So....I finally made the decision to get a tortoise. After months of debating with myself, I made my way to the pet shop (I would have preferred a breeder but can’t find any in Ireland ) to have a look at the little guys and it was a nice surprise to see that the owners seemed to know exactly what they were talking about. I was expecting the hard sell on what I needed but the first thing that was said is we don’t do tables for the tortoise so you need to get one or make one. Having read up on the subject for quite some time and hearing others’ stories of being sold everything bad for a tortoise under the sun, this was a nice, welcome surprise.
On hearing this, I went on a bit of a journey to find a tortoise table in Ireland. This is near impossible; it seems given my mastery of searching the internet. I decided to take the pet shop owner’s advice and to make my own I bought the cheapest bookshelf of a decent size that Argos had. It works out about 100 cms long and about 50/60 cms wide-not bad for first table and for a very small tortoise.
One thing I would say about the kit from Argos is make sure you have your own screws and screw driver. How they expect you to drive home a screw with a blunt end with an L shaped Allen key is beyond me.
So with the table now down, I couldn’t find anything like topsoil or play sand around town. So for now he has a bark bedding that lizards use. I have read this is not preferred but he will have to do for a day or two until I can get to b&q and pick up some topsoil. Apart from that, I bought him a plant for decoration and found an old bit of slate for him to bask on. The lights cost a few bob but they are a must I got a ceramic heat emitter with a 60 watt bulb but I am now thinking of getting a 100w just to raise the temperature. As for the UV bulb, I’ve purchased Terra Exotica Compact Desert 10.0 UVB bulb. I didn’t know if it would affect me having the bright bulb on (as I spend so much time looking at the tortoise) so I fashion a sort of lamp shade out of tin foil which blocks me from the rays as well as sending any residual heat back down.
Ok that’s all I have time for today. My next post will have the finalising of the tortoise table and bringing the little fella home. See ya!
