Housing for a Horsefield Tortoise..
 

Helloo :-P
I'm thinking about buying a Horsefield Tortoise and I would like to know a bit more about what to keep it in. I've heard vivariums aren't good for tortoises, so I may get a Tortoise Table, but i'm not sure how big i'll need it, and what lamps i'll need? Also, what other essentials are needed for keeping it in a table?

Thankyou :D

I have a 2 year old horsefield and when indoors she is kept in a tortoise table. Mine is 4.5 foot x 2.5 foot- but the size you need depends on the size of the tortoise you are wanting to get. For a substrate I use top soil from b&q as horsfields love to dig around in it and I have found it to be the best option.

You need to provide heat and UVB. This can either be achieved by using a combined bulb- like this one I use arcadia 160. This provides both heat and UV. Or you can use a UVB tube and a normal basking lamp. You want a good temperature gradient going from around 20 degrees celsius to 34-36 in the hottest area (or the basking spot). To monitor this you will need a reliable digital thermometer. Now it is a bit colder I also have a ceramic heat emitter on a thermostat to ensure the night time temps don't drop too low.

A large shallow water bowl should be in there too so they can soak or have a drink when they want. And its a good idea to use a piece of slate or something similar to feed your tortoise n to prevent them ingesting substrate. Also having cuttlefish bone in there is a good idea as they can get added calcium from it when they want and it will help keep their beaks down.

Sound advice from Noodle.
I have large pebbles and some rocks, a paving brick and a couple of broken pots. The pots provide hides for the tort to sleep in and the other bits something to climb and explore.
You can also plant some bits in soil - i currently have aloe vera, sedum and some weed seedlings from the garden.
Take a look at the housing section on here to get some ideas of different set-ups.
Food should be mainly weed based but can be supplemented with tortoise pellets or supermarket greens - look at the diet section here, and tortoisetable website has a comprehensive list of food to feed your tort.

Thankyou for the advice guys, it was very helpful, and now i'm more confident in getting a tortoise ! :grin:

Hi there, are you getting a hatchling horsefield?? If you are - all of the housing suggestions are fine as mentioned above. I would say to be careful with the water bowl if its a young hatchling. You may want to put either small stones/crushed oystershell (sold in the SW shop here) inside the bowl so as he cannot have any accidents. Keep it shallow - depending on his size.
In fact if he is a hatchling and a very small size, it might be best to bathe him yourself until he grows a bit. Just in case.
Horsefields do like a deep substrate and a soil substrate as Noodle says is ideal for them. You will need to keep the table as a whole pretty warm for them, they dont react well to cold/damp soil. So your lighting and heat will be a key factor. The bulb Noodle mentioned is a combined UV and heat bulb. This will be fine. The wattage of the bulb as there is a 100w and a 160w may largely depend on the size of table you get..which would depend on the size/age tort that you get.
We can go into basking/ambient room temps/cool temps once the table is bought. The larger the tortoise, the larger your table will need to be - and knock on impact - the greater the area to keep warm. A digital thermometer is also a must.
Have a look in the indoor enclosure pictures on the forum - to help with ideas on the types of enclosures you can get. And what you can put inside them.
Im sure more advice to follow. See what comes back. Good Luck xx:)

Hi and welcome where about are you as i have a spare male i could sell if you are interested:-)

Thankyou for the information Yuna it was very helpful(: & I don't think i'll be buying until around August time, sorry Turnip!
(:

If your still looking for a table later in the year take a look at my site as it may be of use to you or contact me if there is something your after but cant see .

Stuart

http://secretgardenwoodcraft.com

Tortoise tables/lodges/hibernation boxes etc