Hi All,

Please bear with me as I've recently homed a Horsfield tortoise (renamed Oogway, watch "Kung-Fu Panda" if you don't know the reference), and want to give him the best so he can enjoy life.

He came with a vivarium that is quite tall but doesn't have much room to move in: 90cm (w) x 50cm (d) x 70cm (h), with a heat/UV lamp hanging down at one end with a tile underneath, a thermometer, strip bulb, thick gritty sand (as a substrate), timer (clocks on at c09:00am and off at c08:00) and we added a shallow bath, feeding plate (old bonsai water dish) and a wooden hut/house. we do let him roam the living room (along with our rabbit) when we are home but a large proportion of the time (especially night) he spends in the vivarium.

Now I've read different places different things but ideally wanted to build him a tortoise table with a few levels and a few different substrates for him to walk on/dig in. However the vet we spoke to yesterday (Oogway currently has RNS) said to just use newspaper and keep the vivarium, but that Oogway also needs a heat lamp at night to keep the temperature above 16 Celsius. It does get cool in our living room at night but is this night lamp required? How would this work for a table? Also, is the vivarium or the table better, as the vet seemed to suggest that the tortoise needs a constant high temperature and so said the vivarium was ideal.

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide.

P.S the ruler on the picture is stretched to 30cm for reference.

Does it look well & is it feeding vigorously ? If so room temp at night is fine.

First wedge the door open 3 or 4" at the end away from the heat lamp. 

The table can be made from 4 bits of wood, with a base tacked on - at most 1hour. Forget all the silly fancy bits - useless. Use garden soil as a substrate, never newspaper. Obtain a 100W UVB Megaray bulb, suspend at one end of the table, in the dome reflector.

Dispense with the viv..

Don't let it wander in the room or with the rabbit in the table.

Click on "The Tortoise" box & read up.

Regards,

Tom

Hi Tom,

He is still eating well and still wanting to come out and wander around.

When both him and the rabbit are out we watch both carefully to make sure they don't come face to face, and the rabbit won't be able to access the table as he has his own home.

I will have a go at making a table when I get a chance this week. Thanks for the help. I have read quite a bit but a lot of it is quite conflicting.

If allowed to wander they are frustrated when put back in a table.

Next winter I'd hibe' it for 4 or 5mths. 

Now's the time to make an outside enclosure, min 15sqm.

If allowed to wander they are frustrated when put back in a table.

Next winter I'd hibe' it for 4 or 5mths. 

Now's the time to make an outside enclosure, min 15sqm.