HI all,

Looking to buy a tortoise and need some advice please.  I have not yet decided what breed to buy.  I would like to have the more hardy breed.  any advice on this.

The big problem I have is deciding on housing.  I will make a suitable table for indoors but having issues with what to do for the out door enclosure.

Do you need a basking lamp in an outdoor enclosure if the weather is not to great.   can anyone supply links to the correct UVB/Basking lamp and ceramic holder to buy.

 I have had a look on the internet and found the following which I may buy as I think I could quite easily make this larger as the tortoise grows.  comments would be great.

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9546506&fh_view_size=150&fh_start_index=0&fh_eds=%3f&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB%2fcategories%3c%7b9372012%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b9372083%7d&fh_search=pet+buildings&fh_refview=search&ts=1241470122423&isSearch=false

Want to get everyting in place before I buy.  I have seen tortoises in pet shops.  All in vivs.  I have down loaded your breeders list and I will use this.  Its great that people who care like your selves have web sites like this to get the right information.

Thanks

Dibbs

Hi Dibbs,

First of all, it is great that you are doing your research before you get your tortoise (so many don't and end up with problems and vet bills)!

Regarding the species.  Have a look at our care sheets (click on The Tortoise in the left-hand column, then on Care Sheets, and then on the species you want).  I would check out care sheets for Hermanns, Horsfields, and Ibera, as they are the three most commonly kept species and all do well in this country.  You could also download the TLady booklet, as this provides good general advice too: http://www.tlady.clara.net/TortGuide/index.htm 

You don't have to have a UVB light outdoors, but you might want some way to warm your tortoise up on cold mornings, or when the weather is not good, so you can either bring her into her table to warm up, or fit a ceramic heat emitter or light bulb into her outdoor enclosure.  Indoors you can use either a fluorescent UVB tube (Reptisun 10.0 is the best) plus an ordinary 60W or 100W household spotlight for basking, or the combined mercury vapour UVB/heat lamps, which are all in one.  Check out Kimbos for good equipment: http://www.kimbosreptileworld.co.uk/ 

That little outdoor set-up is nice, but incredibly expensive, and not very big!  Tortoises need a surprising amount of space to be happy and explore. You could easily make something yourself much more cheaply.  You can get a little hutch like the one shown there at most pet shops/garden centres and then make a frame yourself -- or just build a wall around it with log roll or bricks and put chicken wire on top.  The photo shows the enclosure on grass (which can be too damp for most mediterranean tortoises), so you will want to put it on bare soil, and then plant some safe plants in there for him, and put some rocks in to break up the sightlines.  The other problem with the pen in the photo is that you would need to cover the bottom few inches all around the perimeter with boards or something so that the tortoise can't see out (they get very frustrated if they can see through something but can't get through it).

Hope this helps, and please do ask more questions when you have them.  It sounds like you are doing great, and will provide an excellent home for your tortoise (and getting one from a breeder is definitely the right thing to do)!

Nina 

Hi Dibbs

Nina has given you great advice  if you have a look in the photo gallery, you will see some examples of outdoor enclosures, to give you some ideas.  If you can add a small coldframe or mini poly tunnel, that will be much appreciated by your tortoise.  Even on a coolish day if there is a little sun, the temperature in the coldframe will be several degrees warmer than outside.

all the best

Arlene TPG

thanks for taking the time to reply.  May have some more questions.  just need to pursuede the wife to give up some of the garden lol!!

And just wait until she hears that in the part of the garden you want her to give up, you are going to be growing weeds !  Don't worry, tortoises are addictive, and not long after you get yours, she'll be trying to persuade you to get more . Don't be shy in asking more questions -- that's what we're here for!

Nina

Hi Dibbs!  I only know anything about Hermanns - they are one of the hardier species.  They don't like it wet and cold at the same time, but they can cope with either on its own (up to a point).

For outdoors use I suggest you consider a coldframe as part of your enclosure.  These help the tortoise get warmed up and are a refuge on cloudy cool days.  The Hen House would be good in some ways, you've got a dry area there, and its secure.  If you get one of those I'd suggest you don't sit it on grasss though, which gets cold and wet.  I would clear an area and have some bare soil and some suitable plants. You need good drainage for the soil they sit on.  If you are confident about extending the secure area for the Hen House, then probably you can make a suitable enclosure yourself.  

thanks for the tips.  do you know where I can get a coldframe from??  do you have any links. 

going to look for materials for an indoor table this afternoon.

Hi Dibbs

You can get a cold frame from garden centres, and also the garden section of places like B&Q, Homebase etc - all you would need to do is to cut an opening in the short end to let the tortoise move in and out freely.  Alternatively, if you have a sheet of perspex or similar, you can build a 3 sided frame of bricks or breeze blocks, and use the perspex as a roof - you would just need to anchor it down to stop it flying off on a windy day!

all the best

Arlene TPG