Housing help please

[Anjelika]

Hello Everyone,

I'm Anjelika, living in Dorset in the UK. I have a 8 month old India star named Trooper or Troopy for short.
At present he lives in a table, but I am having real issues with keeping the temperatures up as they should be without covering the top with cardboard.
He is in a Vivexotic Viva Table that is 90X45X21.5cm and has an Arcadia 15w 10% uvb, & an Arcadia 75w flood basking bulb along with a heat bulb for night time heat.
With the cardboard covering the top of the table I can keep the day time temp at around 30*C and at night around 25*C. I have attached pictures for you all to see.

Would he be better in a 3ft viv please?

Many thanks
Anj.

 

[JoesMum]

Hello and welcome from Kent

You have a baby and an open table with very dry substrate

Your baby needs a closed chamber and a warm humid environment at this age. You cannot possibly raise temperatures, especially during a UK winter, without a roof over the enclosure. It must not drop below 80F/27C day or night. It must be 95-100F/35-37C directly under the basking lamp. The substrate needs to be 10cm depth of an earthy type like coco coir or fine grade orchid bark that you can tip water into and mix until all of it is damp right into the corners and right to the bottom.

Care of Stars is very similar to Leopard Tortoises so you should read these care guides by @Tom who has been working hard to correct the outdated information widely available on the internet and from pet stores and, sadly, from some breeders and vets too.

Beginner Mistakes
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

How to raise a healthy Leopard Tortoise
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

 

[Anjelika]

Hello JoesMum,
Thank you for your reply. Apart from using my own preferred electrics I have followed the recommendations from the breeder. Hopefully you can see the care sheet that I was given from her. I have attached it.
Using a viv would be much easier for me, as I have another reptile so I know how to keep the temperatures etc correctly in them.
I'm open to advice and to make his life happier, he has been to an exotics vet for a check up so I know that he is healthy, and has no worms or parasites.
I would be looking at a 4ft long viv, ideally 2ft wide , but I'm not sure on height possibly 15 or 18 inches as I'm looking at this as his life time home.
Many Thanks again for all your help
Kind Regards
Anj. x

 

[JoesMum]

Whatever you get will not be his lifetime home. An Indian Star gets too big and will need a minimum of 4’x 8’ (1.5x2.2 metres) floor area in a few years and probably much larger after that.

This tortoise can grow to 8” / 20cm!

While the floor area is the most important thing, I would always go for the tallest as a decider. It gives you more room to adjust the lights. You need to be able to raise and lower the basking lamp to get the desired 95-100F/35-37C underneath.

That care sheet doesn’t inspire confidence. Dried tortoise food doesn’t cause pyramidding - pyramidding is caused by raising in an environment which is too dry.

Your baby needs humidity. Follow @Tom’s care sheet. Send him a message if he doesn’t find this thread

 

[Anjelika]

Thank you very much
I will take a read of all the sheets that you have advised on.
And give him a different home, that's much nicer for him.
Regards
Anj

 

[Chizbad]

JoesMum is correct, these little ones do so much better in a closed chamber. JoesMum and Tom have both helped me out tremendously and recently led me to build this for my tort, just to give you an example....not that my idea is the “exact” way it should be done but this is what I came up with. Cost $70 total start to finish. Now I just need to add a few more plants to make it looks “tortoisey” in there

 

[Anjelika]

That's excellent Chizbad. Please could you tell me what size it is?
Regards
Anj

 

[Chizbad]

Sure thing. It’s 45” long, 25” high and 23” deep (front to back).
Good luck and if you decide to build don’t forget to show off the results