Its cool mate.

Thank you for all the information. I have put tape at the bottom so that they cant see out, and will remove the glass panels tomorrow once my friends cat has gone back home. The little dude has perked up now and seems quite active although I never see him eat (apart from the reptile sand). The other one now seems to sleep all the time, and generally only gets up if I help him! He then eats loads and goes back to sleep. Is this usual behavior?

Cheers Laura

When you say reptile sand is that calci sand? if so you need to lose that also as it causes impaction and as you have seen is eaten more than normal playsand due to it being a bit more on the tastey side. Do you have topsoil mixed in with the sand??

Hello,

Yes I think it is the calci sand. I will replace with 50:50 play sand and topsoil mix; any brands in particular recommended / work well? I have reptile pellets the other end; they seem to like them (burrowing in at night). just for info, can you please explain the problem with impaction?

Cheers

Laura

Laura,
It means they can easily swallow it while eating and the sand will be trapped in the bowl.

Any organic topsoil is fine and as long as the sand says play sand it's just fine.

Danny

Is (organic) topsoil the same as compost? Can I get both the topsoil and play sand from B&Q or similar? I think I need to get rid of the reptile pellets too?
Regards
Laura

you can get B&Q sterilised topsoil and playsand they are what i use yep dump the pellets

Excellent thank you. By tomorrow night they will have a happy soil/sand substrate. No rubbish from the pet shop.

Laura

That's a perfect setup as is. If you notice the tortoise pacing the front glass constantly then you might want to cover the glass with a strip of 3 inch masking tape.

You mentioned a temperature of 70F. That is a bit on the low side.

A tortoise will slow down if it is too cool or too hot. For the Testudo a range of 70 to 90F is a good range. That is they should be able to move from 70 to 90F.

Can I ask where you are located?