Hey! Come meet Lenny

alexpt

New Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2018
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
Portugal
Hey!
My name is Alex, and I'm from Lisbon, Portugal.

I currently have two river cooter turtles, one has 6 years (Guigas) and the other one 4 (Sonasol).


For the past 2 years, I wanted to get a tortoise for some time and since we moved to an appartment with some available space last year, the gf suprised me and got me one.
She got me a baby sulcata (she really should've made some research before picking one of the biggest types) and it was love at first sight, I named him Lenny, he measures around 8cm and his weight is 70g.


He's currently on a 1,2m x 0.8m storage box, with a 150w ceramic heater,a UV light, where i keep the lid on, to better control temperature and humidity.


Now here comes the worriying part.
I do not own a yard, I plan on moving to a house with one in the future but that will take a couple of years, I can get/build him a bigger space for now though, but for how long can i keep him healthy and happy living indoors? My mom's house is a five minute drive, so i can go there with him on the weekends to get some natural light.

The second question is the one that keeps me up at night, I don't have kids (yet, I'm 27 so there's still time :)) or anyone that would be willing to take care of him if anything were to happen to us and if everything goes fine, he should outlive me, right? Then what?

I'm really on the fence about keeping him because of my current condition, I've had animals my whole life and all of them were always treated like part of the family (maybe even better), but I'm a "worrier" by nature and and I want this little guy to have the best life he can get.

Please give me some good advice.

Thank you! and I apologize in advance for my english. :)

[Will post some pics later]
 

alexpt

New Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2018
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
Portugal
So I have news, talked to the guy who sold her Lenny and after explaining him our situation he accepted to take him back and he will give us a much smaller hermann tortoise. I'm sad to see him go :( but I couldn't provide him a good home.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20171013_080754.jpg
    IMG_20171013_080754.jpg
    2.4 MB · Views: 24

RosemaryDW

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2016
Messages
4,144
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Coast, CA
Welcome! I’m glad you could find the right tortoise without putting the sulcata at risk.

Worrying parents are always better than the non interested kind. :)
 

alexpt

New Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2018
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
Portugal
Here's a picture of the new guy (name tbd), he's so tiny compared to the sulcata. He's a western Hermann and most likely a boy according to the guy who sold it to us.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20180124_225012.jpg
    IMG_20180124_225012.jpg
    4.1 MB · Views: 28

alexpt

New Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2018
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
Portugal
So after reading the hermann caresheet, I have some doubts/need some advice.

As I've said before I usually keep the lid on the enclosure and remove it at night, so temps are ~30° during the day and ~21° at night, which I think is pretty good, right?

I'm having problems with humidity though, anything over 50% requires me spraying Water regularly which is impossible while I'm at work, any tips?

Foodwise, I want to get this http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/soft_pellets_european_tortoise.php , didn't find anything about it on the forum, opinions?

Thanks a bunch for the replys so far!
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,390
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Welcome to the Forum, Alex!
 

Rusky

Active Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2017
Messages
161
Location (City and/or State)
Allentown, Pennsylvania
For keeping humidity, misting doesn't really work. You actually need to pour water in and mix it with the substrate. This will leak down, and your beautiful baby Hermann's will be able to dig down to make a humid microclimate for himself. As for diet, I would suggest posting under that subforum, I'm sure someone else will have a good recommendation. However, it's always important for tortoises to have as much natural leaves and greens as possible, and I expect there is more diet info stickied at the top of the Hermann's section.
 

alexpt

New Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2018
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
Portugal
Adding a bit more substrate and pouring water in every other day worked very nicely for the humidity, I'm keeping it above 75% now. :)

I still take the lid off at night to lower the temperature, which lowers humidity to the 50's, should I stop doing that and get a weaker heating lamp?

Also, couldn't find mazuri anywhere and amazon UK and Spain won't ship it to Portugal. :(

Found this at a pet shop in the meanwhile, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J87PGR2/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20 , I've been soaking them in water but he only nibbles and haven't shown much interest in them. Any way to trick him? :p
 

New Posts

Top