Hermann info, correct?

[Soul]

Hey, just checking what I've read is correct, plus some questions of my own.

Firstly, is it best to buy a 2 year old hermanns? (first tort)

And i'd gathered they need a strip UV and/or spotlamp/two in one bulb for 12 hrs a day.

Substrate 50/50 top soil/sand. How much room do they need?

Any particular attention needed for humidity? (I'm UK, so it isn't very humid usually)

Also what do you advise for diet? I already know about mineral dusts for food, but what veg should you give them/weeds grow?

Water change everyday, bath how regularly? How do you go about doing this?

Thats all I can remember off the top of my head. Thanks for putting up with it

 

[Yvonne G]

In my opinion, first time tort owners should NEVER start with a brand new hatchling. If you want a baby, then a two year old would be just fine. They've gotten past that tender stage and are pretty well established.

If your type of tortoise is the kind that hibernates, then you want to keep the light on for 12 to 14 hours a day. As to what kind of UV light, someone else will have to answer that one for you.

A two year old tortoise will be ok in one of those under-the-bed storage bins, or a Christmas tree storage bin. But the bigger the better.

I'm not sure of the humidity and dietary requirements for a Hermann's so I'll defer to someone else on those answers.

Its pretty easy to change out the water. You usually just have a little bowl that you can pick up and dump then wash out and place back.

When you get your new tortoise be sure to shoot us some pictures!

Yvonne

 

[Ozric]

Hi, there are quite a lot of food plants they can have and there is a caresheet on this forum which lists some of them. If you are in the uk some easy to find weeds that are good are Plantain, Vetch, Clover and Dandellion. There are a lot of others too.

Most people now think that some humidity is important for Hermanns. I assume you wil be keeping this tortoises indoors at the present time at least. Hermanns kept indoors can get too dry and many of us like to offer a 'humid hide' to which the tortoise can retreat if it chooses. There should also be another hide which is not humid (in case its just plain hiding it wants to do). One way to provide a humd hide is to place a plastic or similar container over part of the floor area of the enclosure and to keep the sand/soil underneath this container damp(ish). The plastic container should have a hole in it for entry/exit. You can also use wooden house a for a hide but of course it doesn't keep in the humidity quite so well.

It is important not to have the whole floor area soaked with water and there must always be access to dry. It is also important that the tortoise does not get wet and cold at the same time. So it is necessary to make sure the temp is at an adeqaute level if you are adding water to to the substrate (I like to use mainly soil with just a little sand added). Sorry if this all sounds very fussy, but I believe its good to provide some humidity but this needs to be done with care.

For the size of area they need it's simple - the bigger the better!

 

[Kymiie]

The UVB Bulb my hermann has is exo terra 10.0 14 whatt something like that (i live in UK too)
His heat lamp is blue and 60 watt, just on a normal table lamp!
Bath him twice a week, clean his enclosure once!
Yeah i agree dont get a hatchling!

xx