Hello All!

I am new to this board, what a lovely site and forum!

I am looking for some advice as I am a first time leopard tortoise owner. Basically the chap I got him from was keeping him in a bedroom (free roaming on the carpet) with one tiny uv bulb(which i suspect was too old to have any effect anyway), no heat lamp, and was just using the central heating to keep him warm. His diet was quite poor and he had been attacked by a friends shar-pei dog about a year ago (he is fine but has now got a partly fibreglass shell!).
The guy had lost all interest in him and so after doing alot of research I decided I would take him on. He is roughly about 9 years old and not in too bad a shape (not much pyramiding and the vet has given him a clean bill of health!)
He is currently living in a decent sized table but it could be bigger. I was just wondering how big his table should be? His plastron length is around 25cm (i havent properly measured him yet as he is still settling in and I dont want to disturb him). He will be going into a big outdoor enclosure in the summer months so this is just a temporary indoor table - I would like rough measurements that are acceptable for the current size he is now, as I will build him a much bigger indoor enclosure for next winter (I am a teacher so I have a whole summer to do this!)
Any advice would be greatly appreciated as all of the research I have found so far is regarding either hatchling indoor enclosures or the big adult enclosures!
Thanks, I just want to make sure I am giving him enough space for the time being :)

Sorry about the essay!
Chaps x

Hi Chaps

Welcome to the forum :)  Good to hear that you have taken on this tortoise, it sounds as though he has had a bit of a rough time in the past.  Im not sure if you have already seen it, but there is a very good care sheet written by experienced leopard keepers here:-

http://www.tortoise-protection-group.org.uk/site/123.asp

I dont keep leopards myself, so Im hoping someone who does will step in here and help out with the dimensions for his indoor table, but I would say it needs to be as big as you can make it, but whatever he has at the moment will be an improvement on before :)  I think the most important thing at the moment is to make sure he is warm enough, and that you have a decent uv bulb - leopards need good levels of light, uv and warmth.  Leos can be prone to stress, so keep an eye on him for any signs of a runny nose, hopefully he will settle in with you soon.

I hope this helps a bit, any questions, please feel free to ask!

atb

Arlene TPG