Tortoise!

I have wanted a tortoise for years!

One Christmas (before Bob was born) my husband bought me a book about keeping tortoises. Inside the front cover it said, ‘After reading this book you are entitled to one tortoise.’ I was very excited!

Then life passed us by in a blur. After Bob was born a tortoise didn’t seem like the best idea. I planned to get one last year but my husband didn’t seem too keen anymore. I hoped that he would come around to my way of thinking again soon.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Swell UK Asking if I would like to review some of their products. They gave me a few examples of the projects that they were working on and one of them was about a lady wanting to buy a gecko for her sons birthday. Swell were sending a starter kit to her and she was going to blog about setting it up.

I started to think of tortoises! If I was reviewing tortoise products for my blog, how could I not get a tortoise? 😉 I contacted them and they said they would send me a tortoise starter kit. I thought I’d better check with Michael first and he said that I could get one. I was so happy!

I told Bob that we were going to get one and every time I left the room she would ask if I had gone to get her tortoise when I returned.

I have always wanted a Hermann’s tortoise as I knew someone who kept them and they were lovely! I did lots more research and when the starter kit arrived I couldn’t wait to set it up!

The tortoise table came flat packed but it was easy to build. I managed to build it all by myself! Well, I had a little help from Bob. 🙂

It had a separate compartment for a bedroom which had a hinged lid and it had an overhanging panel to attach a heat lamp too.

The kit also included a heat lamp, 2 thermometers, food and water bowls and a heat mat. I didn’t need the heat mat as I have read that they can cause tortoises to overheat. The lamp was great though and provided a basking spot of 32 degrees when clipped onto the side of the panel. My husband felt a bit left out as I didn’t need his help with building the table so I let him set up the light.

Also included in the kit was some substrate for the bottom of the table but as Hermanns prefer topsoil I used this instead.

The largest bowl was perfect as it was just deep enough to make a little pool. I placed rocks around the edge and some inside the bowl to help the tortoise incase he overturned when I wasn’t looking.

I popped a piece of slate in for the tortoise to eat off (this helps to keep their beaks trim) and I bought a little hide for him to sleep in.

When it was all set up it looked great and I couldn’t wait to get our new addition! Watch this space!

Disclaimer : I was sent the starter kit free of charge for the purpose of this review but all opinions and photographs are my own.