Hello and advice required please.

[Bug-A-Lugs]

Hello, when I originally joined the site I was hoping to get advice on the sex of my Tortoises but I couldn't figure out how to post the pictures.
I have been looking around on here and found out about Pyramiding which my Tortoises have.

The advice I require if possible is I think I have made the Tortoises sick..... they were charging around their pen a few days ago...... and today I went to give them their bath but one was floppy.... I thought it was dead the other usually puts up a fight and today didn't.

When they bath they usually drink and clean themselves out but I was really worried that they are so lathargic I just washed them and dried them off and popped them under the heat lamp with their morning food which consists of watercress, wild rocket and italian leaf salad.
The big one has perked up and has started eating but the little one isn't happy at all...... it opened its eyes but has closed them again now.

The things I have done different is I gave them a cuttle fish that was found on a beach "I didn't know we have to boil it first" and I put more nutrobal on their food as I was worried about their calcium levels after reading some stuff on here.
Could I have dehydrated them with the cuttle bone?

I am worried and really not sure what to do..... their eyes and noses are clear the pen is 23c and they are registered as Hermanns Tortoises (hatched in 2006) I have had them since Feb 2008.
Please help as I can't find an answer......

Hopefully the picture will attach......

The 1st one is how the little tortoise is now..... the second is taken on 10th Dec 2010 as he mounts the other one..... the one with the leaf hanging out is the bigger tortoise now and the others are taken of them in their pen now. It looks small but it really is a big pen.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Bug-a-lug:

Welcome to the forum!! May we know your name and where you are? (I'm guessing the U.K.??)

Sorry, I don't know anything about the Hermann's tortoise. My first impression was that they were allowed to get too cold, but I don't really know.

 

[Bug-A-Lugs]

Hello, Sorry yes.... My name is Tammy Beeks I am in Devon UK
It has become very cold here and might well be what is causing the problem maybe semi hybernation if that is possible.
I am off to college right now but will come back on when I get home.
The little one has opened his eyes again and they are clear but he has only moved to get out of the heat from the heat lamp. The big one has eaten the normal amount and has cleared out in the bath.... I have given them @ 6 warm baths today just so they can get a little to drink if I have managed to dehydrate them from the salt in the cuttle fish. They have both sneezed while in the bath so I haven't kept them in for the normal 15 mins as I didn't want them to get cold.
They look better than this morning but definatly not right. I will be leaving the day light on and will pop out to get the red night light that they used to have tomorrow. As that could be what the problem is?

Thank you for your reply I really appreciate it

Tammy xxx

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Tammy:

I love your avatar picture! Pugs seem to be the "in" dog this year. My grandson has one too. He gave me a picture of her sitting on Santa's lap. I guess just because he loves her so he feels everyone ought to.

You mentioned that you were going to leave the light on while you were at school. Does that mean that you usually don't leave the light on? they really need the light on all day long. That's the only way they have to warm themselves up. And they can't digest their food unless their inner core is warm. (that means at LEAST 80 degrees, but warmer is better) And yes, if your house gets pretty cold at night, it would be a good idea to have a night time heat source too.

 

[moswen]

cuttlebone won't dehydrate your tortoise, but what everyone means by cuttlebone on this forum is those oval flat white bird food bars that are in the bird section of any pet store. i don't know of anyone on this forum who actually goes down to the beach and finds a cuttle fish for their tort enclosure....

they really do need a better diet, humidity, and calcium powder sprinkled on their food daily. leaf lettuces and leaf salads aren't the best thing for your tortoise, the watercress is good but they also need mustard greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens, lots of different leaves and grasses, and opuntia cactus. any type of opuntia cactus is edible, and it is full of fiber which is very good for your tort. if you get one with spines just hold the spines over an open flame and burn them off. you can find some good diet links on this forum, you should definately get one! you need to feed your tortoise foods that are stuffed full of fiber, calcium, and other good healthy things. most lettuces are mostly water, and they don't provide your tort's health requirements, they just fill up your tort's belly.

your tortoises need 12 hours of a uva/uvb light source, what type of light are you using? a trex or powersun mercury vapor bulb is a good bulb to get, it gives off both uva and uvb and is an active heat source as well, so you're getting a lot out of that one bulb.

if they were born in 2006 they still may be too young to sex but i don't know that much about hermanns so someone else who has them may be able to tell you that.

 

[Bug-A-Lugs]

Hi Tammy:

I love your avatar picture! Pugs seem to be the "in" dog this year. My grandson has one too. He gave me a picture of her sitting on Santa's lap. I guess just because he loves her so he feels everyone ought to.

You mentioned that you were going to leave the light on while you were at school. Does that mean that you usually don't leave the light on? they really need the light on all day long. That's the only way they have to warm themselves up. And they can't digest their food unless their inner core is warm. (that means at LEAST 80 degrees, but warmer is better) And yes, if your house gets pretty cold at night, it would be a good idea to have a night time heat source too.

I love Pugs, Squidgy is my Avatar and she is 5, Gizmo is a black one and he is 1 and a half...... they are just too cool
Re the light I usually turn it off at @ 19:00pm ish I go to College in the evening so I got home tonight at @ 21:40pm. The light is turned on 1st thing and goes off in the evening. I will definatly go out tomorrow and get another light to use for night time...... We used to just swap the bulbs over but noticed they didn't actually last as long taking them in and out so I will get another Thank you for your reply

 

[Tracy Gould]

Hi Tammy welcome to the forum. 23 c is too cold for daytime temps I have a hermanns and live in the UK too I keep the temps around 90 F which is around 33 c and i am using a red light at night to keep the temps at the mid 70 f range. I know it pretty cold here at the moment and we are going to get bad weather again Thursday so u would be better getting that Red bulb for the night time before then. Do U use Tort Vits? I am struggling at the moment on the food side too because of the weather i am not able to collect the normal weeds i feed so i am using Lettuce mixes which I rotate and a complete which i fed once a week I sprinkle her lettuce with the vits I know its not ideal but at least she is getting the Vits she needs and its short term till this weather goes away and i am able to get some Turnip tops and Mustard greens and hopefully find some Dandelion leaves alive in my garden. There are some god sites were u can buy seed mixes for Tort so u can grow good food for them too. U have come to the right place there are alot of great Tort keepers on here which will help and lots of info on good and bad food for them.

 

[Bug-A-Lugs]

Hello Rebekah, We give the tortoises Dandilion leaves in the summer when there are many around as well as the items that follow, in the winter we give a mixture of shop bought Rocket, watercress, brocoli, sometimes tomatoes and cucumber but we know not to feed this often, I try not too but sometimes use the dry food and add water "I am aware that this does make them grow too quickly" and we also usually use the nutrobal calcium powder but I haven't today as I am unsure what is making them the way they are.
You say about opuntia cactus but I have never heard of this..... are you in the UK? where do I get them? I can only think of plant shops but would have no idea what they would have sprayed them with.
In the summer we use a bulb that is made by Power sun that combines the uv and replace them in the winter with Komodo which is just the heat as we are supposed to replace the sun bulb every 6 months as the uv runs out...... although that is what the pet shop told me when we bought them.
The reason for us doing this is the pet shop said if we don't hybernate them we should still give them a difference in what the weather would be. I have checked them and they are both ok..... again the little one is still very sleepy but I have changed the spot bulb for a ceramic one that is just the heat and no light...... I will go tomorrow to get the other night bulb.
Regarding their sex one is definatly male as he had his bits out..... I think the other is male but not 100% I have attached a picture for you

Thank you for your reply

---

Thank you Tracy, I do find the food a problem in the winter which is why we buy the colourful pellets and they have now brought out different types of green ones too...... I haven't bought any yet as I am aware that they are growing too quickly with the pyramiding so really don't want to keep them growing too quick.
I was advised that Hermann Tortoises do not like humid conditions is this the case or have I been miss informed and could be doing them harm?

Thanks for your reply

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm NOT the sexing expert here, but my GUESS would be female on the left and male on the right.

 

[Bug-A-Lugs]

An update after a very eventful day of being supplied a bulb that doesn't work and fighting for a refund they now have a sunpower lamp and the red lamp. The little tortoise has had his eyes open for most of the day, I have kept bathing them to make sure they are hydrated and encouraged the little one to urinate which looked good and lots of it..... water with the creamy consistancy clear out. Although the pictures do not reflect how big the pen is I can assure you that it is quite large and I have sectioned off one end so they can't get too cold although I have left them space too avoid the heat too.
I am no where near as worried as I was yesterday and thank you all so much for your replys.... I wouldn't have thought that they could be too cold as I have had them for a while how they are and it just didn't cross my mind, I thought that I might have made them sick with the cuttlefish I gave them.

Thank you again for all of your help

Tammy xxx

 

[moswen]

you are so welcome! you can find opuntia cactus, also called "prickly pear" cactus, online, but i'm not in the uk i'm in the us, but i bet you could find someone online or even locally that sells them. they are just round, disc like cactus plants, some people eat them, some people grow them as plants just because they make really beautiful flowers, and some people buy them in bulk pads to feed to their pet tortoises!

are you using mazuri manufactured food? i feed mazuri once a week to my torts, it's good for them in small amounts like this, and along with a good varied diet of lots of fiber-fortified greens.

i hope things start looking up for you and your torties!!

 

[Bug-A-Lugs]

Hello Rebekah, we definatly do have pricly pear here as I used to sell it to my customers in Tesco when I worked there 6 years ago so now I know what it is I will get them some
I use the T-Rex dry food and add water it is here
https://www.thereptileroom.co.uk/ca...d=682&osCsid=428f8d250d9fab86feecacedec26b378

I have noticed that the shop I went to today sell a grow your own weeds for the torts kit

They are not right but still so much better than yesterday

Thanks Again

Tammy xxx