Hi,

I'm a new owner to my lovely horsefield tortoise called Squirt, i have had him for 2days now and all he seems to have done is sleep, the first night i got him he ate quite a lot but has just slept since then. When i first received him his eyes had all bubbles in them so i bathed him and they seem to be better but i am slightly concerned about him. I have made him a tortoise table with a room where he can hide and he can dig in there etc... He has a heat lamp above it but i am unsure how long to keep it on for as all the information i'm getting is different, i have put it at one side then he can go in his room where the light isn't shining. Is this the correct thing to do? I am yet to buy a UV light (the long white one). Please can you help.

Thankyou, Kirsty

Hello there,

Were going to need a little more information. Do you know what the temperature is under the basking lamp is? It should be at least 32-34c and the rest of the tortoise table should be around 20C during the day. A drop at night is fine and the lamp should be switched off.

Are you bathing the tortoise? Place him in a shallow dish of shallow water every day to ensure he can have a drink. Placing them in water encourages them to drink and have a wee and a poo at the same time!

It can take a little while for a new tortoise to settle in but please keep letting us know how its going and please post any questions you have.

Have you seen the caresheet for Horsfields? It can be found here:

http://www.tortoise-protection-group.org.uk/site/87.asp


Bubbly eyes aren't something I'm familiar with, perhaps someone has an idea about this??? If you see any bubbles from the nose or the tortoise is opening its mouth to breathe, you need to take him to a good tortoise vet.
Hope this helps.

Also.

The UV light is essential. Tortoises need access to UVB light, especially young tortoises.

Hi,

Thankyou for that, he seems a lot more alert today is walking around eating and crawling over me. The tortoise table seems to be at the right temperature, i am going to get him a UV light. I gave him a bath last night and he was walking up and down and had a poo. Since i bathed his eyes he hasn't had bubbles in them. I read the horsefield caresheet was a great help thankyou.

Kirsty