First Tortoise Table (Advice on Greening it Up)

[AB&Davìde]

Upgraded enclosure for 3 year old Hermann tortoise. (Picture from when first built, there have been some changes) I used a raised garden bed 6’x2’6” with a coconut coir / soil mix substrate. The heat lamp provides a basking spot of 34°C, the warmer end ambient temperature averages 27-30° and the cool side 22-24° during the day, the whole shebang seeing night temps not lower than that 22°-24° average. He has a UVB bar light on a 10 hour timer that turns on around one hour after his heat lamp typically turns on and off one hour before the heat lamp turns off.

He has so far been doing very well with this set up. He has become quite the digger, and has excavated a bedroom for himself underneath the running wheel. The wheel helped him get through our Canadian winter when outside time wasn’t possible. He still uses it regularly, even after outside time.

I’m looking to put more plants in the enclosure, pictured is a little pot of greens that I was keeping under the UVB over the winter to grow (it has since been absolutely demolished by my boy). I read on the forum that spider plants, aloe and dandelions provide good cover and can be a nice snacky snack. I’ve tried growing clover in the enclosure, but was unsuccessful. As it is summer time, I’m growing him a variety of edibles outside but would be open to tips on how to green up his space without taking away too much of his running and digging room.

Thank you!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello!

Ideally you’ll want to expand this at some point(unless tortoise has bigger outdoor space he spend most the year?) but this design will allow you to do that

For substrate, avoid soil mixes, reptisoils tend to be mixed with sand which comes with potential issues, top soils have no way of guaranteeing each and every plant/ingredient in there, plus with how damp it has to be, soil creates a muddy consistency that sticks to everything, stick with just coco coir, some like a layer of orchid bark or cypress mulch on top too.

For your basking temperature you want it reaching 35-37c. Rest sound great.

With the uv timing, every other source of information will tell you 10-12hours of uv. This is essentially an old fashioned rule that has stuck with a lot of keepers, it stems from the presumption that once the basking light or ambient lighting is on, ie the ‘sun’, that uv must coexist the same amount of hours. Fact is, uv rays only peak for a few hours a day, anyone with a uv meter will confirm this. No tortoise is blasted with 12 hours of uv in the wild, therefore it’s not necessary in captivity. Whilst not necessarily dangerous, it’s potentially annoying to the tortoise to have 10-12hours on uv in the enclosure.
The right uv bulbs are much more expensive to replace once their uv strength diminishes, so it’s definitely best having it on a 4 hour timer that provides them with all the uv they need, saving your bulb life.
Then some cheaper led lighting for your ambient 12 hour light cycle as well as the basking light on the same 12hrs

Feel free to check these links out for decor inspiration, there’s some good plant examples in there!

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Hi guys! I’ve had some lovely messages complimenting me on my care sheets I made for all the visuals they include! That makes me so happy because as a visual learner myself, that was my goal🥰 I’ve recently had some requests for some more visual inspiration for set ups that can house babies/...

tortoiseforum.org

Enclosure inspiration

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@Alex and the Redfoot has a really cool plant shelf in his! Perhaps he’ll share some tips

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Hm, I'm not doing anything special..
1. To grow plants you need more light than basking or UVB light provide, so ambient LEDs (e.g. shop lights, non-colored grow lights etc.) are required. Raw estimate is to have 1000 lumens per 4 sq.ft. Evenly spread light is preferred over super-bright spot sources (so a LED bar or 4 10W bulbs are better than a single E27 40W bulb).

2. To keep plants safe and maximise space you can use hanging pots, or attach pots to the walls (e.g. in hanging pockets - like for bathroom doors or wardrobes). Also you can place pots on top of hides, use trays or saucers for ground cover plants and make bridges or bunkers under them.

3. Nice shady plants are boston fern, carex, spider plant, hosta etc. Creeping thyme, dichondra, turtle vine (callisia), white clover can be used for "ground cover" but need a lot light.