Is the enclosure suitable for adult tortoises? No. It is designed for babies from birth up to being approximately 4 or 5 years old, (or about the size of a clenched fist) Is it suitable for babies of any species? Yes it is. What type of lamp should I use? You can use either a hanging lamp, or a clamp lamp. Can the lamp be positioned directly in the middle of the enclosure as shown in the video, or should it point towards one end only? In bygone days when people used to keep tortoises in completely enclosed vivaria it was necessary to have the lamp at one end only, to try to form a heat gradient. In all open-topped enclosures such as ours the bulb will only warm the immediate footprint of the beam directly underneath the bulb. Therefore you can actually position the lamp anywhere you want to, as the tortoise will have exactly the same surface area of “cool areas” regardless of where you situate the “warm area”. In short, it’s perfectly fine to have the lamp pointing directly in the middle. I’ve heard tortoises get stressed by glass, is this true? No it is not true. This lead to tortoise enthusiasts of that time thinking that their charges would constantly make a bee line for any transparent walls, thinking there wasn’t a barrier there. Sadly this misconception still lives on today. What the author should have said was if a tortoise can “smell” through a gap it will try to get through it. This is of course referring to pens made of mesh or wire as was commonplace in the 70’s and 80’s. With solid structures, such as glass walls for example, a tortoise has by far the applicable mental capacity to realise its there, regardless of whether its transparent or not. In fact, with a tortoise, so astute is their sense of smell that you could blindfold it and it would still realise a barrier is there. All of our tortoise experts make use of greenhouses as part of their adult accommodation. Not once has any tortoise walked through a pane of glass. In short, are tortoises stressed by glass? No! What substrate would you recommend? Loamy topsoil is excellent for 99% of tortoises commonly seen in the hobby today. Should I use a heatmat? Providing your home is of a sufficient temperature for humans to live comfortably within, the chances are you won’t need any supplementary heating for the enclosure as the heat bulb should be enough. What about heat and light during the night time? For most species commonly kept, such as Hermanns, horsfields, spur-thighs, etc a night time drop in temperature is perfectly normal and will mimic their wild environment. How do I clean it out, and how often? The best way to clean out the enclosure is to use a dustpan and brush method. Disinfecting can be done (if necessary) once all of the substrate has been removed, with a pet-friendly mild disinfectant. I see your information says that an oval design enclosure such as the Vividarium Tortoise Home is better than a traditional rectangular tortoise home. Why is this so? Tortoises, especially young ones, tend to have a habit of trying to climb right-angled corners. They usually use the two sides to “chimney” their way up, often falling on to their backs in the process. |