New tort house

[Tweedy]

Hey guys I'm new here so I hope I'm posting in the correct section, I have had my tort a few weeks now but when I got her her house was quite small for how big she is so I built her one, she didn't have a uv light either and her shell was quite soft. I have upgraded the lights and purchased a uv strip light, from what you can see from the pic does everything look ok?

I now give her calcium powder and her shell is improving quite quick, the owners before just didn't care about her I don't think. Thanks for your time guys

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome! What kind of tortoise? It would be a good idea to have a picture with the tortoise in the enclosure so we can judge how big the tortoise is compared to its new space.

 

[Tweedy]

She's asleep at the minute in her dude out bit but I'll take one as soon as she gets out, in would say she's 6 to 7 inch long and the house she came with was only 2 feet by 1 feet, it was very small.

 

[Minority2]

Question: Does your tortoise use the space directly below (bottom level) the basking light? And how often?

1. What type of tortoise do you have? 6-7 inches is large enough to be considered an adult for some tortoise species. Your current enclosure (4 x 1.5-2 ft?) would be considered small for their size. Depending on the species, your tortoise may either need an 8 (L) x 4 (W) ft indoor enclosure or a permanent, very large outdoor enclosure.
2. Your basking light is quite close to the table. Are you getting the right temperature zones for your tortoise with your current setup?
3.You'll want your lighting fixtures to point downwards instead of at an angle.
4. Are you using any other lighting fixtures besides the two (basking and UVB) I see in the picture? Does your tortoise hang around a lot near the basking light?
5. Keep up with occasional calcium supplements/cuttle bone. Some supervised time outside in the sun is also another good option.

 

[Gillian M]

Welcome to the forum @Tweedy .

Please post pics of your tort.

 

[Tweedy]

Thanks for everyone's reply, iv managed to take a picture of her.

 

[Tom]

Looks like you've got corn cob bedding and hay in there? Much of the care info you find on line for this species is wrong. Here is the right stuff. THere is info about substrate, heating and lighting and enclosures size in these. Hope it helps.
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/

 

[Tweedy]

That's great thank you very much, Can you tell from the photo what kind of tort she is?

 

[katieandiggy]

Looks like a Russian tortoise to me

 

[Tweedy]

Ok thanks again

 

[TriciaStringer]

Such a cute Russian! You’ve def given him a bigger enclosure. Try and start working on a 4x8 one.
They are EXCELLENT climbers. Be careful he isn’t able to climb out.