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Old 29-12-2013, 12:07 AM   #1
miranda200784
Junior Member
Egg
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 3
Default Horsfield newbie

Hi all, last week our long awaited (ordered in August) much researched tortoise Gil arrived, complete with a setup from happytortoisehabitat. He is about 1.5 inches from snout to tail. He is housed in an indoor wooden tort table 3foot by 3 foot, with a hide at one end. His substrate is currently wood chip and hay as this arrived with his set up, but I will change this to 8 cm deep 50:50 topsoil and playsand in the new year. I have fed him a variety of things: dandelion leaves, fuschia, rocket, forget me not, lambs lettuce, clover and pansy petals, dusted with Nutrobal,and I give him enough to cover his shell. he also has a cuttlefish in his table. I bought the shelled warriors winter seed mix and planted that a few weeks back but no edible growth as yet (its harsh weather in Yorkshire!). The setup arrived with what I believe to be an incandescent basking lamp, so I purchased an exp terra 26w repti glow 2.0 to give him some full spectrum lighting, but unsure if this will be enough. He has access to a shallow water dish and has a warm soak every other day . Much of the info I read is coherent, however when it comes to lighting I'm a bit confused. I was considering MVB but I've seen on this forum they aren't the best option, and that strip lights are better, but after keeping other reptiles (ratsnake, water dragon, skunk and ball python) I find they degenerate quickly.
Also his habitat looks a bit bare, what do people think of planting a small plant in, could he overeat or would it raise humidity as it would need to be watered, or rot the untreated wood? Current temp under basking lamp is around 26. this is on a 12 hour timer. Nightime temp is rooom temp, around 15-18. In short, am I doing it right so far?! Many thanks in advance for your reply
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