New spur thighed owner!

[kcareyw]

Hi I'm new on here. After a lot of careful consideration we have decided to get our first tortoise. We settled on a spur thighed tortoise. We will be getting it on Thursday this week.
We have read a lot of books and Internet information and feel ready for our new arrival, but then came across this forum.
Was just wondering if any other spur thighed owners could give me some advice as a lot of information I have read has been conflicting.
I would just like some advice from more experienced owners on best diet to provide, do you bath your tortoise daily, where you keep it and how old it is.
Any other advice you think would be useful will also be appreciated!
Thanks - Kathy

[TortBabe]

Hello and welcome Kathy I have 8 Spur-thighs (2 Iberas and 6 Tunisians) they are lovely tortoises to keep. I have some of mine in large guinea pig cages or on tortoise tables. I bath my tortoises at least every other day. I use Arcadia UVB/Heat lamps. For lots of advise on what to feed check out this site http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/s...19.asp?mode=az
I use plain sterilised topsoil in my tables, available from homebase or b & q
Feel free to ask any questions there is always someone on that can help.

[SeeShell]

I too keep iberas and a tunisian spur. They are great torts; full of charachter.

I tend to bath mine pretty much every day ; especially when they are very young; just to keep them nice and hydrated and to prompt the passing of urates / stools.

Heat / light-wise I use a combined bulb; some are solarglo; some are megaray and some are arcadia. Wattage will depend on the size of your enclosure.

Substrate is 100% sterilised top soil.

Diet is 100% weeds and flowers (at least over spring / summer / autumn). This is supplemented by nutrabol and limestone flour. There's lots of good info out there on edible weeds - see the site Tortbabe recommends. It's a good idea to feed on e.g a bit of slate as this keeps their beak nice and trim.

Indoor set up is a tort table. Outdoor set up is an enclosure covered with chicken wire. They should be out on nice sunny days but you should ensure they can't be gotten at by e.g birds / foxes etc. There's some great threads on this site showing peoples' indoor / outdoor set ups - see under the housing section.

Hope the above helps and welcome to SW! Feel free to ask any questions you like.

You'll love having your tort!

SS

[jeannette37]

Hi and welcome to SW there are some brilliant memberd on here ready to give you excellent advice,you can also type into the search area what you want to ask and it will bring up other threads/posts,I have to Iberas and I have learnt so much off this site,I did originally have mine on 50% top soil & 50% playsand but that irritated the ones eyes,looking forward to pictures

[emma_mcraf]

Hi and welcome to SW!

[yuna1971]

I own 1 Ibera.... His name is Lily..

See below: this should show you what fantastic personalities they have.

http://www.shelledwarriors.co.uk/for...ad.php?t=35621

Have fun. xx

[clanks76]

Hi Kathy

i've got 2 spur thighs and they're great, my house and bathing is the same as tortbabes.

as the others have said, any questions just ask. x

[kcareyw]

Thanks for all your helpful comments. I feel really good knowing I have found somewhere to get great advice and meet other owners.
We pick up our new family member on Thursday and he has been christened Tuffy by my daughter. I will post some pics soon.
Thanks again everyone and feel free to keep the advice comming!

[and1ek]

You will absolutely love your new member of the family! Tortoises are full of character. You will find this forum very helpful, it's great and the members are so nice

[EJ]

With temperature and water you want to give the tortoise as much choice as possible. Water should be available at all times but soak it until you know it is drinking. Temperature... 75F for a cool end and 85 or 90F for a warm end.

For diet I always suggest a good complet pelleted diet and dark leafy greens until you learn more about and what is good for your tortoise and not. It's really easy to mess up with a plant based diet if you can't offer the correct plants or a large enough variety to hit all the nutritional bases.

How old and big is the tortoise? You might want to invest in a viv for the winter although a tortoise table would be fine. Try and get a table with high sides so you can cover it in the winter when it gets cooler.

Originally Posted by kcareyw

Hi I'm new on here. After a lot of careful consideration we have decided to get our first tortoise. We settled on a spur thighed tortoise. We will be getting it on Thursday this week.
We have read a lot of books and Internet information and feel ready for our new arrival, but then came across this forum.
Was just wondering if any other spur thighed owners could give me some advice as a lot of information I have read has been conflicting.
I would just like some advice from more experienced owners on best diet to provide, do you bath your tortoise daily, where you keep it and how old it is.
Any other advice you think would be useful will also be appreciated!
Thanks - Kathy