Need Help seting up for Greek Tortoises

[Alaskan100]

Hello, my name is Tracy I live in Fairbanks, Alaska. That is actually why I am on this forum. A serious lack of information. All we have up here in the way of a pet store is Petco. The kids Petco hires for sales personell are absolutely no help.
My wife and I would like to start raising a couple baby Greek Tortoises. We have the room, my wife has raised a box turtle when she was younger. I chose the greek because they will remain small, under 8". They also are a hardy tortoise and can eat foods that are readily availavle up here. But my problem is I don't know some of the set up We need. We found a glass reptile enclosure (Zilla size 40 critter cage). I chose that enclosure because it will keep the tortoises warmer during our winters (sometimes the floor of the house is a little chilly in the mornings). I plan on putting a heat mat in it as well as temp and humidity guages, turtle food and water dishes. I am thinking of Sphagnum moss (peat moss) and sand mixed 50/50 for the substrate. I have no idea of what lights to use. I am having some difficulty finding them here, or at least anyone at petco that knows much about them. I am only able to find light fixtures that are rated for for incandescent bulbs. And no uva bulbs are available except for mercury vapor bulbs. But the uvb bulbs are available at 50-75 watts. but I don't know enough about them to make an informed judgement. I just much perfer not to have a mercury vapor bulb in the house incase it breaks.
Can anyone out there help me out on lighting information and food supplements. I plan on putting a cuddlebone in with them too.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Tracy

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Tracy:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

I don't keep Greek tortoises, but I can give you a bit of generic information.

You can keep a hatchling in a fairly small habitat, but once the tortoise gets bigger, and he can't have an outdoor habitat, he'll need something quite large so he can get the exercise he requires. A 4 or 5 shelf book case with the shelves removed would be ok for one adult tortoise.

The tortoise needs a substrate that he can dig into, a hiding place or two, a waterer that he can climb in and out of easy, a feeding rock or tile, a heater (ceramic heat emitter) for cool nights and a UVB light. My favorite type of light is called Mercury Vapor Bulb (MVB). I like them because they provide heat and the important UVB that the tortoise needs in order for his calcium to work.

Good luck with your new family member. We'd love to see pictures when you get it all set up.

Please feel free to go back through our archives in the Greek section and ask any questions you may come up with.

 

[lynnedit]

Hi Tracy:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

I don't keep Greek tortoises, but I can give you a bit of generic information.

You can keep a hatchling in a fairly small habitat, but once the tortoise gets bigger, and he can't have an outdoor habitat, he'll need something quite large so he can get the exercise he requires. A 4 or 5 shelf book case with the shelves removed would be ok for one adult tortoise.

The tortoise needs a substrate that he can dig into, a hiding place or two, a waterer that he can climb in and out of easy, a feeding rock or tile, a heater (ceramic heat emitter) for cool nights and a UVB light. My favorite type of light is called Mercury Vapor Bulb (MVB). I like them because they provide heat and the important UVB that the tortoise needs in order for his calcium to work.

Good luck with your new family member. We'd love to see pictures when you get it all set up.

Please feel free to go back through our archives in the Greek section and ask any questions you may come up with.

What she said.
Get a light fixture with a ceramic base (the bulbs can get hot). You can find these at feed stores and also places like Home Depot. Many put them on a timer strip, so that the lights stay on 12-14 hours per day consistently. With the UVB bulb, the light should be on a stand so it faces straight down, not at an angle.
Do look through the Greek and Housing sections, you can also search specific topics. Here is one thread:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Looking-for-all-general-info-on-Greek-tortoises-D#axzz1UDZrWJ4s

 

[eudora09]

I have a yearling greek tortoise and this is how I have her set up:
*a 6-shelf book case turned over and lined with a shower liner;
*I use organic topsoil mixed with coco coir as a substrate;
*she has three hides, one in the hot spot with sphagnum moss kept damp for humidity, one in the middle with the moss not wet, and one in the cold spot with moss not wet;
*she has plants in her enclosure that are on the safe list from www.thetortoisetable.org.uk
*she has a water bowl that she can climb into and fit comfortably in
*she has a food bowl that is made out of granite to keep her beak trimmed
*she gets mazuri tortoise food (I get this from my local feed store they sell it in 25 lbs bags but I ask them to split it for me and they make it up in 5 lbs bags for me), spring mix, kale, mustard greens, collard greens, escarole, and whatever other greens look good at the grocery store that are safe and different plants that are growing in my mom's yard that are safe (hibiscus, roses, etc).
*I use a Mercury Vapor Bulb hung above one end of her enclosure (hot end temp: 95-98*F, cool end temp: 70-75*F) I don't use any type of heat at night because it doesn't get below 70*F. Her MVB comes on at 7 in the morning and off at 8 at night (I have it on a timer so I don't have to worry if I sleep in or something lol)

When I did the soil I made hills and "valleys" for her so she could explore and it breaks up the sight barrier. I've had my MVB for a year and it hasn't ever busted as long as you make sure you put it in the right type of fixture you'll be fine. I use a ceramic base wire "cage" light fixture (I think it's made by Zoo Med) which allows proper air flow to keep the bulb from busting. (I learned this the hard way with a heat emitter that I had for my snakes in a regular ceramic base dome fixture it didn't have proper air flow and the bulb busted).

She gets a bath every other day for 20 minutes (this is done in a small container with the water warm and just enough water to come up to where her bottom shell meets the top shell so she can keep her head above water). She also gets sprayed down every day when I spray her plants and she loves it (she runs over to play in it).

She gets her food sprinkled with some calcium powder every other day or so.

Hope this helps!
Good luck on your babies!

 

[lynnedit]

I have a yearling greek tortoise and this is how I have her set up:
*a 6-shelf book case turned over and lined with a shower liner;
*I use organic topsoil mixed with coco coir as a substrate;
*she has three hides, one in the hot spot with sphagnum moss kept damp for humidity, one in the middle with the moss not wet, and one in the cold spot with moss not wet;
*she has plants in her enclosure that are on the safe list from www.thetortoisetable.org.uk
*she has a water bowl that she can climb into and fit comfortably in
*she has a food bowl that is made out of granite to keep her beak trimmed
*she gets mazuri tortoise food (I get this from my local feed store they sell it in 25 lbs bags but I ask them to split it for me and they make it up in 5 lbs bags for me), spring mix, kale, mustard greens, collard greens, escarole, and whatever other greens look good at the grocery store that are safe and different plants that are growing in my mom's yard that are safe (hibiscus, roses, etc).
*I use a Mercury Vapor Bulb hung above one end of her enclosure (hot end temp: 95-98*F, cool end temp: 70-75*F) I don't use any type of heat at night because it doesn't get below 70*F. Her MVB comes on at 7 in the morning and off at 8 at night (I have it on a timer so I don't have to worry if I sleep in or something lol)

When I did the soil I made hills and "valleys" for her so she could explore and it breaks up the sight barrier. I've had my MVB for a year and it hasn't ever busted as long as you make sure you put it in the right type of fixture you'll be fine. I use a ceramic base wire "cage" light fixture (I think it's made by Zoo Med) which allows proper air flow to keep the bulb from busting. (I learned this the hard way with a heat emitter that I had for my snakes in a regular ceramic base dome fixture it didn't have proper air flow and the bulb busted).

She gets a bath every other day for 20 minutes (this is done in a small container with the water warm and just enough water to come up to where her bottom shell meets the top shell so she can keep her head above water). She also gets sprayed down every day when I spray her plants and she loves it (she runs over to play in it).

She gets her food sprinkled with some calcium powder every other day or so.

Hope this helps!
Good luck on your babies!

Gee, great summary. Lucky tort!

 

[Angellicars]

Hey Tracy!

I have a 6mo. old Greek, we just got him all set up in a tortoise table that we built from scratch, took about 200$ and week to get together, but it's a lot better than a glass enclosure. For an adult you're going to want a tank no smaller than 4'x2' .. also you should add rocks that he/she can climb around on (nothing too tall to escape).

I'm currently using a 5.0 30W UVB bulb and a 50W heat bulb for my lighting which seems to be just fine for him. I try to keep it about 80 degrees overall and 90/95 degrees in the basking area.

If you have anything else that I could help with let me know

-Angellica