New tortoise owner
- Thread starter zanyz78
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Yes the one in the pic. Thank you. I got her through a friend, no one wanted her, I think she is awesome but don't really know what I'm doing. I've made an appointment at the vets for her but in the interim any help or tips would be great.
dmmj said:
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2009
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- Location (City and/or State)
- The Catskill Mountains of New York State
It's a Greek tortoise not a Hermann's. Unsure of what subspecies without seeing more photos of the carapace, plastron and head area.
Here is something I just wrote up for someone:
(Note- They specifically asked about the cement tubs for use as the enclosure. They do work, but you can use a variety of other things.)It is absolutely no problem at all to recommend some things!
You can use some cement mixing tubs if you would like. I would just be sure you are getting the kind with the straight walls, and not the beveled ones. You will read this a thousand times: Tortoises are escape artists, so the entire enclosure must escape proof. I would than focus on your substrate. I like to mix top soil with cypress mulch. It provides the perfect humidity levels, but also provides an easy to walk on surface that is also easy to clean. It was recommended to me to try to use everything as natural as you can. I make my hides my packing a large flat rock on top of the substrate, and digging a "cave" underneath. You can get creative though, clay plant pots work really great. They are cheap, easy to find, but they also absorb a bit of water which helps with humidity. Hermann's really like to burrow as well, I make sure to leave enough under the hides so she can burrow. Make sure you have a few clamp lights as well. These can be found at any hardware store. Make sure you get the kind with the ceramic base, this is very important. Reptile bulbs get incredibly hot and can shatter the glass bases. And yes, the hardware store clamp lights work just fine. They do not need to have a reptile on the box to work they way they are supposed to! Although Zoomend makes some rather nice lamps that actually tighten the beam of the bulbs. This can be very handy when creating your enclosure. And then we have your bulbs. Which bulbs you get greatly depend on how you plan on caring for the tort. I recommend Zoomed powersun 100watt. This will be your basking and UVB all in one. You can also place your tort outside for about a half hour everyday to provide the UVB they need. You will also need a temperature/humidity gauges. These can be found at the pet store, or hardware store, and they cost about the same from each place. I recommend getting two sets, one for each end, but one works fine as long as you monitor things closely for a while.
So in list form:
Cement Mixing Tubs
Top Soil
Cypress Mulch
Something for a few hides
clamp lamp(s)
Reptile bulbs, CHE's, etc
Temperature/Humidity gauges
There are way more experienced people out there who can give better advice. I use a 125 gallon aquarium instead of the mixing tubs, but other than that, this set up works very well for me!
(Note- They specifically asked about the cement tubs for use as the enclosure. They do work, but you can use a variety of other things.)It is absolutely no problem at all to recommend some things!
You can use some cement mixing tubs if you would like. I would just be sure you are getting the kind with the straight walls, and not the beveled ones. You will read this a thousand times: Tortoises are escape artists, so the entire enclosure must escape proof. I would than focus on your substrate. I like to mix top soil with cypress mulch. It provides the perfect humidity levels, but also provides an easy to walk on surface that is also easy to clean. It was recommended to me to try to use everything as natural as you can. I make my hides my packing a large flat rock on top of the substrate, and digging a "cave" underneath. You can get creative though, clay plant pots work really great. They are cheap, easy to find, but they also absorb a bit of water which helps with humidity. Hermann's really like to burrow as well, I make sure to leave enough under the hides so she can burrow. Make sure you have a few clamp lights as well. These can be found at any hardware store. Make sure you get the kind with the ceramic base, this is very important. Reptile bulbs get incredibly hot and can shatter the glass bases. And yes, the hardware store clamp lights work just fine. They do not need to have a reptile on the box to work they way they are supposed to! Although Zoomend makes some rather nice lamps that actually tighten the beam of the bulbs. This can be very handy when creating your enclosure. And then we have your bulbs. Which bulbs you get greatly depend on how you plan on caring for the tort. I recommend Zoomed powersun 100watt. This will be your basking and UVB all in one. You can also place your tort outside for about a half hour everyday to provide the UVB they need. You will also need a temperature/humidity gauges. These can be found at the pet store, or hardware store, and they cost about the same from each place. I recommend getting two sets, one for each end, but one works fine as long as you monitor things closely for a while.
So in list form:
Cement Mixing Tubs
Top Soil
Cypress Mulch
Something for a few hides
clamp lamp(s)
Reptile bulbs, CHE's, etc
Temperature/Humidity gauges
There are way more experienced people out there who can give better advice. I use a 125 gallon aquarium instead of the mixing tubs, but other than that, this set up works very well for me!
Thanks very much for your response and information, it's very helpful. When I googled images so I could compare, I thought it was a Greek tortoise too but apparently they only grow to around 6.5 inches and my one is about 10 inches. If I uploaded pics of her underneath and head would that help? I will get onto that shortly 
When you go to start a new thread or leave a message there is a little "+" button next to send . Wait are you on a computer or a phone? The way I just told you was for a phone I find the one on the laptop harder to do. Much easier on a phone
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