New enclosure - feedback appreciated

[Honey001]

Brand new, very large enclosure for my tortoise. I’ve been wanting to get him a new enclosure for a while as he very quickly outgrew his old one. He’s got a bigger food slate, bigger water bowl (which he still only used for tipping everywhere) and a diy hide I build myself that doubles as a hill for him to climb. It’s not perfect but I needed to get it done as quickly as possible due to how inappropriate his old enclosure had become for him.

He seems happy enough. He’s mostly stuck to the hot side of his enclosure but he has been exploring occasionally. Any ideas or ways to improve will very much be appreciated.

(His uv lamp went out when installing but new one is on the way)

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello! Lovely Herman you have there!

I will say for his current size, he does ideally need a much bigger set up, I know indoor space can be tricky for a lot of people but there’s a few ways to try and tackle this, you could definitely add onto this one!

Few things of note, I’m seeing some sphagnum moss in there, remove all of that as it can be an impaction risk, the straw stuff under the hide bit will likely mould and these guys aren’t grass eaters anyway so I’d remove that too.
Is it top soil you’re using? I’d advise against it because unless composted yourself, there’s no knowing exactly what plants make it up, could be something toxic in there, if wanting to go the ‘soil’ route, coco coir is your safest option.
For the water dish, I’d switch it for a clay terracotta saucer, not a plastic one, it’ll be much safer and difficult for him to keep tipping.
The wood likely won’t last long but I’d get yourself some cheap pond lining to put under your substrate to help!

I don’t suppose you could try answering some of these questions? It’ll help advising on otter elements of the set uphim staying the warm end more tells me things might be a bit too cool

What are your temperatures like? Ie basking temp(directly under the bulb) overall day temps, Night temps?
What kind of basking bulb are you using specifically? Packaging photos are good if you have any!
What kind of uv lamp have you ordered?
How’s humidity reading?
What kind of monitoring do you have?
What kind of things do you offer diet wise?

In the meantime time I’d suggest going over this thread to check your equipment and levels, it covers correct equipment(uvb, basking bulb, lighting etc), correct levels, sizing, appropriately maintaining the humidity, safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything and a really handy diet link to check out!

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

This one includes inspiration for an adult set up both indoors and out, I think you’ll find the indoor bit useful as it covers some ideas on tackling indoor space, whilst still providing that all important roaming room!

Enclosure inspiration

Howdy folks! Hope everyone is well! As you all know, I’m a big fan of making threads that cater more towards visual learners like myself, I’ve really been wanting to create a thread full of adult enclosure inspiration for a while now, I’ve managed to find some great references over time! I do...

tortoiseforum.org

Lastly, probably the most important, this one is also really good to familiarise yourself with and have on hand, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

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

I really hope they help! Please do ask any further questions you need! Welcome to the forum