Quick And Simple Emergency Housing For Tortoises

Anyone even occasionally involved in tortoise or turtle rescues will know the feeling when yet another unexpected animal turns up! WHERE can I put it? HOW can I provide a safe and satisfactory environment at short notice? This is compounded by the vital need to ensure strict isolation and quarantine to prevent disease transmission….

Well, here’s one way. This is how we do it at the Tortoise Trust. In this example we have set this unit up for a Coura amboinensis (Malayan box turtle), so we have a fairly large area of water (filtered, in this instance, by an under gravel filter operated by a power-head type pump), and a land area for basking (or nesting). Heat is provided by an unbreakable submersible aquarium heater, and an overhead basking lamp. In addition, ambient air humidity can be kept high by partly covering the unit with a sheet of “Perspex” or polycarbonate (twin-wall roofing sheet is best, as it offers extra insulation and is unbreakable). The container itself, measures, in this case, two feet by four feet (or about 600 X 1200 mm). Height is about 18 inches or 46 cm). It was purchased from a builder’s supply merchant as a plaster mixing tub! We find these absolutely invaluable as temporary housing. They are light in weight, very strong, cheap at around ten pounds each, and very easy to sterilise after each use.

Looking for a reliable source of supplies and accessories for YOUR Pet Tortoise? Click here for a large, balanced selection

This one was set up for an aquatic species, but with a quick change of substrate it could be instantly changed to suit a semi-terrestrial species (just use a peat and sphagnum moss substrate instead), a desert species (a 50:50 mix of soft sand and potting soil), or a study unit for collecting urine or faecal samples (no substrate at all). Lighting and heating arrangements, as well as humidity also need to be varied, of course, to suit the species to be accommodated. Most of these changes are very easily accomplished with a little thought - adding or removing a “lid” can make a remarkable difference to ambient humidity, for example. For very high humidity species, try including a small warm-air humidifier. Use your imagination and adapt larger animal feed containers or industrial “tanks” to turtle use! They are greatly superior to glass tanks (unbreakable and light in weight), and can easily be fitted with bottom drains for rapid cleaning. Good luck - and if you come up with any good examples, send us some photos!

About the Author:

A.C. Highfield

Article courtesy of www.tortoisetrust.org

Back to Tortoise Housing Main Page

Click here for the definitive collection of QUALITY Pet Ebooks