Hi Ambrosius,
I'm glad that you found the care sheet useful. I can't remember if it mentioned it, but please, please cancel your order for the vivarium if you can, as they are very bad environments for tortoises. I can point you to lots of articles on why vivariums are bad for tortoises (they are fine for many other reptiles, like lizards and snakes, but not for tortoises), but here is a quick summary of the reasons why they are not suitable:
1. Because of it's enclosed nature of a viv, even though it has air vents, you can't get suitable ventilation for a tortoise and you can't get a sufficient temperature gradient. They are ectothermic animals (meaning they don't produce their own body heat but rely on outside sources for heat, and they need to move from warm to cool areas throughout the day in order to thermoregulate. You want a temperature under the heat source at one end of the enclosure of 30C (measured under the lamp and at the height of the tortoise's shell), and about 20C at the other end, and this is very hard to achieve in a vivarium unless it is huge (like 6' or 7' long at least). There is also the problem of what you do on a hot summer's day if your room is hot, which in turn will make it way too hot in the vivarium. With a table you can raise the lamp higher to make it cooler in the table, but because of the lid on a vivarium you can't do that, and we know of cases where tortoises died of overheating.
2. Vivariums are usually fairly high sided, but not a huge amount of floor space. This is great for climbing animals like snakes and lizards, but tortoises need as much floor space as possible, and in fact many people incorporate a ramp going up to a second level in their tables so that the tortoise can get more exercise. They actually get quite bored and lethargic in small spaces.
3. It can sometimes be too humid in a vivarium for a tortoise. They do need a certain amount of humidity (and this can be very important when they are very young), but they tend to live in a dry environment in the wild and can choose to bury down into a more humid area, or bask in a dry area. That isn't possible in a viv.
Here is an article from the Tortoise Trust about the suitability of vivaria for tortoises:
https://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/vivarium.htm and please read the section on 'Vivarium tanks'. Honestly we encounter more health problems in tortoises that are kept in a vivarium than in any other situation.
I certainly understand your concern about temperature, and this is why it is important to be able to raise and lower the heat bulb in your table. All you need is an overhead arm and the bulb hanging from a chain that can be lengthened and shortened. And of course using the right bulb. I find that a 100W bulb is fine all year round, and if it is cold in the room I lower it a bit and if it's very warm in the room then I raise it, or switch to an 80W bulb. It is not difficult at all to achieve the right temperature in a tortoise table, and I can't stress strongly enough that putting your tortoise into a vivarium is really asking for problems in the future.
Regarding bulbs, here is a link to an article on our site that has a section on lighting -- have a read and come back with any questions:
https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/tor ... r-housing/ Basically you have a choice of using an all-in-one mercury vapour heat/light/uvb bulb, or using any other type of bulb to provide heat and light and then a fluorescent UVB tube to provide the UVB. The mercury vapour bulbs are really excellent, but I prefer to use one bulb for heat and light and a separate tube for UVB, because that way, if I raise the bulb to get a cooler temperature in the table then I am also taking the UVB further away. It's just a personal preference and either method is fine.
Please cancel your order for the vivarium if you can, and if you have already received it, see if you can return it as not fit for purpose (you can cite the article by The Tortoise Trust as evidence). If there is no way to return the vivarium then we have an article on our website on how to convert a vivarium into a more suitable environment here:
https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/tor ... n-project/ and I've attached some photos of what other people did when they were stuck with an expensive vivarium but knew it wasn't suitable for their tortoise. If he is already in the vivarium then please take at least one door, and preferably both doors off if you can, and put up a barrier just high enough so that he can't walk out, as then he will at least have better ventilation.
I'm really sorry to be the bearer of disappointing news, but vivariums are really not suitable for tortoises and I hope that you can keep him in a table.
Nina
[attachment=0]Viv Conversion.jpg[/attachment][attachment=1]Viv conversion.jpeg[/attachment]