Kerryb1976
New Member
Hi, I’m new on here but we bought a baby Hermann just before new year from a specialist shop which is reputable and has been selling only tortoises and fish for 15 years . This was my 9 year old daughters birthday present and we invested in everything we were advised (full start up kit) . We went to a couple of places before we bought our tortoise , and the main difference was advice of getting a viv or table .
We have a bearded dragon in a viv so we know about them and we’re happy to get one - but the advice from where we got the tortoise from was def no to vivs unless it was a red foot .
Anyways all was going great - then last week one night he was sort of stretching his neck out in a weird way - kind of was doing it repeatedly - anyways we asked the shop for advice and they said it might be that he’s got a bit of skin that he’s trying to loosen . I thought it was like he was straining .
Anyway next day it was like he was asleep and so we got appointment at vets but the special exotic vet wasn’t available to the following day so we drove to the shop so they could have a look - they said he was maybe trying to force hibernation - or a bit dehydrated ?- so said to bathe him - so we went home and bathed him - but it made no difference - by the time we got to the vets the following day they said he had died . We were devastated
We only had him 3 weeks - and we thought we took super good care of him and we were so careful- the shop feel bad for my daughter- and are giving us another - and say they have gone back to the breeder and no one can think of an explanation .
The thing I was bothered about was the vet passed on to the nurse that we saw that we need to make sure they are in a viv etc as it’s usually about heat - we had him in our daughters bedroom - so it wasn’t cold and he had his lamp - but should they be in a viv ?
The tortoise people say no ! But the vet seemed to say yes !
I’m so confused and scared about getting it right !
Any help would be greatly appreciated xx
We have a bearded dragon in a viv so we know about them and we’re happy to get one - but the advice from where we got the tortoise from was def no to vivs unless it was a red foot .
Anyways all was going great - then last week one night he was sort of stretching his neck out in a weird way - kind of was doing it repeatedly - anyways we asked the shop for advice and they said it might be that he’s got a bit of skin that he’s trying to loosen . I thought it was like he was straining .
Anyway next day it was like he was asleep and so we got appointment at vets but the special exotic vet wasn’t available to the following day so we drove to the shop so they could have a look - they said he was maybe trying to force hibernation - or a bit dehydrated ?- so said to bathe him - so we went home and bathed him - but it made no difference - by the time we got to the vets the following day they said he had died . We were devastated
We only had him 3 weeks - and we thought we took super good care of him and we were so careful- the shop feel bad for my daughter- and are giving us another - and say they have gone back to the breeder and no one can think of an explanation .
The thing I was bothered about was the vet passed on to the nurse that we saw that we need to make sure they are in a viv etc as it’s usually about heat - we had him in our daughters bedroom - so it wasn’t cold and he had his lamp - but should they be in a viv ?
The tortoise people say no ! But the vet seemed to say yes !
I’m so confused and scared about getting it right !
Any help would be greatly appreciated xx