Newbie to tortoises!

[Clearest]

I have recently had a tortoise table made for me (have a feeling its plywood, but definitely know it doesnt have chemicals in etc), measurements are 25" x 19", and upwards 9.5". Then I have a hide out inside it, taking up about a quarter of this box. thinking of getting a small (baby i presume) Russian tortoise as they are beginner tortoises. And thinking of getting a Arcadia D3 UV and basking light combined (hope iv got this right) the placing this at the opposite end of the hide out. Where is best to place to lamp, far end in a corner? And also what substrate should I use, 50/50 sand and soil? And what types etc. I hardly know anything about this kind of thing other than research I've been doing over the past week. And also, is it correct to feed them Romanian lettuce with carrots etc scattered with some calcium powder? What does everyone normally feed their tortoise each day? What types of weeds and flowers? Sorry if i sound a bit dumb as I dont know a lot about these, but any tips welcome haha

[Clearest]

And can I use 50/50 sand and topsoil?

[Suze65]

Hi there, 25 x 19 will do for now if your getting a hatchling, but it won't last long. If it's a wood table you will need to varnish it and then line it with pond liner. For substrate just use sterilised top soil or coco coir or mix the two, but no sand as this can irritate eyes. For a hatchling make the substrate about 3 inches deep so the tort can bury down, the substrate will need to be kept damp, not wet. For the basking spot, and ordinary household bulb will be fine 70/100 w, and then an Arcadia uv strip bulb 12%, this will flood the table with light.

[Suze65]

Feeding, weeds and flowers are best, but over the winter these can be in short supply, so you can feed salad leaves such as crispy florette , romain , rocket, curly kale once or twice a week, there are some weeds about if you go hunting, winter pansies. For more info go to the tortoise table website. Your tortoise will need limestone flour on the food every day and nutrobal 3 times a week. I would also recommend adding some pre Alpin , this is dried weeds and flowers made into a cob or loose, soak it and add to food, you can get this From Tortoiselady.co.uk .

[Clearest]

Thanks, does it have to be pond liner, could it be something like newspaper or is pond liner a must?

[Suze65]

You need a plastic lining to your wooden tortoise table cos your going to add moist soil for substrate and this will rot the wood and news paper would go soggy, so it needs to be lined with plastic, for small torts you can use an indoor rabbit cage, as this has a plastic tray and will be fine with damp soil in it.

[alley cat]

I used a piece of lino that I had already to line mine and I have heard of others using the stick on floor tiles.

[neil1973]

As others have suggested weeds and flowers rather than salad is a much better diet.

Something I have used for sealing wood for tortoise tables is 2 part epoxy paint used for sealing fish ponds. It's hard, waterproof, non toxic and comes in different colours. You would want to use 2 or 3 coats but even a small tin would be more than enough for you and would leave some left over for when you need to build a bigger enclosure.