2 year old Herman Tortoise

[Pocobear6]

Our Tortoise is 3 years old nearly. He is in an open top enclosure that we made ourselves. He used to be in enclosed one but seemed very stresspacing the perimeter. About a month after putting him in the new enclosure he has become very inactive. He doesn’t bask much eats every 2-3 days and spends all his time burrowed in a shaded area. He has a basking spot on slate and a night light. I am worried about him. Is he semi hibernating? We were advised not to hibernate him until he is 3? He isn’t drinking but I have been soaking him twice a week. Should I be waking him up to soak him? First time tortoise owner and am sure that We are failing him

 

[COmtnLady]

1. What kind of tortoise is yours?

2. How warm is his enclosure?

3. Please post well lighted pics of the enclosure and your tortoise.

4. He's so young that he should probably still be in a closed chamber, but ~

5. DEFINITELY should be soaked every day for at least a half hour (or occasionally every other day, if something comes up), in warm water that is only as deep as where his top and bottom shells come together... and the water temp needs to be carefully monitored because it is so shallow it will be cold in a very few minutes, which is bad. Keep the water warm.

6. If spending most time burrowed in sounds like he's given up on being warm enough and is now trying to dig down to brumate. You should get him warmed up. And his habitat lighted a bit brighter to see if that perks him up.

 

[COmtnLady]

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[Pocobear6]

Hi Thank you. He’s a Hermans Tortoise.

I will add a photo of his enclosure.

I am not sure of the temp but will check. Should the whole enclosure be the same or a little cooler than the basking area, apart from shaded area?

Also, not sure about humidity. Should I be spraying enclosure every few hours?

I just got him out. His shell was cold so I bathed him and lowered the lamp and popped him under it. He ate some Tomato.

He also has a night light which I am going to move to where he generally sleeps if you think that is a good idea?

 

[Pocobear6]

 

[Pocobear6]

 

[TammyJ]

There may be quite a few adjustments to be made quickly. The shell looks strange with that hump along the top.
You need to give exact details of the lights and temperatures and the humidity. You said you were not sure. It's very important to be sure that the conditions are correct.
@Tom

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hopefully the link I’ve given you on your comment of the ‘common keeping errors’ helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions on it!

 

[Pocobear6]

Lamp is solar all in one 120 Watt lamp. Temperature on warm side is 32-35 c and cool side 22-25 C. He eats kale, romaine lettuce, butter Lettuce, tomato and Apple and Dandy lion leaves and occasional strawberry.I tried the dried wild flowers as food toppers but he wouldn’t eat them. He does have calcium sprinkled on his food. The substrate is coconut soil. I tried to get a better photo of his shell but he is way over in the corner. This is the best i could get

 

[COmtnLady]

It is important to be able to know the temps and humidity levels, and to keep them stable.

There is no way to keep the heat and humidity stable without a top on your enclosure.

Hermanns don't do well with fruit. Its difficult for them to digest and too sugary for them.

What do you mean by "nightlight"? Is it for heat or actual light?

It really seems like he's too cold, but let's get some more opinions.

 

[Pocobear6]

Lamp is solar all in one 120 Watt lamp. Temperature on warm side is 32-35 c and cool side 22-25 C. He eats kale, romaine lettuce, butter Lettuce, tomato and Apple and Dandy lion leaves and occasional strawberry.I tried the dried wild flowers as food toppers but he wouldn’t eat them. He does have calcium sprinkled on his food. The substrate is coconut soil. I tried to get a better photo of his shell but he is way over in the corner. This is the best i could get

It is important to be able to know the temps and humidity levels, and to keep them stable.

There is no way to keep the heat and humidity stable without a top on your enclosure.

Hermanns don't do well with fruit. Its difficult for them to digest and too sugary for them.

What do you mean by "nightlight"? Is it for heat or actual light?

It really seems like he's too cold, but let's get some more opinions.

We are heading out to see what better enclosure we can get. We are also going change his lamps and get a CHE for night time. A Basking incandescent lamp and a separate uv lamp. The new enclosure will have a top. We are switching up everything. Does his shell look like it’s paramiding?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

We are heading out to see what better enclosure we can get. We are also going change his lamps and get a CHE for night time. A Basking incandescent lamp and a separate uv lamp. The new enclosure will have a top. We are switching up everything. Does his shell look like it’s paramiding?

The middle scutes definitely have yes, it’s kind of unusual how they’ve grown, I’ve seen a few torts where the middle scutes have been mainly effected, my best guess is the bulb type is the main contributor in these cases, low humidity would add to the problem too.

There’s no undoing the pyramiding, but any further growth should hopefully be smoother under the correct bulbs and humidity

 

[Pocobear6]

The middle scutes definitely have yes, it’s kind of unusual how they’ve grown, I’ve seen a few torts where the middle scutes have been mainly effected, my best guess is the bulb type is the main contributor in these cases, low humidity would add to the problem too.

There’s no undoing the pyramiding, but any further growth should hopefully be smoother under the correct bulbs and humidity

Thank you. We have brought all the correct lights. Quite annoying that he has this now cause we were given incorrect advice when we bought him unfortunately. He will be set up with new lights etc today. He had out grown a 40g terrarium so we went for a different enclosure to give him more space. For now we will keep him in that and put a cover over it to help with humidity

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thank you. We have brought all the correct lights. Quite annoying that he has this now cause we were given incorrect advice when we bought him unfortunately. He will be set up with new lights etc today. He had out grown a 40g terrarium so we went for a different enclosure to give him more space. For now we will keep him in that and put a cover over it to help with humidity

You aren’t alone in this, countless people have been through this exact thing, even some of the most experienced members have made similar mistakes going back, most important thing is you’re improving things where needed now

 

[Pocobear6]

You aren’t alone in this, countless people have been through this exact thing, even some of the most experienced members have made similar mistakes going back, most important thing is you’re improving things where needed now

Thank you for that. Feeling horrible about it

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thank you for that. Feeling horrible about it

You meant zero harm, the people that should feel horrible are those who keep the outdated practices going, and keep promoting/selling dangerous products

 

[Ink]

We all make mistakes. Do you give him calcium?

 

[Pocobear6]

You meant zero harm, the people that should feel horrible are those who keep the outdated practices going, and keep promoting/selling dangerous products

Yes, you’re absolutely right. We were fortunate a Very informed member of staff at our local pet store yesterday who was really helpful. I bought all of the things recommended sadly bought the UV light Home the most expensive item and it didn’t work so today we have to take it back and change it, but I managed to get the enclosure up to a good 97 on the hot side and 72 on the cool and working on different ways to keep the moisture level going. Gave him a good soak yesterday and he ate quite a good bit of food, especially the bit that had the multivitamin on it which I was really pleased about and I coaxed him to eat some of the stuff with the calcium on it, which wasn’t particularly keen on to start with but all good in the end he was a bit more active and I’m gonna keep a close eye on him today he also moved around a little bit more, which was good, but I’m going to still take him to a vet for a check up and I got a recommendation for a really good reptile vet not far from me. The only thing I couldn’t get yesterday was Moss so I’ve been spraying the enclosure like a demon today! So gonna grab some moss and make a moss bag to hang out of his way in the cool end as well as some moss dotted around the enclosure and sprayed regularly thank you very much everyone for all of your help. Can’t wait to get them outside in the sunshine.

 

[Pocobear6]

Thank you for that. Feeling horrible about it

One quick question about food for our Have got lots of bad information. Could somebody provide me with a definitive list of what he should be eating and obviously I will play around with it to find the stuff that he likes the most but I want to make absolutely sure that he’s getting exactly what he needs my bread on here that cactus is good for Herman tortoises where do you guys buy the cactus and what type of cactus obviously not gonna give him something with lots of freckles sticking out of it and how do you prepare it to feed it to him? What kind of weed do you grow for his diet and also I’ve seen on here that freeze outside enclosure I can grow different types of grass and I’m wondering which grasses I should have please?

 

[Pocobear6]

Sorry for the typos I am on the elliptical and talking into my phone so it’s pretty much saying anything