Questions about switching enclosures/heating

[nomylarballoons]

My tortoise (3-year-old Hermann's) has been living in a 30-gallon vivarium for most of her life. I know that this is bad for her, and over the past few months I've been building her a 3'6"x5'6" tortoise table. It's about 19 square feet whereas her home for most of her life has been about 6 square feet. She seems happy in her vivarium and I'm reluctant to move her even though I know it's for the best.

When I move her, do you think it would be best if I kept things as similar to her old home as possible before adding all the new things (hides, plants, etc), or should I just set everything up the way I want it and give her one big change to deal with instead of a lot of smaller changes? Should I try and section off just one area of the table to begin with and gradually increase the amount of space she has? Is it possible for her to become sick with the stress of moving out of her old home? I'm a little afraid to move her out. She has her favorite napping places and she buries herself in the same corner every night to go to sleep. Am I worrying too much?

I'm also worried about heating. Her vivarium is really easy to keep warm. I use a 100W basking light and a 100W PowerSun MVB, and the temps range from about 75-90ish during the day. How do you guys heat your larger enclosures? I made the sides for this thing 18" high which I'm beginning to think might have been too high. The ambient temperature in my house is usually around 70-72 degrees. What do you suggest?

Thanks a lot for any advice!

 

[tortoisenerd]

Since the enclosures are so different, I'd just get everything in there how you'd like and switch him. If there are some familiarities in there, hopefully it won't be too much of a shock. Sounds like you built quite the table! If your tort will still be growing significantly, I'd block off part of the enclosure so it also has room to grow. Either way though, it sounds like a lot of space so it may not make a difference whether you block any parts off.

I also have the sides on my table 18 in. high, and because I do over 6 inches of substrate I'm happy I did that (12 inches, my other wood option, would eventually be too short). I don't have to worry about the sides being too low with cage furnishings really. I think it also helps keep the heat in as I have the bulbs hanging under the height of the sides (I have 8 sq ft and have a 100 watt Mega Ray and a 150 watt heat emitter). You may find you need more heat/light, but since you keep your house temperature warm enough to be the lowest temperature in the table, that may be to your advantage. Heating and lighting the center of the enclosure will help the heat/light radius reach the most area in the table. It'll probably take some testing to find what is ideal. You can also cover parts of the enclosure to keep heat in, but check there is still enough air flow. I've heard if the side are too tall, you can drill holes in the sides above tort height to get some air through.