Hi all!
When I got my sully Neo, a heat wave had just started here in England, and it's lasted a good three weeks or so, leading to one happy tortoise living outside! He's had the greenhouse to himself, with the door and window wide open, regular hosings down and lots of supervised romping on the lawn with the rabbits! Unfortunately, the typical British summer has come back. It’s now raining most of the time, if still fairly warm. Not tortoise-warm though!
His indoor box is much too small for him though, as it was only meant to be a bed-box for night time, so I’ve had to improvise. After monitoring the temperature of my room and seeming it suitable, blocking off anywhere I wouldn’t want him to be, Neo now has my room as his enclosure when it’s too cold outside. He has a heat mat with a towel over it and an upturned bin-shelter almost on top of it so he has a warm patch and a warm hide, and to stop my poor carpet from getting too messy there’s an old duvet on the floor too.
The only issue I’ve been having is water. I’m not sure how to put some down there while minimising the mess he can make. To make up for the lack of availability he has a warm soak in the bath for half an hour every day, and I’ll put him in the sink for 5 mins every hour or so with lukewarm water in case he’s thirsty.
Is there any way I can get him access to water without risking my floors being soaked? Or would a shallow bowl atop a sloping mountain of towels be sufficient? Is the heat mat enough at night, or should I cover him in a small blanket as well? I’m pretty sure the temp doesn’t drop below 80 in the room in the small hours of the morning, but I’m asleep then so I don’t really check it x]
Would love some feedback, thank you for reading! =]
When I got my sully Neo, a heat wave had just started here in England, and it's lasted a good three weeks or so, leading to one happy tortoise living outside! He's had the greenhouse to himself, with the door and window wide open, regular hosings down and lots of supervised romping on the lawn with the rabbits! Unfortunately, the typical British summer has come back. It’s now raining most of the time, if still fairly warm. Not tortoise-warm though!
His indoor box is much too small for him though, as it was only meant to be a bed-box for night time, so I’ve had to improvise. After monitoring the temperature of my room and seeming it suitable, blocking off anywhere I wouldn’t want him to be, Neo now has my room as his enclosure when it’s too cold outside. He has a heat mat with a towel over it and an upturned bin-shelter almost on top of it so he has a warm patch and a warm hide, and to stop my poor carpet from getting too messy there’s an old duvet on the floor too.
The only issue I’ve been having is water. I’m not sure how to put some down there while minimising the mess he can make. To make up for the lack of availability he has a warm soak in the bath for half an hour every day, and I’ll put him in the sink for 5 mins every hour or so with lukewarm water in case he’s thirsty.
Is there any way I can get him access to water without risking my floors being soaked? Or would a shallow bowl atop a sloping mountain of towels be sufficient? Is the heat mat enough at night, or should I cover him in a small blanket as well? I’m pretty sure the temp doesn’t drop below 80 in the room in the small hours of the morning, but I’m asleep then so I don’t really check it x]
Would love some feedback, thank you for reading! =]
Neo's around a year and a half old, and about 5.5inches long. I've ended up getting a tupperware lid on top of a thick, floded beach towel. He doesnt seem to have made a mess with it, then I came home from work and tripped over it! I won't let him go outside unless it's over 80 in the greenhouse before I need to leave. I just dont want to stick him out there and hope it gets warmer while I'm out :/ It hasn't gone below 80 once in my room so at least when he's in here I know he's going to be warm enough!
