I've just purchased a Horsfield and it looks like I've been wrongly advised on how to keep him (or her). He is around one year old. I was sold a large glass with mesh roof vivarium to house him (which set me back £150). I was told he is from the Savana and does not hibernate. Am I housing him wrong? Also I was told to make a hole in the mesh to feed the wire through and put a lamp inside the viv with a 150w infrared heat glo light bulb up one end of the viv. I'm worried this is not the right kind of light as it doesn't mention if it's a UVA/UVB light and I've read that this is what they need. I am desperate to get a list of what to do to correctly look after my Horsfield, I'm so worried that I'm not caring for him correctly. Also do i turn the light off at night? Should I hibernate him? Please tell me how to care for our new family member. many thanks

Hi and
Unfortunately you have been advised wrongly, but no problem you can start to put that right now. I have put a link for the care sheet on how to look after Horfields, so that will be a start
http://www.tortoise-protection-group.org.uk/site/87.asp

So lets get going on the immediate care. You will need to get S/he into an open top table which for the time being can be an indoor rabbit guinea pig cage/a wooden drawer, and fill it with 50-50 topsoil and playsand, you can buy these from B&Q or any Garden Centre, just make sure you check the topsoil as some can have bits of rubbish in them, I get B&Q's and have not had that problem but I have heard of others finding objects, so just be aware. If you can't immediatley get the open top pen, then take the lid off viv and put the sand soil in there.You will need a UVA/B light, the combined ones are the easiest , when you get more experienced you may want to experiment with other lighting systems.
To answer your other questions, yes they are a hibernating species, but I would not do that this year as you have just got S/he and it is best to see how their health and behaviour is, so you can get yourself ready for next year. Yes you do turn the light off at night, if you think what they would be doing in the wild that helps us to get it all into perspective.
Anyway I won't overload you, have a look at the care sheet, and come back again with any questions, or just fire away, we are all here to learn together
Jane