1st time tortoise owner seeking help and advice

Bigdave619

New Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2023
Messages
6
Location (City and/or State)
Chatham, Kent (Medway Towns)
Hello everyone, my name is David, live in Kent, England and as of Christmas 2022 last year, I became the proud owner of a beautiful baby girl Horsefield tortoise. She is probably 11 months old roughly, doing well and I've named her Zelda. It was a complete surprise to me when my family surprised me with her, as I've been wanting a pet for a while, so this made me very happy. I've never really taken care of a tortoise before, but am more than willing to learn. My family definately did research into it and they also got a nice sized vivarium for her, pellets/substrate for the floor, water bowl, food bowl, heating bulb, bedding and some food to get me started.

I think I'm doing alright so far, but I do have a ton of questions to ask and may have more in the future as they come up.

1) Is it normal behaviour for tortoises to not move around a lot for large amounts of the day? I have noticed that she will move eventually, but I do worry.

2) How often should I clean the vivarium out?

3) How often should I change the heating bulb?

4) How often should I bath my tortoise?

5) Is everything OK as long as temperatures are maintained (hot end and cool end) and she is eating, drinking and pooping?

6) Are wood chippings ok for tortoises? My family got me a bag of these but on the bag it doesn't say its ok for tortoise, only reptiles. Plus she keeps dragging them into the water bowl and making the water very dirty.

7) My dad tried putting a piece of cardboard in the ceiling of the vivarium to try and bring the temperature down at the cool end, but it only made things warmer at hot end so I removed it. Is there a way of lowering temperatures slightly in the vivarium, like a small fam for example? So far the temperatures are being maintained at between 28C and 35C at the hot end, and between 18C and 25C at the cool end, so I'm not sure if anything else is necessary.

8) When I take her out of her home and put her on my carpet, she loves to have a little walk around but also likes to have a nibble on the carpet and door mats. Should I need to worry about this behaviour, are the fibres going to do her harm, etc?


That's all the questions I can think of for now, but I do have one other query. Is there any possibility of arranging Zoom meetings for face to face chats to discuss food, bedding, show what I have and other matters? Does this forum even do Zoom calls? I would very much like to know.
 

TammyJ

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2016
Messages
7,120
Location (City and/or State)
Jamaica
@wellington . Please make sure the substrate is NOT cedar or pinewood chips. I know that if your tortoise drinks the water that cedar wood has got into, it will get very sick or die. Orchid bark or Repti-bark, same thing, is fine.
 

TammyJ

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2016
Messages
7,120
Location (City and/or State)
Jamaica
Do not allow it to roam in your house.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,269
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
Hello everyone, my name is David, live in Kent, England and as of Christmas 2022 last year, I became the proud owner of a beautiful baby girl Horsefield tortoise. She is probably 11 months old roughly, doing well and I've named her Zelda. It was a complete surprise to me when my family surprised me with her, as I've been wanting a pet for a while, so this made me very happy. I've never really taken care of a tortoise before, but am more than willing to learn. My family definately did research into it and they also got a nice sized vivarium for her, pellets/substrate for the floor, water bowl, food bowl, heating bulb, bedding and some food to get me started.

I think I'm doing alright so far, but I do have a ton of questions to ask and may have more in the future as they come up.

1) Is it normal behaviour for tortoises to not move around a lot for large amounts of the day? I have noticed that she will move eventually, but I do worry.

2) How often should I clean the vivarium out?

3) How often should I change the heating bulb?

4) How often should I bath my tortoise?

5) Is everything OK as long as temperatures are maintained (hot end and cool end) and she is eating, drinking and pooping?

6) Are wood chippings ok for tortoises? My family got me a bag of these but on the bag it doesn't say its ok for tortoise, only reptiles. Plus she keeps dragging them into the water bowl and making the water very dirty.

7) My dad tried putting a piece of cardboard in the ceiling of the vivarium to try and bring the temperature down at the cool end, but it only made things warmer at hot end so I removed it. Is there a way of lowering temperatures slightly in the vivarium, like a small fam for example? So far the temperatures are being maintained at between 28C and 35C at the hot end, and between 18C and 25C at the cool end, so I'm not sure if anything else is necessary.

8) When I take her out of her home and put her on my carpet, she loves to have a little walk around but also likes to have a nibble on the carpet and door mats. Should I need to worry about this behaviour, are the fibres going to do her harm, etc?


That's all the questions I can think of for now, but I do have one other query. Is there any possibility of arranging Zoom meetings for face to face chats to discuss food, bedding, show what I have and other matters? Does this forum even do Zoom calls? I would very much like to know.
Hello and welcome David!

Start here:

This, and the care sheet at the bottom will answer almost all of your questions.
 
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