Hello, I'm new and my Hermann's seems lazy...

[Waited45years]

Hi - I am new to the forum. In London / Herts. Had 2 garden tortoises as a child, they escaped and I was never allowed to get more, until 45 years later! Finally I have now been able to get a tortoise - we rehomed him from a colleague in August, he is a Hermann's, he is 3 or 4 but is already fully grown (which I know he shouldn't be). He has some pyramiding down the middle. He is really friendly. We are creating an outdoor enclosure for warm summer days and he's currently in a table indoors, with - I hope - all the appropriate lighting and heating. He has a UVB light on a timer, a heater on a timer and another heat bulb which has a thermostat with different day and night temperatures. The table has a warm, middle and cool end. He has a pool he can easily get in and out of although he doesn't very often. The substrate is a mix of sterilised soil (70-80%) and sterilised playsand. He didn't have substrate he could dig in before and he seems to really like digging around and partly burying himself. He has a hide and also a shelter for nighttime which we do take out in the day as he sometimes didn't get up and bask - previously he was in a smaller table so the whole area was warm. There are various plants in there too which I have researched and all are safe to eat though he chooses not to. I also have grown him weed mix from seed and that goes in there on rotation too, though he doesn't eat it much. We feed him leaves from the garden and those I have grown and once or twice a week he also has komodo tortoise food because I can't source enough weeds in winter. He occasionally has romaine lettuce but not often. My question is, why is he so lazy? He seems healthy with bright eyes. He is bathed regularly (2-3 times a week) which he seems to enjoy and usually poos and wees with smooth white urates as well. He seems to spend a lot of time either under his hide or under the plants by the thermostat heat bulb and doesn't really wander about much. Should I be worried? Just want to do my best for him... thanks

 

[Ray--Opo]

I am not familiar with Hermann's, sounds like maybe your temps might be off. Urates are usually a sign of not enough hydration. Paste like are better than chunks or grainy. I am sure someone will come give you more advice.

 

[Yvonne G]

They seem to wander a lot more when they're outside. Indoors, they can see their whole 'world' and there's no need to wander. If you were to set up a heated shelter in his outside garden, you would probably see more activity.