Hi, me and my girlfriend purchased a Horsfield Tortoise at the weekend, after some serious deliberation and not a whimisical decision. He is about 3-4 years old.
I bought a reasonably large rabbit cage as I opted against a vivarium as not heard great stuff.
It is approx 3.5ft x 1.5/2 ft, the bottom is dark grren plastic and is about 7 inches in height.
I have a 100W spot lamp and a UVB strip light, I also use a substrate called tortoise life which is a mixture of non fertilised soil and sand. I also put him some hay in there as the girl who sold me him said they like hay.
I also have a good size water dish in there and a plastic tray for food, I have been feeding him dandelions, dark lettuce leaves (not iceberg) and pansies, parsley, that kind of thing.
For the first day he kind of sat in the hay and didn't come out, I didn't have the lights working as I had left the cable ties at my dads and had purchased the wrong bulb. The next day rectified this and he spent some time basking under the light but still a fair bit of time under the hay.
We are now on the 3rd/4th day and all he seems to be doing is burrowing into one of the corners (i know horsefields like to burrow) but he just constantly keeps on trying to dig through the plastic. We have let him have a toddle round our flat a few times (with us keeping a watchful eye on him) and he always heads straight for the black book case and tries 'digging' his way through the wall/book case.
I am getting a bit worried
I have bathed him twice, he doesn't seem too keen on this and appears to get a bit stroppy.
I am just worried he is unhappy an frustrated. ANy help / advice would be greatfully appreciated, I will try to post some pictures.
Say hello to Ted
This is his home
And this is the corner he is fond of digging in
I bought a reasonably large rabbit cage as I opted against a vivarium as not heard great stuff.
It is approx 3.5ft x 1.5/2 ft, the bottom is dark grren plastic and is about 7 inches in height.
I have a 100W spot lamp and a UVB strip light, I also use a substrate called tortoise life which is a mixture of non fertilised soil and sand. I also put him some hay in there as the girl who sold me him said they like hay.
I also have a good size water dish in there and a plastic tray for food, I have been feeding him dandelions, dark lettuce leaves (not iceberg) and pansies, parsley, that kind of thing.
For the first day he kind of sat in the hay and didn't come out, I didn't have the lights working as I had left the cable ties at my dads and had purchased the wrong bulb. The next day rectified this and he spent some time basking under the light but still a fair bit of time under the hay.
We are now on the 3rd/4th day and all he seems to be doing is burrowing into one of the corners (i know horsefields like to burrow) but he just constantly keeps on trying to dig through the plastic. We have let him have a toddle round our flat a few times (with us keeping a watchful eye on him) and he always heads straight for the black book case and tries 'digging' his way through the wall/book case.
I am getting a bit worried
I have bathed him twice, he doesn't seem too keen on this and appears to get a bit stroppy.
I am just worried he is unhappy an frustrated. ANy help / advice would be greatfully appreciated, I will try to post some pictures.
Say hello to Ted
This is his home
And this is the corner he is fond of digging in