hi,im new to this site and wanted to know a few things,first off i have a hermanns tortoise which is currently in a viv,i will be changing to a table or similar though after reading about vivs,my current set up includes a uv strip light,spot bulb and a heat mat,my question is does the tort need the ehat mat as this is what was recommended but im not so sure,my tort is constantly scraping at the sides of the viv and i have a gut feeling that it is not at all happy and also keeps digging the mat up,i hope this makes sense im still relatively new to keeping tortoies so help would be appreciated

Hi Steve,

You're right to think about changing over to a table. Vivariums offer very little temperature gradient, which a tortoise requires to maintain its well-being - there are some photos of tortoise tables here which may help give you a few ideas:-

http://www.tortoise-protection-group.org.uk/site/58.asp

I would dispense with the heat may completely. When you set-uy your table, you really need to site the spot lamp as close to the UVB strip as possible so the tortoise can benefit from the vitamin D3 emitted by the strip lamp whilst bathing.

I tend to use a combined heat/uvb lamp:-

http://www.kimbosreptileworld.co.uk/megaray-120w-self-ballasted-p-145.html

as the UVB is far superior to any of the strip lamps and lasts much longer. The UVB quality in most tubes diminishes quite rapidly.

You might find these care sheets useful:-

http://www.tortoise-protection-group.org.uk/site/88.asp

HTH

Kindest Regards

Darren

hi darren thanks for the advice,i have just taken the mat out completely now,i will have a look at the links you sent,i have an old bookcase which i think im going to use to build the indoor enclosure,also how do you sex the torts??

Hi Steve,

It's very difficult to sex young tortoises, visually impossible when very young. The tails are longer on males, they tend to have a slit running down the tail and the plastron (underside) is more concave than the flatter females.

How old isyour tortoise Steve?

Cheers
Darren

i think its around 5 years old,the underneath is fairly flat with not much curve,and it has a long tail that curls to the side if that helps

Hiya,

It's difficult to say without photos. If you have any we could always take a look

ill see if i can upload some in a few days if my camera behaves itself