hello from Croatia!

[Edita]

hi everybody!

my name is Edita and I am student of ecology or you could say ing. of biology. I am 22 and I have a baby t. hermani (kreso) and he is 2, I say a "he" until I know diferent

so... here we don't know much about them and whenever I see something suscpicios I get really scared but I have no way to get to good info.
any book could be very good.

curent state : I have him indoor in a big "place" (don't know the word sorry)
and yes, he looks suspicious... like his sight is a bit bad and like he has something over his eyes... he seems unable to focus on food. he sees it but last few cm he is trying to eat air and I never noticed this before.

I have him for a year...

so, thanks !

talk to you soon

 

[micki]

Hi Edita and welcome to the forum

 

[jlyoncc1]

Welcome to the forum. I am sure someone will offer some advice to you. Do you soak your tortoise?

 

[Itort]

Welcome. You'll find we have quite few hermani owners and breeders here that can give you some good guidance. Are you able post pictures, they often help.

 

[Redfoot]

Welcome. You'll find we have quite few hermani owners and breeders here that can give you some good guidance. Are you able post pictures, they often help.

Hello
WElcome to the forum!
I Have some book suggestions for you
Keeping and breeding tortoises in captivity-A.C.Highfield
Taking Care of Tortoises,their eggs and hatchlings-Henny Fenwick

Also check out The Tortoise Trust website-very informative
Also the British Chelonia Group as in the UK there are a lot of hermanns keepers!
The internet sources are great if you need information quickly but it is good to have books on hand too.
Hope this helps

 

[Itort]

Welcome. You'll find we have quite few hermani owners and breeders here that can give you some good guidance. Are you able post pictures, they often help.

Hello
WElcome to the forum!
I Have some book suggestions for you
Keeping and breeding tortoises in captivity-A.C.Highfield
Taking Care of Tortoises,their eggs and hatchlings-Henny Fenwick

Also check out The Tortoise Trust website-very informative
Also the British Chelonia Group as in the UK there are a lot of hermanns keepers!
The internet sources are great if you need information quickly but it is good to have books on hand too.
Hope this helps

www.tortoisetrust.org

 

[Crazy1]

Edita welcome to the forum, A site for care sheets for you little one http://www.chelonia.org/care.htm

 

[CGKeith]

Welcome, glad you found us.

 

[Jentortmom]

Hello and welcome!! to you have lights on your tortoise.

 

[Edita]

Thank for welcome everynody...

as I work at the local zoo (also newbie ) I asked the vet there... and well, my little one got a shoot today and is under strict observation.. but I believe that is another topic

talk to you soon

 

[tortania]

What did the vet say might be your little ones problem??

 

[Edita]

well she (the vet) said that all the symptoms... loosing sight, wet eyes (sorry don't know better term in english) and peeling of skin is the beginning of avitaminoses and when she saw him she said it is also aproteinase. I have him for a year and well obviously I didn't know all the right conditions like extra vitamins and that I should give an egg from time to time
I am just a bit worried that it will not develop into pneumonia. cause he is really small and has too little mass for now...
( I hate when you can't get right info in Croatia- the same happened when I started to grow Carnivorous plants... so now my conscious is killing me )

 

[tortania]

Don't blame yourself. I have been given faulty information before, but finding help and asking advice is the only way to learn. We have all made mistakes. I was curious as to what was wrong with your little one because I recently rehomed two Hermann's yearlings that were being fed iceburg lettuce for a year. One had a horrible eye infection that I had to take him to the vet for. The eye is better, but he still does like you were explaining yours does when he eats, he bites at the air first. At first I thought this was because his eye sight was affected by the infection, but he still does it. I had wondered if this could be due to vitamin deficiency. The other one eats just fine. These little guys are still awfully small (38 and 34 grams), so I'm doing the best I can with them.

 

[Edita]

the vet told me to give him banana smashed from time to time and he got a shoot of vitamins... and I should take him for check up in few weeks. the good thing is I really pay much attention so I caught this in the beginning.

 

[tortania]

That's right. I'm glad you noticed before he got sicker! Your off to a good start with being a good tortoise keeper

 

[Yvonne G]

curent state : I have him indoor in a big "place" (don't know the word sorry)
and yes, he looks suspicious... like his sight is a bit bad and like he has something over his eyes... he seems unable to focus on food.

Hi Edita: You didn't mention if you are soaking your little tortoise or not. I don't have any experience with Hermann's tortoises, but I think a good soak every day would be helpful to the little guy.

Here in the States, we try to stay away from the vitamen "A" injection. There are easier ways to get that vit. into your tortoise via food. Sometimes if they get an injection of Vit. A it causes the skin to slough off. So you want to be very careful with that one.

But give your little guy a good soak every morning when he wakes up, then place him in front of his food dish.

Read the care sheets that others here have referred you to, and feed him the diet that is suggested in the care sheets.

Good luck and I hope he's all right.

Yvonne

 

[Edita]

I read all of it tnx...
he got a shoot cause he was showing the first symptoms of lacking the vit A and there was not way to get it into his system with food soon enough and in enough amounts. in that I am sure.
he is "taking a bath" every day so there is no need in my soaking him.

today, he got an egg and some salate... and he is still sneezing which is actually funny I will for sure rearrange his settlement a bit.

thanks a lot

 

[Crazy1]

Edita Also you might want to check this post about lighting or bad lighting
http://tortoiseforum.org/bad-uvb-light-possible-cause-freddys-issues-thanks-t-1817.html

 

[TestudoGeek]

Hello Edita, Welcome to TFO.
I also have a young T.Hermanni Hermanni (THH) and am also in Europe: Portugal

I to struggled to find good information on caring for tortoises. don't beat yourself up, it's normal to have questions and to be given wrong information...

Here are some key-aspects to consider:

ENCLOSURE
It would be great if you posted some pictures of your tort's enclosure (where he is living).

LIGHTING
What lights do you have in there?
You need a normal bulb for heat and a UVB (10.0 or 8.0) light

TEMPERATURE
You should also avoid fish tanks, since you need to provide one hot end (at 30ºC) and one cool end (at 20ºC)

SUBSTRATE
What substrate are you using (what's on the floor of the enclosure). soil or aspen are good options.

HUMIDITY\HIDRATION
Like it was said, you should also bath (soak) the tortoise everyother day on warm water. this helps to hidrate it.

I also have a very shallow dish with water in the enclosure at all times.

CALCIUM
Instead of the egg, you can try feeding poudered calcium or cuttlefish bone (here is a pic: http://picasaweb.google.com/dominika.g/IntroductionToJewelleryMaking/photo#5110825008727201330)

FOOD
As for feeding, you should avoid feeding fruit to THH. They are vegetarians and should eat fresh greens.

GOOD\SAFE INFORMATION
I'm leaving you some links that will help you give better care:

Ideas for baby enclosure:
http://tortoiseforum.org/new-setup-good-read-for-beginners-t-661.html

Safe Food:
http://www.shelledwarriors.co.uk/www.shelledwarriors.co.uk/Edible_Weeds.html

Reliable Care Sheet:
http://tortoiseforum.org/hermanns-tortoise-care-sheet-t-1000.html

If you have any questions please feel free to ask. We're here to help you.
T.