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| Vivariums Posted: 10/09/2010 by Mozla |
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Dear All I have been reading about the 'horrid' vivariums sold by pet shops and I wanted to add my comments. I don't have the space in the garden or have a shed and I live in the north of england so our hot days are few. A few months ago after careful researching we bought a Hermanns tortoise ( male 18months old) and have him in one of 'these' vivariums with heat lamp at one end, thermostat and sensors at each end to monitor the temp gradient. He has the small wood chipping pellets and has a small cave to sleep in, in the middle and a shallow water bath at the cool end. The vivarium has vents at the top and bottom and of course he has his long UV tube. He is in a nice routine of us turning the thermostat to 32C for 12hours and then 24C at night. He wakes early, munches heartily to a varied leafy diet and has treats such as tomato ocassionally. He has his vitamin and mineral powders duing the week and has a break at weekends. When it is fine we put him for short periods on our lawn and he has some freedom in our conservatory. Basically, what I'm saying is the vivarium is great and since he is a mediteranian species, he requires it to be quite dry. He is neither too hot or too cold. We would have noticed this by the position of him in the vivarium. Over the holidays we looked after a friends Hermanns tortoise ( a male 6 years old) and noticed that its accomodation wasn't so good. It was a large fish tank with a grate over the top and this held the heat lamp and the uv tube. The ventilation seemed adequate however there was no thermostat control, and the poor thing didn't know when to sleep. It was too cold during the night (I didn't think this was possible) but it slept under the heat lamp and during the day he just crashed about so we frequently let him out. It had bark for its substrate which in my opinion was far too moist. He preferred pellets to anything fresh which was strange. Otherwise he seemed healthy and quite 'frisky' to be frank! Needless to say we had quite a few pointers for when hiws keepers came to pick it up. We are no experts but we recognised when the accommodation was not up to scratch and the routine wasn't good, which is what we think that tortoises need. I would like to ask the opinion of others, especially those who hate their vivariums. We have got a long way to go with our tortoise (the reason we bought a 4ft vivarium) and would like to know if we have gone about this wrong. The only thing I can say is that I can't imagine our little fella living outside, in the not so sunny north of england. Help appreciated!! | |
| Re: Vivariums Posted: 10/09/2010 by VivTPG |
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Hi, welcome to the site. We do not recommend vivariums (including fish tanks) for the following reasons, tortoises require a range of temperatures to maintain their metabolism. They require basking areas (eg to aid digestion of food), but at times need to escape the heat (thermoregulate - cool down). A tortoise's activity is governed by it's body temperature and only the tortoise should decide how warm or cool it should be at any given time. The problem with vivariums is that, due to the lack of ventilation, they offer an almost one-temperature and do not offer a full range of temperatures, to permit the tortoise to govern it's body temperature. Too warm and the tortoise is permanently active, always eating and digesting food, desperately trying to escape the heat (some sit in water dishes most of the day trying to cool down. Too cool and they cannot digest their food properly or maintain their immune system. They can also be far too humid, again due to the lack of ventilation, which can cause respiratory problems and there are many documented cases where it has led to pneumonia. Glass sided vivariums (even if it is just the door), are extremely frustrating to a tortoise as they cannot comprehend that they cannot walk through the glass. We had a Hermanns for rehoming that had been kept in a viv, it took two days before the tortoise learned to move towards the basking lamp in order to warm up. This tortoise was kept in a large 5ft vivarium, even a viv this large stripped the tortoise of it's natural instinct to bask. We have had far worse cases. An open table top set up is more suitable for indoors, here is a link to some of our members enclosures http://www.tortoise-protection-group.org.uk/site/58.asp. As you can see this can include a large rabbit cage or a bookcase on its back (with the shelves taken out. With regard to substrate, wood chipping and bark are not suitable for torts, both as you point out will hold moisture. The chippings are know to give off fumes and can be a fire risk. We recommend a 50:50 mix of soil/playsand to mimic the wild, this should be deep enough for the tort to bury down into. You are correct about your friends torts diet, pellets are definitely not suitable. The are much too high in protein, causing fast growth and bumpy shells (pyramiding). A tortoise diet should be 100% weeds and garden plants. Here is a link to an excellent plant site, dedicated to tortoise friendly plants, also pointing out the ones that are not suitable http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/tortoise_home_1.asp. Its good that you let your tort out in the garden on sunny days, an hour in the sunlight is worth hours under a lamp! I hope this helps, please read our care sheets on Hermanns http://www.tortoise-protection-group.org.uk/site/88.asp, any queries please ask away! Regards Vivienne  | |