Hermann’s temperature

[Loopyg17]

Hi everyone! I have a hermann’s tortoise and am relatively new to everything. I decided to move her outside this summer onto my screened in porch. She’s in a baby pool with substrate and a basking light. The weather where I am has been reaching 85°-90°. Is that too hot? Should I be bringing her inside? She does have a shaded area and I plan on adding more hides for her to cool down in.

 

[COmtnLady]

That is a bit too warm without any adequate place to get away from it. Its one thing for the basking area to have those temps, but she really needs to be able to cool down if she wants to. Tortoises pick up their heat or cooling from their surroundings.

How deep is your substrate? What are you using for substrate? Is it damp or damp-ish? Definitely get her some way to cool off if she wants to. Do you have a terracotta water dish she can at least walk through it or sit in it? What shade have you provided?

How old is your tort? How big?

 

[Loopyg17]

The substrate is about 6 inches deep and is damp organic soil. She has a plastic water dish that she’s able to sit in, and since she’s in a screened in porch her entire enclosure is in the shade. I’m not sure how old she is, how am i able to find out? She’s about 7 inches long.

 

[144 Grandpa Turtle]

Put a piece of cardboard over the pool for shade

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Check out this thread about shade:

The importance of DEEP shade

Ok, folks, we need to talk about SHADE. You have probably (hopefully) heard tortoise keepers talking about the fact that tortoises need "DEEP SHADE" to retreat into on a hot Summer day (really any day that has air temps above 80 degrees). What do we mean by "deep shade?" - this is NOT...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

The substrate is about 6 inches deep and is damp organic soil. She has a plastic water dish that she’s able to sit in, and since she’s in a screened in porch her entire enclosure is in the shade. I’m not sure how old she is, how am i able to find out? She’s about 7 inches long.

She sounds like she’s an adult at that size, no telling age without hatch date, but the condition of her shell might help us guesstimate her age if we got a pic?

The kiddie pool likely doesn’t provide quite enough roaming room for an adult, so might be worth having a brainstorm.

Switch out the plastic dish for a clay terracotta saucer, plastic dishes lack grip in the event the tortoise accidentally flips.

I’d personally recommend avoiding top soils, even organic ones, there’s just simply no way to actually know each and every plant/ingredient that’s gone into them unless you’ve composted it yourself. Theres that, at with how damp the substrate needs to be, soil tends to create a muddy consistency that sticks to everything, if it’s not doing that, it’s not damp enough(though it should never been sopping wet by any means, damp and packed down is the goal, if left fluffy it dries out quicker)

Hopefully you’ll find these links useful

Great one for new comers

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

This one covers correct equipment(uvb, heating bulbs, lighting etc, I’d double check bulb types), sizing(you can get away with slightly smaller indoors if you can build a larger outdoor space when weather permits), appropriately maintaining the humidity, safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything, and a really handy diet link to check out!

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

This includes lots of inspiration for an adult set up both indoors and out! The indoor bit has some good ideas to tackle indoor space whilst still providing the needed roaming room! Check comments too, I’m always adding to it. I know the recommended adult size is intimidating to some, especially if you’ve been lead into thinking he’ll be fine in a smaller set up(very common) but tortoises long term health really does rely on lots of roaming room. If you’re unable to go that big, perhaps add onto your current one for now

Enclosure inspiration

Howdy folks! Hope everyone is well! As you all know, I’m a big fan of making threads that cater more towards visual learners like myself, I’ve really been wanting to create a thread full of adult enclosure inspiration for a while now, I’ve managed to find some great references over time! I do...

tortoiseforum.org

This is toms care guide

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

This one here is good to go over and keep on hand, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Really hope they come in useful! Welcome to the forum

 

[Loopyg17]

She sounds like she’s an adult at that size, no telling age without hatch date, but the condition of her shell might help us guesstimate her age if we got a pic?

The kiddie pool likely doesn’t provide quite enough roaming room for an adult, so might be worth having a brainstorm.

Switch out the plastic dish for a clay terracotta saucer, plastic dishes lack grip in the event the tortoise accidentally flips.

I’d personally recommend avoiding top soils, even organic ones, there’s just simply no way to actually know each and every plant/ingredient that’s gone into them unless you’ve composted it yourself. Theres that, at with how damp the substrate needs to be, soil tends to create a muddy consistency that sticks to everything, if it’s not doing that, it’s not damp enough(though it should never been sopping wet by any means, damp and packed down is the goal, if left fluffy it dries out quicker)

Hopefully you’ll find these links useful

Great one for new comers

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

This one covers correct equipment(uvb, heating bulbs, lighting etc, I’d double check bulb types), sizing(you can get away with slightly smaller indoors if you can build a larger outdoor space when weather permits), appropriately maintaining the humidity, safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything, and a really handy diet link to check out!

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

This includes lots of inspiration for an adult set up both indoors and out! The indoor bit has some good ideas to tackle indoor space whilst still providing the needed roaming room! Check comments too, I’m always adding to it. I know the recommended adult size is intimidating to some, especially if you’ve been lead into thinking he’ll be fine in a smaller set up(very common) but tortoises long term health really does rely on lots of roaming room. If you’re unable to go that big, perhaps add onto your current one for now

Enclosure inspiration

Howdy folks! Hope everyone is well! As you all know, I’m a big fan of making threads that cater more towards visual learners like myself, I’ve really been wanting to create a thread full of adult enclosure inspiration for a while now, I’ve managed to find some great references over time! I do...

tortoiseforum.org

This is toms care guide

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

This one here is good to go over and keep on hand, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Really hope they come in useful! Welcome to the forum

Thank you so much!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thank you so much!

No problem!