Outdoor enclosure of 4 Yr old horsefield
Outdoor enclosure of 4 Yr old horsefield
We are creating an outdoor enclosure for our rehomed 4yr old horsefield. Harvey has been living on a viv and we hope to slowly move him outside. I'm anxious to make sure everything's perfect for him. We have an insulted house at one end for him. Do we need heating and basking lighting in this too? We will add hides to his enclosure for shaded and sunny areas. Many thanks for any advice.
Re: Outdoor enclosure of 4 Yr old horsefield
Hi Harvey and welcome to The Tortoise Table.
That is great that you are getting your tortoise out of a viv, as they are very bad environments for them, and he will really enjoy being outdoors. Are your plans that he will be outside 24/7 during the summer, and will you have an indoor tortoise table accommodation for him in the winter and spring when the weather is not good?
Are you in the UK? if you are then you will know that we've been having very wet and cold weather here, and tortoises -- especially Horsfields -- do not do well in cold, wet weather (cold and wet conditions make them prone to serious respiratory conditions), so a dry and insulated house will be excellent for him, but if he has to stay in there for any lengthy period of time during bad weather then there should also be light and heat in it, especially as he is still small and will cool down more quickly than a larger tortoise.
As I'm sure you know, tortoises are ectothermic, meaning that they don't produce their own body heat like mammals do, but instead rely on the temperatures around them to produce their body heat, and they need a temperature in the mid-20s C to even enable them to digest their food. So if you could rig up a light/heat for him to warm up on cold mornings (it could perhaps be on a timer) that would be ideal. Otherwise, perhaps you could have an alternate indoor table with light and heat where he could stay if the weather is terrible.
If you could post a photo of his indoor and outdoor set-ups, that might help us to understand better what you are planning, and we could maybe suggest a few tweaks. If you currently have him in a viv indoors, you can fairly easily convert that to an indoor tortoise table (have posted two photos below just for information to show what can be done to make a viv a safer place for a tortoise).
In the winter we would normally recommend hibernating him (and we can provide details of how to do that if you are interested), but we don't recommend hibernating until you have had him for at least a year, because it's very important that tortoises are in the peak of good health when they go into hibernation, and it can take that long for you to know his ways and to be able to tell if he is a bit off colour.
Tortoises love being outdoors, and like nothing more than to bask in the sunshine, so an outdoor enclosure with sunny areas like you have planned (especially areas that get sun in the mornings, to enable him to warm up), and hides in various places sounds ideal, and I'm sure he will enjoy your enclosure when finished, and it's great that you have rescued him and are giving him a better home.
Nina
[attachment=0]Viv Conversion.jpg[/attachment][attachment=1]Viv conversion.jpeg[/attachment]
That is great that you are getting your tortoise out of a viv, as they are very bad environments for them, and he will really enjoy being outdoors. Are your plans that he will be outside 24/7 during the summer, and will you have an indoor tortoise table accommodation for him in the winter and spring when the weather is not good?
Are you in the UK? if you are then you will know that we've been having very wet and cold weather here, and tortoises -- especially Horsfields -- do not do well in cold, wet weather (cold and wet conditions make them prone to serious respiratory conditions), so a dry and insulated house will be excellent for him, but if he has to stay in there for any lengthy period of time during bad weather then there should also be light and heat in it, especially as he is still small and will cool down more quickly than a larger tortoise.
As I'm sure you know, tortoises are ectothermic, meaning that they don't produce their own body heat like mammals do, but instead rely on the temperatures around them to produce their body heat, and they need a temperature in the mid-20s C to even enable them to digest their food. So if you could rig up a light/heat for him to warm up on cold mornings (it could perhaps be on a timer) that would be ideal. Otherwise, perhaps you could have an alternate indoor table with light and heat where he could stay if the weather is terrible.
If you could post a photo of his indoor and outdoor set-ups, that might help us to understand better what you are planning, and we could maybe suggest a few tweaks. If you currently have him in a viv indoors, you can fairly easily convert that to an indoor tortoise table (have posted two photos below just for information to show what can be done to make a viv a safer place for a tortoise).
In the winter we would normally recommend hibernating him (and we can provide details of how to do that if you are interested), but we don't recommend hibernating until you have had him for at least a year, because it's very important that tortoises are in the peak of good health when they go into hibernation, and it can take that long for you to know his ways and to be able to tell if he is a bit off colour.
Tortoises love being outdoors, and like nothing more than to bask in the sunshine, so an outdoor enclosure with sunny areas like you have planned (especially areas that get sun in the mornings, to enable him to warm up), and hides in various places sounds ideal, and I'm sure he will enjoy your enclosure when finished, and it's great that you have rescued him and are giving him a better home.
Nina
[attachment=0]Viv Conversion.jpg[/attachment][attachment=1]Viv conversion.jpeg[/attachment]
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Re: Outdoor enclosure of 4 Yr old horsefield
If you live in an area with cold winters, installing a heat lamp or heater is a must. Make sure the heat lamp is safe, not a fire hazard, and not too close to avoid burning Harvey. https://slitheriogame.io
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