My Viv experience so far

[pagan queen]

I thought I would give an update on how my vivs are working out as I have had an enquiry via PM as to how it's going. I wont mention the name of the person in case they don't want the flack from doing things differently.

OK, things are going really well. I thought I would have trouble with them constantly trying to get "through" the glass but I don't. They seem very content to sit under their basking lamps and when warm they start to wander around. I either get them out for a walk about and feed them or I put their food in the viv and they happily munch away. They seem to eat more now and after warming up they are very fast and raring to go.They also poo better. Their poo was soft and not very regular, they both poo every day and it is a nice firm consistency. I used to find, when they were in a enclosure, they would be reluctant to eat on cooler days and were slow and went to bed earlier, even though the temps in their respective enclosures were set correctly.
I find they are behaving in a more "natural" way. They bask in the morning, then they have time away from the light and go into their hides during the "hot afternoon sun" and then come out and bask again later in the day. Though the temps don't change during the day they behave as they would in the wild when temps reach their peak at mid day. They have their food available after their morning bask and eat either before or just after their mid day nap. I have noticed that when I get them out for a wander around the house, Herbie, the adult, will go to his old sleeping spot and bed down for the day after he has had a stroll, when I put him back he will bask again.
On the odd day now, that we have a bit of warm weather I still obviously put them outside and find they both eat better out there too, in fact I saw my adult eating outside for the first time last week. He usually only eats when he comes back in after a bath, on that occasion he started eating as soon as I put him outside so I ran around like a mad person grabbing any weeds I could and threw them in and he ate loads.

I haven't been able to assess the pulse stats yet as it hasn't been cold enough, but I'm sure it wont be long before I can find out how they perform and I will report my findings when they have been put to the test.
So all in all I am very happy with my decision and it has worked better than I expected and much better than the horror stories I have heard about vivs. Please believe me when I say the first sign to the contrary I will rethink the whole thing. My animals are a very important part of my life and I would do nothing to harm them in any way.
I hope you find this informative and helpful for anyone thinking about trying a viv. Please don't be afraid to go ahead if it's what suits you and your animals. As long as it's done with thought and research then there is no reason not to use a viv, in my opinion and others I have spoken to.

[roofee0778]

Thanks - I for one am interested to read how you get on. I do sometimes wonder about a viv for the winter. Hope you keep us updated.

[Gordon]

i use both vivs and tables the only reason for this is that i cant have all my torts indoors when it gets cold so i have built some very large vivs in my old and very cold conservitory there was a lot of thought on how to build the fronts and the thing that everybody says is that torts get stressed because they can see out so my way round this was to put a eight inch high piece of wood across the bottom of the viv at the front and then put the glass on top of that my torts cant see out and seem to enjoy being in them as much as being on tables.

[pagan queen]

Originally Posted by roofee0778

Thanks - I for one am interested to read how you get on. I do sometimes wonder about a viv for the winter. Hope you keep us updated.

I will let you know how it all pans out. The truth acid test will be when the weather really gets cold. I have a thermometer in the conservatory to see how cold it gets in there compared to inside the vivs.

[shelmarie]

i have mine in vivs, during the summer the glass is removed and metal mesh is put in it's place, then during winter i put the glass back in, so far i've had no problems.

(this is an old picture and i no longer use the same substrate ect) I was considering changing them recently but i've thought why change if they seem to be ok how they are.

[pagan queen]

Originally Posted by turnip

I use both vivs and tables the only reason for this is that I cant have all my torts indoors when it gets cold so I have built some very large vivs in my old and very cold conservatory there was a lot of thought on how to build the fronts and the thing that everybody says is that torts get stressed because they can see out so my way round this was to put a eight inch high piece of wood across the bottom of the viv at the front and then put the glass on top of that my torts cant see out and seem to enjoy being in them as much as being on tables.

I was going to spray the bottom section of glass on my vivs but thought I would wait and see how they went. I am glad I did as they are absolutely fine with it. makes me wonder if they are actually trying to get somewhere, maybe a warmer place?

[lynnedit]

I am also very interested, especially in their improved overall behavior, and how it might help them during the cooler months when inside. Keep us posted. Thanks.

[pagan queen]

Originally Posted by shelmarie

i have mine in vivs, during the summer the glass is removed and metal mesh is put in it's place, then during winter i put the glass back in, so far i've had no problems.

(this is an old picture and i no longer use the same substrate ect) I was considering changing them recently but i've thought why change if they seem to be ok how they are.

That's a really good idea, looks good too.