Looking after a tortoise - what else do I need to do?

[sunshineuk]

Hello,

I have recently started looking after a male tortoise, he is 10yo and had not been kept properly - I’ve discovered now that I’ve done a lot of research. This site has been very helpful!

This is his set up now - substrate is top soil and coco coir and I am aiming to soak him every other day. He has a bit of outside time but it’s been quite a cold wet summer here in Somerset UK. I’m getting to grips with all the weeds in my garden to work out what he can have!

My main question is around light/heating - how often should the lamp be on (it’s on all day atm), where and when should I put heater on? I don’t have a thermometer - what sort should I get? I’m spraying substrate regularly to keep it moist. How often should he poo? It seems very irregular to me - once a week if that? How often should I change his substrate?

Finally any observations on his general health? I understand why how he has pyramiding. If we keep him possibly we could build an outside enclosure, that’s TBC at the moment

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Hello,

I have recently started looking after a male tortoise, he is 10yo and had not been kept properly - I’ve discovered now that I’ve done a lot of research. This site has been very helpful!

This is his set up now - substrate is top soil and coco coir and I am aiming to soak him every other day. He has a bit of outside time but it’s been quite a cold wet summer here in Somerset UK. I’m getting to grips with all the weeds in my garden to work out what he can have!

My main question is around light/heating - how often should the lamp be on (it’s on all day atm), where and when should I put heater on? I don’t have a thermometer - what sort should I get? I’m spraying substrate regularly to keep it moist. How often should he poo? It seems very irregular to me - once a week if that? How often should I change his substrate?

Finally any observations on his general health? I understand why how he has pyramiding. If we keep him possibly we could build an outside enclosure, that’s TBC at the moment

View attachment 378495

Hello and welcome!

He needs different kinds of lamp (each serves its own purpose) with different timings to more or less mimic the sunlight. It's described in details here: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/info-for-new-people-please-read-this-first.202363/

In a few words:
1. Basking lamp (heating at the basking zone) - all day long, 12-14 hours.
2. UV lamp (UVB light at the basking zone), 4-5 hours around noon for a decent UVB lamp like T5 tube with 12% UVB output.
3. Ambient LED lights (overall brightness and visible light) - all day long, maybe a bit less than basking lamp, 11-13 hours
4. Ambient heating (ceramic heat emitter) - on all the time, set on a thermostat. You need one if room temperature falls below 65F at night.

With a good appetite, hydration, correct temperatures, proper diet and decent amount of exercise he should poo every day (skipping one day is not a problem).

For temperature measurements you need 1-2 digital thermometers/hygrometers (2-10 pounds at hardware stores) and optionally (but recommended) a temperature gun (around 20 pounds).

To maintain humidity misting substrate is not very effective - pour some water in the corners to wet lower layers and make sure the substrate is firmly packed (just with your hand).

Usually, you don't need to change substrate often - it can serve you well 6 months or several years. It depends on a few factors: how often tortoise goes to bathroom and where (soaking container, outside), incidents (like intestinal worms, mold outbreaks) and presence of the "cleaning crew" (small detrivore invertebrates like springtails and isopods).

He looks more or less healthy for a tortoise with 10 years background of poor care. A few things can't be clearly seen from the photos: if his beak needs trimming (looks like yes) and if he has troubles walking (fully lift his body off the ground).

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello and welcome!!

Just to add to Alex’s good advice, I’d remove the substrate and replace with just coir, trouble with top soils, there’s no way of knowing what plants have gone into them unless you’ve composted it yourself, it could be something toxic.

As soon as you’re able, as you’re from the uk where we can’t get our torts out as much as we’d like, he’s going to need a much bigger indoor enclosure, we’re talking 8x4 foot minimum.
I’d change that dish out for a large shallow terracotta saucer, the kind you’re using has been known to be a bit of a hazard.

Hopefully this thread below will help you with what kind of equipment and materials to avoid🙂

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[sunshineuk]

Thank you for your replies this is very helpful. I have a balcony which is sheltered but also gets direct sunlight through the day. I was thinking this could be a great spot to build a new enclosure for an indoor/outdoor sort of experience - what do you think?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thank you for your replies this is very helpful. I have a balcony which is sheltered but also gets direct sunlight through the day. I was thinking this could be a great spot to build a new enclosure for an indoor/outdoor sort of experience - what do you think?

Sounds good! You’ll just have to make sure it’s not getting too hot with the direct sunlight, you could build a heated night box that can be locked for overnight, or bring them inside at night🙂
Also it might not be warm enough out there sometimes as our weather is so unpredictable and wet😣, so I’d have an indoor enclosure as a back up for those times, curse our uk rain lol

 

[sunshineuk]

Sounds good! You’ll just have to make sure it’s not getting too hot with the direct sunlight, you could build a heated night box that can be locked for overnight, or bring them inside at night🙂
Also it might not be warm enough out there sometimes as our weather is so unpredictable and wet😣, so I’d have an indoor enclosure as a back up for those times, curse our uk rain lol

At what temperature do they need to be brought indoors? I wonder if it’s worth it or if we should just invest in a bigger inside enclosure given the weather here

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

At what temperature do they need to be brought indoors? I wonder if it’s worth it or if we should just invest in a bigger inside enclosure given the weather here

I wouldn’t personally want them out during the day if it’s below 75f, even then though they’d probably be more active if it’s more in the 80 range, and a spot around 95 where they can bask🙂, just make sure that any where with direct sunlight for a few hours isn’t getting hotter than 100f, a few degrees over is ok, but make sure there’s lots of shade.

Personally, because I’ve found even our summer this year to be pretty rubbish, I’d invest in a good sized indoor set up as first port of call, at least then you have a safe space to put them for prolonged periods when our weather can’t make its mind up🥲then I’d work on a nice outdoor space for them to enjoy where possible, because there’s nothing like some natural uv for them to soak up🥰

 

[TammyJ]

Does he have a hide?

 

[sunshineuk]

I wouldn’t personally want them out during the day if it’s below 75f, even then though they’d probably be more active if it’s more in the 80 range, and a spot around 95 where they can bask🙂, just make sure that any where with direct sunlight for a few hours isn’t getting hotter than 100f, a few degrees over is ok, but make sure there’s lots of shade.

Personally, because I’ve found even our summer this year to be pretty rubbish, I’d invest in a good sized indoor set up as first port of call, at least then you have a safe space to put them for prolonged periods when our weather can’t make its mind up🥲then I’d work on a nice outdoor space for them to enjoy where possible, because there’s nothing like some natural uv for them to soak up🥰

Yes I think I’ll scrap that short-lived balcony idea, as nice as it was - not sure we’ve even seen 75f this year 😆 I’ve had a quick look for large vivariums and can only find 4ft - are there any recommended sites I can look at? Or plans I can buy for a carpenter friend to build? (I think I might be keeping this tortoise 😂)

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Yes I think I’ll scrap that short-lived balcony idea, as nice as it was - not sure we’ve even seen 75f this year 😆 I’ve had a quick look for large vivariums and can only find 4ft - are there any recommended sites I can look at? Or plans I can buy for a carpenter friend to build? (I think I might be keeping this tortoise 😂)

Southdown aquatics is uk based and make any size you’re wanting🙂

But there’s multiple ways to go about it, if you can find a big enough shelving unit, that has deep enough sides to prevent escaping(you could also add a ‘lip’ around the top to help prevent this, and corner caps, I’ll add photo examples) you can lay that flat and make your own stands from timber, or perhaps have a look into a garden bed base, your carpenter friend could definitely make you a base if you get yourself some plywood or pvc boards, just a very basic frame, the biggest you can go, will do the trick, again making sure you’re sides are high enough👍

Whatever option you go for, I’d line it like you have done with the current one to protect your base😊

This isn’t a care sheet for your species, but they’re quite similar and hopefully the visual examples at the bottom help with some set up ideas! There’s also a good link for the diet side of things

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

At what temperature do they need to be brought indoors? I wonder if it’s worth it or if we should just invest in a bigger inside enclosure given the weather here

On sunny days they can be active even in 50F. In warmer UK regions they can be kept outside all year round. However, there are a few considerations:
1. You need a thick layer of well-drained substrate (more than 10 cm) so tortoise can make burrows and stay warm on colder days or escape heat in a hot summer. This is barely doable on the balcony, though but you can "work-around" this issue.
2. Polytunnels/greenhouses help greatly to maintain temperatures (either covering whole enclosure or providing a dedicated covered basking area with optional heating). With UV-transparent plastics tortoise can enjoy all benefits of natural sunlight.

Indoors enclosures are either faint simulation of the natural conditions or rather complex to build. Artificial lightning is inferior to sunlight, unfortunately. In my humble opinion, providing an decent outdoors space is a must for grown up tortoises with an indoors enclosure serving as a "backup".

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

On sunny days they can be active even in 50F. In warmer UK regions they can be kept outside all year round. However, there are a few considerations:
1. You need a thick layer of well-drained substrate (more than 10 cm) so tortoise can make burrows and stay warm on colder days or escape heat in a hot summer. This is barely doable on the balcony, though but you can "work-around" this issue.
2. Polytunnels/greenhouses help greatly to maintain temperatures (either covering whole enclosure or providing a dedicated covered basking area with optional heating). With UV-transparent plastics tortoise can enjoy all benefits of natural sunlight.

Indoors enclosures are either faint simulation of the natural conditions or rather complex to build. Artificial lightning is inferior to sunlight, unfortunately. In my humble opinion, providing a decent outdoors space is a must for grown up tortoises with an indoors enclosure serving as a "backup".

All good points and I definitely agree outdoors is best, our weather is just so dire here, we barely reach 50 for most of the year😕 even a day like today where we’re in the 60’s, is pouring rain and is often very windy which makes things feel colder

A pollytunnel is a really good idea though! For our climate, I’d want to set up some outdoor heating🙂

 

[sunshineuk]

Given the weather here and the fact I have two big dogs and a toddler I’m wondering if it’s best to spend the money on a decent vivarium rather than have an open-top table. It’s what he’s in at the moment but I could put him in a better room if he’s properly enclosed. I can see Southdown Aquatics do 9ft ones with the sliding doors at the front. Would this be a good option? As we’re coming into winter anyway I’m thinking focus on a decent indoors set up then tackle the outdoors next year (pop him outside beforehand for a bit if/when we get a dry autumn day). Thank you everyone for your help