Tortoise Vivarium Vs Enclosures  

To care for a pet tortoise, you’ll need to do everything from establishing a proper thermal environment to providing your pet with a nutritious diet. But the first thing you’ll have to do is decide which type of enclosure would work best for your pet. 

There are a number of options available to tortoise keepers, and they all present different benefits and drawbacks. For example, some are easy to set up but expensive, while others are affordable yet require you to put in a great deal of effort during the setup process. Some are only appropriate for indoor use, while others can be used outside if you wish. 

But there’s one type of enclosure that catches the eye of many beginning tortoise keepers: vivaria. 

These elaborate habitats are often quite impressive to behold, and they do present a few unique upsides that make them worthy of consideration. However, vivaria also present significant challenges that keepers must consider before opting to set one up. 

In this article, I’ll dive into the whys and wherefores to help decide whether a vivarium is the best option for your specific tortoise. 

What Is a Tortoise Vivarium?

Different keepers will define “vivarium” in slightly different ways, but the term is usually used to describe a complex enclosure that features things like live plants and realistic decorations. Some even incorporate automated misting systems, fog generators, or bioactive substrates. They’re typically designed to mimic a natural habitat, such as a rainforest or desert. 

It is important to note that vivaria are not a type of enclosure. Rather, the term usually refers to the manner in which an enclosure is set up and decorated. 

Most commonly, keepers construct vivaria inside glass aquaria. However, this is not the only option. You could theoretically use other types of enclosures (such as those I’ll discuss below). However, few of them provide the kind of visibility aquaria do, which is a significant part of their appeal. 

You don’t want to go to all of the trouble of recreating a miniature rainforest only to place it inside an enclosure that isn’t easy to observe and enjoy.  

Vivaria have been popular among reptile and amphibian keepers for many decades, and tend to be most common with those who care for poison dart frogs (and other small anurans) or small lizards. They’re rarely used for large animals, for a variety of reasons I’ll discuss later. 

Common Components of Tortoise Vivaria

Again, there is no precise definition for the term vivaria, but most include one or more of the following features:

• Live Plants: Perhaps the most characteristic feature of vivaria, live plants almost always appear in these types of habitats. Importantly, the plants are usually planted directly into the substrate, rather than being kept in pots and simply placed inside. 
• Realistic Aesthetics: Generally, vivaria are designed to resemble the inhabitant’s natural habitat. In other words, a vivarium designed for a red-footed tortoise (Chelonoidis carbonarius) would usually resemble a rainforest, while a desert tortoise’s (Gopherus agassizii) vivaria would resemble an arid habitat. 
• Misting Systems: Automated misting systems are sometimes included in vivaria that are designed to mimic humid habitats, such as rainforests. They’re not required, but they do help to maintain the proper ambiance and reduce the amount of labor involved in keeping the enclosure humid and plants watered. 
• Bioactive Substrates: Bioactive substrates are substrates that incorporate various invertebrates and microorganisms. These living inhabitants help to break down waste and nourish the plants growing inside the enclosure. Just note that it is nearly impossible to establish a bioactive substrate that’s capable of breaking down tortoise droppings in a timely manner, as is sometimes possible with very small animals, such as poison dart frogs. 
• High-Quality Lighting: All tortoises require high-quality, full-spectrum lighting set-up to remain healthy. But because vivaria are intended to be akin to “living art,” it is generally desirable to include the best lighting possible so that the enclosure looks fantastic to human observers. 
• Excellent Visibility: Because keepers go to a great deal of trouble to establish and maintain the aesthetics of natural vivaria, it only makes sense to utilize enclosures that offer excellent visibility. This often means that the enclosures utilized for vivaria feature several glass walls. 

Types of Enclosures That Can be Used for Vivaria

As mentioned earlier, vivaria are not really a type of enclosure; the term relates to the manner in which enclosures are set up. So, whether you decide to set up your tortoise’s habitat like a vivaria or a more utilitarian habitat, you’ll need to choose a type of enclosure to use. 

Some of the best options include:

• Aquaria: Though they’re not commonly used for tortoises, aquaria are likely the best option for vivaria, given the fact that they’re waterproof and provide unparalleled visibility. However, they’re heavy and fragile, and large models are often expensive. 
• Front-opening reptile enclosures: Most commonly used with lizards and snakes, front-opening reptile enclosures often provide a number of benefits, such as built-in heat lamp fixtures and door locks. However, they’re often expensive and rarely available in sizes large enough for big tortoises. Nevertheless, because they typically have glass fronts, they can work reasonably well for vivaria. 
• Custom-built enclosures: Custom-built enclosures are the most common choice for keepers maintaining large species, and they’re likely the best overall option for anyone with the necessary skills, space, and budget to provide them. Importantly, they can be designed for indoor or outdoor use. Custom-built enclosures can work very well for vivaria, assuming that you include several clear walls. 
• Stock tanks: Stock tanks aren’t especially attractive, but they’re very effective for small to medium-sized tortoises. In addition to being very durable, stock tanks are also relatively affordable. You can add plants and decorations to a stock tank, but you won’t be able to see them very well. 
• Plastic storage boxes: Plastic storage boxes are rarely available in sizes suitable for large animals, but they can be an effective solution for housing small individuals. Plastic storage boxes are extremely affordable, and they can also be modified in myriad ways to meet your specific needs. As with stock tanks, they won’t provide very good viewing opportunities, so they’re rarely used for vivaria. 
• Kid’s swimming pools: Though the notion of using a child’s swimming pool for a tortoise enclosure may seem humorous, they actually work quite well. They’re inexpensive, readily available, and can be modified in a variety of ways, but they aren’t large enough for all tortoises. While children’s swimming pools are similar to stock tanks and plastic boxes in terms of visibility, their low-profile does provide slightly better viewing opportunities. If you want to set up a vivarium in a container-style enclosure, swimming pools are likely the best choice. 
• Tortoise tables: Tortoise tables have become one of the most popular choices among keepers, though they present the same space challenges as most other enclosures (they aren’t available in sizes large enough for big tortoises). Tortoise tables often come with built-in features, such as light fixtures and multiple rooms, which further increases their appeal. While viewing opportunities are limited at best, tortoise tables can be outfitted with live plants and other common vivarium features. 

The Elephant in the Room: Glass and Tortoises

There’s one important thing to think about when deciding if a vivaria is the best option for your tortoise: Glass aquaria are generally the best option for vivaria, but glass enclosures are generally not ideal for tortoises. 

Aside from some of the generic challenges glass presents (it’s heavy, fragile, and somewhat laborious to clean), glass can stress tortoises. That’s because tortoises never encounter transparent surfaces in the wild, so they don’t appear to understand glass. This often causes them to “dig” at the glass walls of aquaria. 

Accordingly, when aquaria must be used for tortoise maintenance, keepers are usually encouraged to cover the bottom several inches of the glass. 

However, this isn’t ideal for vivaria-style enclosures, as part of the reason keepers like setting up vivaria is to enjoy their beauty – blocking part of the glass just reduces the amount of the habitat you can see. To an extent, you can use plants, cork bark, and other vivarium decorations to reduce the wall-digging phenomenon, but these are unlikely to completely stop the behavior. 

It bears mentioning that snakes, lizards, and other reptiles also appear unable to understand glass, but they don’t seem to become as stressed by glass walls as tortoises do. 

Planning on Buying a Tortoise Vivarium?

There are a number of things to think about when deciding whether or not you should set up your tortoise’s enclosure like a vivarium. So, it’s worth asking yourself the questions below before investing in a vivarium set-up. 

1) Do you keep a tortoise species that is well-suited for a vivaria?

Some tortoises simply aren’t well-suited for elaborate, well-planted vivaria. For example, gopher tortoises are likely to ruin the décor of your enclosure when they start digging large burrows. Meanwhile, gigantic species, such as sulcatas (Centrochelys sulcata) are likely to trample the plants in the vivaria, making it look messy. 

On the other hand, some species, such as pancake tortoises (Malacochersus tornieri), may work quite well in vivaria. 

2) What is your budget? 

Many tortoise enclosures are expensive, and this certainly includes large aquaria, which are typically the best choice for vivaria-style habitats. However, vivaria also require a number of other items that typical enclosures don’t, such as increased amounts of substrate, tons of live plants, and higher-quality lights. 

So, if your budget is limited much at all, you may want to forego a vivaria and instead opt for a more utilitarian enclosure. 

3) How large will your tortoise be at maturity?

Generally speaking, vivaria are only appropriate for small or medium-sized tortoises. Many tortoises require large enclosure anyway, and vivaria must be even larger. That’s because you need more room for all of the plants and decorations. 

Nevertheless, you could certainly set up your tortoise’s enclosure like a vivarium for the first few years. Later, you’ll simply have to move him to a more spacious, sparsely decorated enclosure. 

4) Are you willing to work much harder than you normally would when caring for a tortoise?

Make no mistake: Vivaria require a ton of work. Not only will you have to put in all the work you’d normally have to do when caring for a tortoise, but you’ll also have to care for the plants, deal with a more complicated substrate, and maintain more complex lighting systems. Additionally, you’ll spend more time than you think simply cleaning the enclosure glass. 

5) Do you have a fitting location for the vivaria?

Because vivaria are primarily prized for their aesthetic value, it only makes sense to set one up if you have a good place to display it. This generally means placing it in a prominent portion of your home, and it also means you’ll likely want to place it on an elevated stand of some kind. This is very challenging, given the size of most vivaria. 

6) Are you willing to make constant adjustments to your vivaria?

Adjustments are usually necessary for most kinds of tortoise habitats, but natural vivaria require many more tweaks and refinements. This is largely due to their greater complexity. 

For example, instead of simply adding substrate and replacing it as is necessary, you’ll have to add substrate to a vivaria, and then monitor it carefully over the following days and weeks to ensure that the microbes and invertebrates you added are thriving.   

Citations

• Exo Terra – How to Set Up a Bioactive Terrarium
• NorthwestTortoise.org – Glass Tanks: Incorrect Tortoise Housing
• Reptiles – Designing and Building a Vivarium