable for a very young tortoise though, a larger tortoise will need much more space than that.
* Edit - Just spotted that you said you were looking at 18 month old Horsfields, If you do get an 18 month Horsfield I'd definitely suggest a bigger enclosure than the one linked above for long term suitability, I intend to have upgraded by the time my tortoise is about that age but perhaps you could use the same principle as above with a larger enclosure? Just add some additional support for the extra weight.

I also wanted to add to what Suze said about not needing log hide etc. "Cheap" accessories that I have are:

water dish = flower pot saucer - less than a quid from garden centre
feeding dish = piece of slate that I may or may not have found while walking the dog in the countryside...
food = weeds from the garden and started growing some from seeds - maybe a nice extra project for your daughter?

You also don't need a heat mat as they get their heat from the basking lamp.

Hope that helps a little - this forum is a great resource for newbies, it's been incredibly helpful to me and I'm sure it will be for you too