Are all Hermanns crazy?

[Yourlocalpoet]

Okay, so I am looking after my boyfriend's sister's tortoise, Michelangelo, for this next week. She just dropped him off and jeez, this tortoise is mental.

I don't know anything about Hermanns, those of you who know me, know I have lovely, calm, serene adult leopard. This tortoise is tiny and VERY lively!

I'm met Michelangelo a few times and based on what they've told me about him, he's very much a 'house' tortoise. He pretty much wanders their flat all day and very rarely goes outside as they have no garden. I find this weird, I told Craig (my boyfriend) he's not wandering our house, I don't care what he usually does! I have a feeling the roaming is why he constantly tries to get out of his enclosure (pictures to follow).

What are Hermanns like? Are they normally very quick and lively?

He hasn't stopped climbing, running, banging etc etc for the last 2 hours.

He's pyramided, quite small ( but then I don't know how big they should be) beak is slightly overgrown, and the food he came with was romaine, radicchio and cucumber. No thermometers in the enclosure and not a lot of substrate (do they dig)?

He is so loud moving around I can hear him from downstairs and I'm watching the Great British Bake Off pretty loud

Tell me about your Hermanns, please!





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[Tom]

Interesting that this is happening to YOU. Compare and contrast the differences in care to the differences in outcome here. It is very difficult to raise a smooth leopard, yet you succeeded. It is comparatively easy to raise a smooth hermanni, yet they have failed.

Yes, hermanni tend to be very active in spring and summer, but loose in the flat is a bad way to go, as you already noted. This poor tortoise needs a much larger enclosure with proper substrate and a safe water bowl. His beak looks okay, but such a shame about the carapace.

 

[Jabuticaba]

LOL! They can be very active and outgoing. I saw a special on Hermann's tortoises and they mentioned that males are far more active than females. Males might cover a couple of miles per day, only stopping to eat or cool down from the scorching heat. Environmental changes (eg, noises, smells, humidity, etc) will also set them off.


May, Aussies, & THBs
IG: @AUSSOMEAUSSIES

 

[Yourlocalpoet]

Honestly, I wish I had some sedatives...

Well I've given him some more substrate and changed the water bowl but there isn't much else I can do. He's flipped himself already too.

I honestly think he just lives in the house as they have a dog bed that he sleeps in during the day too. I'm finding this all rather bizarre.


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[Yourlocalpoet]

Interesting that this is happening to YOU. Compare and contrast the differences in care to the differences in outcome here. It is very difficult to raise a smooth leopard, yet you succeeded. It is comparatively easy to raise a smooth hermanni, yet they have failed.

Yes, hermanni tend to be very active in spring and summer, but loose in the flat is a bad way to go, as you already noted. This poor tortoise needs a much larger enclosure with proper substrate and a safe water bowl. His beak looks okay, but such a shame about the carapace.

Hmmm. Well the enclosure has always been open topped, no humid hides or anything so...
Is this going to stress him out me keeping him in the enclosure if he's used to being loose?
Weather permitting he's gonna get outside time here, Craig works nights so he can supervise outside time during the day.
He's very cute, but I'm glad I have a pretty rock, as you would say. It's gonna be a long week!


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[naturalman91]

Hmmm. Well the enclosure has always been open topped, no humid hides or anything so...
Is this going to stress him out me keeping him in the enclosure if he's used to being loose?
Weather permitting he's gonna get outside time here, Craig works nights so he can supervise outside time during the day.
He's very cute, but I'm glad I have a pretty rock, as you would say. It's gonna be a long week!


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he should be kept in a enclosure it's not good to let torts roam as they can pick up stuff off the floor plus the temps aren't right

he's going crazy because he was allowed to wonder and now he know's there's a bigger world out there he'll probably never be content in a enclosure again but he needs to stay it one for his own good

 

[Moozillion]

It's also possible that he's scared. When we first put my Hermann's, Elsa, in her outdoor enclosure, we had only just assembled it and there were no plants or hides for her. She ran back and forth, until I realized she wasn't excited, she was looking for a place to hide. We quickly stuck several low growing plants in her enclosure (asparagus fern, boston fern, airplane plant, coleus etc) and she IMMEDIATELY dug in and buried herself under a plant.
I hate to see a tort already pyramiding so young. I have grave concerns about her keeper's husbandry skills.

 

[Yourlocalpoet]

It's also possible that he's scared. When we first put my Hermann's, Elsa, in her outdoor enclosure, we had only just assembled it and there were no plants or hides for her. She ran back and forth, until I realized she wasn't excited, she was looking for a place to hide. We quickly stuck several low growing plants in her enclosure (asparagus fern, boston fern, airplane plant, coleus etc) and she IMMEDIATELY dug in and buried herself under a plant.
I hate to see a tort already pyramiding so young. I have grave concerns about her keeper's husbandry skills.

Thanks for that. If my tortoise was behaving like this, I'd be certain she was scared/stressed, but I don't know what Hermanns are like personality wise. I mean part of the enclosure has a hide, as you can see, and a half log, so he can't be searching for somewhere to hide. Also he slept out in the open last night, the only time he stopped running around was when I turned off the MVB.

This tortoise is 4 years old apparently, and I know why he's pyramided, he spends hardly any time in the enclosure so has no temp or humidity control. How do you tell your future in laws that their husbandry sucks? I don't wanna do it

 

[Moozillion]

My Hermann's has never slept in any hides I make or buy her. She ALWAYS prefers to dig herself under live plants , or under a pile of dried leaves/pine needles or dig down into her substrate.

 

[Jabuticaba]

My Hermann's has never slept in any hides I make or buy her. She ALWAYS prefers to dig herself under live plants , or under a pile of dried leaves/pine needles or dig down into her substrate.

Mine, too! They both prefer the substrate or their driftwood.


May, Aussies, & THBs
IG: @AUSSOMEAUSSIES