Hey all,

I am getting my Tort on Sunday and am so excited. I have set up 'his' home (he is 1 years old) and just wanted advice on basking and uv lighting. I am panicking about these as I am a newbie to this. I have my lights and have bought a digital thermometer and just wanted to know the best temperatures for a Horsfield. How long do I leave both lights on for? Do I turn both lights off? How often do I need to bathe him?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Lou

Hi Lou and Congrats on your pending new addition, It is an exciting time, I know :) I got my Teddy(Horsfield) in Nov and I was very excited :)
What lights do you have? Uv and Heat?

I have the combined bulb which is heat and uv in one bulb! I turn mine on by timer at 7am till 4pm.I aim for 32c, no more than 35c. There are times when the room warms up so therefore makes the temps inside enclosure hotter.

What sort of set up have you got for your little one?

Bathing in warm water everyday for 10-20 mins, so they can soak up some water and have a drink. They must have access to water to prevent Dehydrating :)
In the Tortoise section on the left you will find caresheets, choose Russian/Horsfield.
Your tort will need a hot end and a cooler end. HTH CLaire&Teddy

Thanks Claire,

I currently have a UV and heat light. I wanted to get a timer for it, but the set up came ready made and I don't know how to get that option. The problem that I am having now is that the heat light gets very hot at the right temp but the other end is quite warm as well. I can't cool it down,

I have the bath ready and waiting, i bought a bath bowl to come out and play in but also have a water bowl for the housing unit.

All my caresheets are ready, printed and good to go, just need to try and sought out the lighting problem.

Thanks

Hi Lou

I see you are using a Viv, mmmm...What tort you got? Here we don not recommend the use of vivs for med torts. Redfoots and the likes maybe. You will not have a cooler end using a viv im afraid. What is recommended for torts is a very large rabbit cage, these provide the right amount of ventilation. torts do not like the glass, it stresses them out. Vivs do not have lots of space either. What temps are you getting in the hot end and the other end? Claire

Just one other thing Lou, The combined bulb does get very very hot, so in a viv there will be not cooler end for your tort. which means your tort will never be able to escape the heat. I cant remember which specie of tort you have.

Hi Lou, I agree with all Claire says, vivs are death traps for torts, as you say yourself the lamp gets too hot and there is no cool end for the torts to escape to, torts need to be able to thermoregulate their own temperature. 

If you cannot take the viv back and swap it for a large indoor rabbit cage or tortoise table, the best thing you can do as a temporary measure is to turn the viv on its back, take out the glass and suspend the lamp from the top, higher or lower it til you reach the right basking temperature.

Please let us know how you get on, remember we are here to help you and your new baby tort.

Regards Vivienne

Thanks all,

I thought this would be the case but the shop were advising me completly different!!, I am getting the Horsfield on Sunday. The tort and the Vivarium costed me £355 and am so angry now as the shop wont let me change it.

The temp I am getting is 28 degrees throughout - very worried now.

The problem that I have is that everything in the viv is screwed into place and was like that when I got it, I can't adjust the fittings as the bulb & heat light are screwed in and if I put it upside down the air vents will be covered.

This was a present for me and my son as our birthday is this sunday.

Help!

Hi Lou

Im afraid I have learnt over the last 6 months if not longer that these shops will recommend whatever just to "sell". When youre new and inexperienced you trust everything they tell you. You were not to know.
If you havent used the Vivarium, You do have Rights as a customer to return an item unused with its original packaging. I work in retail and know exactly how it works! They are trying it on! I advise you to advise them you have rights to return your item with the 28 or 14 day policy. You are not happy with your item and so therefore you are requesting your FULL refund.Please PM me where you purchased. I have been in retail for over 6years now and know that these shops will try it on.
you can get the large Rabbit enclosure for as little as £40, then you will need a lamp(s) for UV and Heat(A normal 60w bulb) or the combined bulb from Kimbos Reptiles.
What else did the shop sell you? Alot of the time they tell you to buy what you do not need. do not fret, this can be turned around into a positive :) Remember YOU have rights as a customer to return your goods providing they are in a re sellable condition.
HTH Claire

Hi Lou,

As Claire has said I would push for them to take the Viv back. Only last year there was a court case where a pet shop had to refund the money paid for a vivarium as it was unsuitable accommodation for a tortoise.

The tortoise nearly died of pneumonia and we rehomed him in the end.

HTH
Darren

Hi Lou

Can you not use the Table that you posted in your other thread( Newbie needing help).

With a little bit of tweeking the table in posted will be sooo much better for

your new baby.

The table pictures you posted would have been great, maybe just changing the bark/chippings for topsoil /sand

Deb

Hi

I've just had the same problem.  I've paid £505 for 2 hermans tortoise and a vivarium.

I'm now very worried that i've bought the poor things a death trap.  Do you think it would be ok if i removed the glass and replace this with two cage doors (similar to a rabbit hutch).

Also are wood chippings not a good idea becuase i've also bought a huge sack of this.

I don't really want to spend a fortune buying them a new home as i can't return the vivarium as it's been used.

Also how long do i leave the uv lamp on as i've heard leaving them on too long can weaken there shells.

I can't believe these people are allowed to sell animals.

Any help would be greatly appreaciated.

Thanks Shell

Hi Shell, to the site.

We here this story so many times, these pet dealers can get just as much money from you for the viv thats why they push them.

You could turn the viv on its back and take the glass out so its like a large box, the only problem is, these viv's dont have the floor space that torts need, they are designed for reptiles that climb.  Keep a look out for a large book case that you can lay on its back and take the shelves out, you can usually pick them up cheap or try on freecycle/freegle.  Or a large indoor rabbit cage, take a look at our members enclosures in the photo gallery on the left column.

With the lighting, it needs to be on about 8-10 hours, turn all lights off at night.

regards Vivienne

Hi, am new to this site as my son and i have just purchased our horse-field tortoise. I am also worried now as i have read the posts about not recommended for them to live in a vivarium.We have a uv one end and a heat lamp the other. at night the heat gets turned down and the uv goes off. There is some netting at the top of the viv, and where we bought him from he was in a viv. Do you think he will be ok? We really do love him and would nt want any harm to come to him.

Hi - I know this is an old topic but just in case anyone turns it up again..... I am NOT a legal expert but there is a sentence in the return of goods which states that if it was not suitable for the use it was sold for the you are entitled to e refund. I actually think this also applies to USED items within a "reasonable" length of time - I would suspect up to six months would be reasonable with a vivarium.

I was in a very well known store chain in Stockport just yesterday - the salesperson was selling a heat mat to a new tortoise owner. I had only rescued my first tortoise that very day - but had read up on the keeping. I intervened and warned them that a heat mat could malfunction resulting in a baked tortoise. They listened to me and the sales person was also interested. It seems he had not had any training in tortoise keeping but was selling the items.

Now I just need to find out what tortoise type I have rescued!!!!!

I got a tortoise table 3ft by 2ft, bought for £40 with enclosure sleeping area and use a mix of topsoil and sand. 60watt basking bulb and 10% uvb bulb on the right hand side of the table keeping the temp around 30 -33 depending on surrounding temps. They love lambs lettuce, cress, rocket and leafy greens.. I have 2 one year old hermann tortoises. I get them outside when its sunny as theres no beating the uv off the sun, they love it.

Hi there i feel your pain,  Pet shops will tell u anything just to sell.  If you cant take it bk do you not have a old book shelf you can turn on its back or even a old coffee table you can convert?  Im new to owning tortoises too but i did loads of research to make sure i give her the best possible home,  i rescued her from a lady who had her living in a drawer with no lights at all so i converted a coffee table for her to live in and she loves it cant upload a pic for some reason

Hello I just got a baby African Spurred Turtoise sulcata and was wondering how the lighting for him works. I have a UV lighting for him day and night because its cold here right now. I only feed him lettuce. But was wondering every how often do I have to feed him. He doesn't want to drink water. Is it enough with the lettuce? I try to help him drink, but he gets wet every once in a while, but won't drink water. Sometimes he just berries his little head in the water. I carry him away immediately don't want him to drown. Is that normal? 

Hiya my 100watt bulb brew this morning that normally provides heat too. I have a 60 watt to replace will my tort be safe it's only temporary the shop won't be open where I get the bulb from for 2 days. The temperature doesn't look to good around 20s. But will she cope with this for 3 days? Sorry I'm just very worried thank you !!! :-) 

hi!

Hey! I work at a vets practice and have taken home with me an abandoned female Herman's, I've done a lot of research and my parents used to keep tortoises so have a good idea of what I'm doing. During the day she has a run outside with a hide and some logs to climb and hide in, a soaking area and some cucumber and kale. at night she goes into our summer house where she has a hide with some soil so bed down into a bathing area, food and a heat lamp, just wanted to check with someone experienced if this is ok so far what I am doing, I'm giving her soaks every other day. should I be keeping the heat lamp on throughout the night? 

Hey! I work at a vets practice and have taken home with me an abandoned female Herman's, I've done a lot of research and my parents used to keep tortoises so have a good idea of what I'm doing. During the day she has a run outside with a hide and some logs to climb and hide in, a soaking area and some cucumber and kale. at night she goes into our summer house where she has a hide with some soil so bed down into a bathing area, food and a heat lamp, just wanted to check with someone experienced if this is ok so far what I am doing, I'm giving her soaks every other day. should I be keeping the heat lamp on throughout the night?