3yo Hermann, have we been doing it wrong?

[fewesttwo]

Hello,

I'm new here, and have been doing some furious reading, which has led to some ?worrying? questions;

2 years ago, I bought my partner a 1yo Hermann. She had done a lot of reading up on caring for them etc and we took a lot of advice from the reptile shop I got it from. They recommended a glass viv with a vented mesh ceiling and air vents ~6 inches off the floor.

'Yoshi' is currently ~3 years old and his shell is 6 inches * 5 inches

There is my first question, since we keep it indoors, is a vivarium 39 inches * 19 inches ok for him? The shop told us that sawdust is suitable for the flooring, although we have also put in a piece of slate to let him walk on.

His diet is cucumber, lettuce (iceberg and romain), spinache, curly kale, sugar snap peas and courgette. I've just read on here that iceberg and fruit are not good at all for him. He doesn't get any 'fruit' fruit (bananas etc) but occasionally gets some peppers, is this also a no go?

He has a heat matt at one end of the viv and a UV a/b bulb at the other end, which alternate during day and night. I've read heat matts are bad?

Reading a lot of the information on here sounds like a lot of the things we were told by the store may not be true, and advice from people would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[surie_the_tortoise]

any pics of the yoshi?

 

[fewesttwo]

any pics of the yoshi?

Hmm I'm not sure if I can attach photos since I'm so new, but here they are in my dropbox gallery.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yakus1s7twnje2v/FyAIwoc_7g

After reading more, it looks like he is pyramiding

Sounds more and more like we were given bad advice.

 

[kathyth]

This is my 2 year old Hermanns indoor ( winter) enclosure. I wanted her to have a lot of space as she is very busy during the day.
I feed her Spring mix that is pre bagged at the store. This gives a nice variety of lettuce's.. I give her a variety of squashed, hibiscus and rose flowers, grape leaves,. I grow dandelion for her as this is full of calcium. I give bell peppers as you do.
Once a week, i give her Mazuri with calcium powder.

I do not give fruit, either, we know they cannot properly digest fruit.

There is a specific area on this forum, under " Mediterranean" which is what are Hermanns are.

Welcome to this forum. You will not believe the info here. It is mind boggling.

Good luck.

 

[mainey34]

Hello and welcome...yes i may say you have been given some bad advise. Yes your tort has pyramiding. Let me ask, is your tort able to pick his legs up and pull his shell up off the floor? Looks like he may have MBD. What type of lighting do you have and do you give calcium supplements? Do you offer sunlight?
Sry, i see where you said what kind of bulb...
https://www.google.com/url?q=http:/...ds-cse&usg=AFQjCNFTewjWHnS0MfGW2-u-v5i_xRrHow
Try this thread it has a care sheet...

 

[fewesttwo]

Yes, we give the tortoise Nutrobal, a calcium and multi vitamin supplement. When it is sunny, very few months where we stay, he roams around the garden. He has always 'dragged' his shell along the ground, ever since we got him, and I've never seen him lift his shell up.

It was actually that guide that got me thinking what we have been doing is all wrong. Looks like we will be looking for a new house for him, and get some proper substrate and try and grow some weeds in it for him to eat.

I guess I have a lot to read up on now to make sure he is ok. Pretty annoyed that the shop has told us all this wrong stuff.

 

[Edna]

Yoshi's a girl, with that itty-bitty tail

 

[Rover15]

Deffinitly try to trim the nails, and add rocks to the enclosure to help keep the nails down. I really like the kiddie pool idea. Sorry to hear you got bad advice. I luckalyfound this site before buying my first tort there are many great people and help around but I have read that tortoises can't regulate body temps via plastron/belly and can burn or over heat

Good luck and welcome to the forum

 

[cherylim]

You've got plenty of good advice here. Yoshi's beak is also starting to get a little long, which is possibly because you're feeding from a bowl with no way for it to wear down.

Feeding from a slate plate can help. Alternatively, add a piece of cuttlefish for Yoshi to chomp on. Either of those will help to wear down the beak.

 

[fewesttwo]

Thanks for the advice all. Going to start building a nice and big indoor open top table for ?her!. Away to order some seeds to start growing his own food. Cuttle bone if on order, and we will get some more slate and better substrate.

We have been a bit worried about her nails for a while (hence the photo I added) but were told that they should just be left. Away to read up on that, or we might take him to a vet to take her to a vet to give her a proper once over

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Yoshi's a girl, with that itty-bitty tail

Yes, she is!

fewesttwo, if there is a ethnic market where you can buy cactus pads nearby, feed her that at least weekly, and 2-3X a week is even better...lots of calcium, Vit. C and fiber...my torts love it.

If you can't find any, for the cost of the shipping, I'll be happy to send you some (had a bumper crop this year!). Feed her some, but plant some, too.

 

[fewesttwo]

Thanks, I will check out some of the garden centres near by. I'd expect shipping to the UK to be expensive, even if the plants made it through customs! Thanks though.

 

[fewesttwo]

Hi everyone,

Thanks again for the tips and advice. After reading all the replies and reading a lot more info (while disregarding most of what we were told by the shop) we have a new tortoise table for yoshi. There will be more shrub type hiding places going in, but hopefully she likes it. We are planting some weeds just now and hopefully she likes her new house!

After getting into her new house, Yoshi went straight for eating some of the tasty new dirt, rather than her food... I'm sure she will only eat it once then realise other food tastes better!

Thanks

 

[Rover15]

I love the garage looking hide XD how ever is that a heating pad attached to it? I'm not sure how safe that is but other then that looks great

 

[fewesttwo]

Ah yes it is. It was really cold in there. We just had it in to bring the temp up a bit. It won't be staying in.

Popped a few seeds in there as well to try and have a small garden, as well as the load we have growing separately.

 

[MasterOogway]

Wow, I bet Yoshi loves all that room. Good job.

 

[cherylim]

That's a really nice enclosure. The overturned black box caught my eye, too. That's the same as Emrys' soaking box.

 

[fewesttwo]

After giving her two big hides (the shed and the box) and the smaller log bark, yoshi decided to sleep with her head in the coconut shell with her legs tucked into her own shell...

 

[MasterOogway]

After giving her two big hides (the shed and the box) and the smaller log bark, yoshi decided to sleep with her head in the coconut shell with her legs tucked into her own shell...

Awwww.... except you missed the Kodak moment!

 

[robopeen]

Hi everyone,

Thanks again for the tips and advice. After reading all the replies and reading a lot more info (while disregarding most of what we were told by the shop) we have a new tortoise table for yoshi. There will be more shrub type hiding places going in, but hopefully she likes it. We are planting some weeds just now and hopefully she likes her new house!

After getting into her new house, Yoshi went straight for eating some of the tasty new dirt, rather than her food... I'm sure she will only eat it once then realise other food tastes better!

Thanks

Wow, that looks amazing. I admit, when my baby is larger I'll probably copy your enclosure.