Bubbles

[nanni]

Hello!
As already written in the intro forum, I am a new member here in this forum and since a month we are happy owners of a little Hermanns. ... Mr. Bubbles. I do not know if its a female or male, but hope with your help in given time, I will be able to figure that out. So far she is our "baby", so that we don't care about gender that much .

Mr. Bubbles is doing so far a good job, getting along with us. I have a plastic container for now (since my to build table will be way to big for tort) that is 22x17,5 inch that I have filled with cocos fiber and repti bark. she has a log to hide underneath (which she does regularly) and used to have a cork thing in there too to hide, but that took her to much walking space and she didn't really us it, so I took that out. She has two flat bowls in it - one for water one for food.
I feed her once a day with a mix out of dry pellet food, romaine salad (which she loves), spring mix or veggi mix store bought. The salad and spring mix etc. I spray with Calcium add on. So I hope she gets enough of that? Once every other day for about 15 minutes we soak her in hand warm water. She loves it. But starts moving around and so we have to keep an close eye on her to make sure, she doesn't try to climb out of the bowl and flip over in the water.
She sleeps a lot. And is seldom out. The temperatures are in the basking area and sleeping area 85 F and in the food area around 77 F.
She is in our guest room so she is not in the total middle of excitement (we have a doggie too, so I would worry to much) but she has always somebody around, once the kids come home, since they do their homework there or just sit there and read. And I check on her often or just sit and watch her... the cutest little thing .

Now I wanted to know if you can think of anything that I forgot to tell you, and if there is anything I have to change or do not right for her?
I want this little guy to grow old with us and (hopefully still with my grandchildren someday) and would hate, if I do a mistake. I lost two little red ear sliders a few month ago and am very worried, that I do something wrong with our Hermann now too.

Thanks in advance for the advice.
Biggest fan of Mr. Bubbles and all other torts , Nanje

 

[wellington]

The calcium should only be given 2-3 times a week. The basking should be 95-100 not sure about your low temps and all over temps. What ki d UVB do you have? Also, there is no container/housing too big. The bigger the better even for babies. Remember, they are originally from the wild, which has no limits. S/he also needs a bigger variety of diet. Babies do sleep a lot . However if temps aren't right, they tend to sleep or hide a lot also. Others will be along to help with your other temps.

 

[Laurie]

Hello and welcome to TFO About how big is Mr. Bubbles? Babies do sleep a lot! What you want to do with your temperatures is set up a gradient so your tortoise can heat up if it needs to and cool off as it needs to. If 77 is your coolest temperature in the enclosure, it's too warm. Your basking spot is also too cool. I have a baby hermanns and they sure all small, but I'm not sure if 22" is too small to create the temperature gradient you need. I keep my basking spot for my Hermanns between 90-95*, the warm side of the enclosure is in the upper 70's, the cool side is in the low 70's, no nighttime heat- my enclosure drops to low-mid60's overnight.

I would make some changes to the diet. I try to feed as many fresh weeds as I have available, its whats best for them. I just go out and grab whatever I have growing in my yard, Clover, dandelion, sow thistle, mallow are all good choices and there are many many more. I also like to give sedum, rose of sharon, opuntia pads. You do have to be careful where you are getting them from, you don't want any that have been sprayed with chemicals. If you don't have any "clean" weeds available you can grow some There are all sorts of seed mixes you can buy. I think coastal has some, I got mine from carolinapetsupply.com. You can use grocery greens as well, but not just salad mix. Good choices are collards, kale, turnip greens, mustard greens. Those are off the top of my head, there a quite a few more. Also, you can feed a small amount of squash and pumpkin.

 

[nanni]

Thank you both for your replies and you Laurie for your welcome! Glad to be here! Love this forum.
Well, Mr. Bubbles is still very young, he is about 2 inches.

I do know about the weeds and do have them grow, but they are not big enough yet. So for now I am feeding the store bought foods and spring mix, salad, kale that I can buy. But I sure can see, that its not that enough different ones. Though so far she seems to enjoy the spring mix...is about the only thing she ate so far.

Then I better get the box ready build for her... in her now enclosure it is simple not possible to get it as low as 70 in the coldest spot. As you said, Laurie, its just simply to small... the coldest spot ist about 70 - 77 - depending on the outside heat.
Over night I do turn of the heat lamp, so she is in the upper 60 too.
Then I try to get a warmer basking spot set up for her and get the cooler areas arranged. I just can remember, when I first read here, that everybody said, the little ones can't have it that hot and their enclosures should be smaller, so they don't get lost in it. But I maybe remember that wrong too?
Anyway... I will try to make it better and hope she won't get sick if the heat is not that ideal at the moment? She normally has about 89 to 90 degrees on her basking spot.

Will go and check on my plants now...maybe there is some food ready for her... can't take something from outside, since everybody is spraying here.
If anybody has another tip or idea for me... please don't hesitate.
Have a great day,Nanni