Hello 
I hope I am posting in the right place, sorry if I am not but I am brand new here and this is where I thought would be most appropriate. Correct me if I'm wrong!
This is Tilly, my approximately 9 year old Hermann's. I got him (I named him Tilly before we were entirely sure of the gender, it was only after his penile prolapse 4 years ago that we discovered "she" was a he) in 2004 and aside from the fact that he was sold to us with worms, and the aforementioned penile prolapse (both of which he recovered perfectly from) he seems absolutely content and healthy. When it is too cold in England for him to be out in the garden he lives on a large tortoise table with special non-toxic tortoise substrate, a UV light and a sheltered area full of hay for him to burrow into at night. He always has access to a shallow dish of water and I soak him in warm water for about 15 minutes twice a week, which he really enjoyes. He lives on a diet of mixed weeds, supplemented with romaine lettuce when weeds are sparse, with the occasional small strawberry as a treat as these are his favourite. When it is warm enough, he has a large enclosure in the garden, including an hutch full of hay so he can go and burrow in there if he wishes. He loves to climb his little bridge, chase my cats round the garden, and is always alert and responsive to people. He is SO sociable, he loves to follow people around and if anyone sits on the ground in the garden he will come and climb us.
My only concern is that I am confused about shell pyramiding and am starting to worry about this. As far as I'm aware I am not doing anything wrong, yet his shell is definitely not completely smooth. Hopefully the photos can show what I mean.
What do people think? Do you think Tilly's shell looks okay? As I said, he seems completely happy and fine, but if there is anything I am doing wrong I really want to know what it is as I want him to be as healthy as possible!
Thanks for taking the time to read this
I hope I am posting in the right place, sorry if I am not but I am brand new here and this is where I thought would be most appropriate. Correct me if I'm wrong!
This is Tilly, my approximately 9 year old Hermann's. I got him (I named him Tilly before we were entirely sure of the gender, it was only after his penile prolapse 4 years ago that we discovered "she" was a he
) in 2004 and aside from the fact that he was sold to us with worms, and the aforementioned penile prolapse (both of which he recovered perfectly from) he seems absolutely content and healthy. When it is too cold in England for him to be out in the garden he lives on a large tortoise table with special non-toxic tortoise substrate, a UV light and a sheltered area full of hay for him to burrow into at night. He always has access to a shallow dish of water and I soak him in warm water for about 15 minutes twice a week, which he really enjoyes. He lives on a diet of mixed weeds, supplemented with romaine lettuce when weeds are sparse, with the occasional small strawberry as a treat as these are his favourite. When it is warm enough, he has a large enclosure in the garden, including an hutch full of hay so he can go and burrow in there if he wishes. He loves to climb his little bridge, chase my cats round the garden, and is always alert and responsive to people. He is SO sociable, he loves to follow people around and if anyone sits on the ground in the garden he will come and climb us.My only concern is that I am confused about shell pyramiding and am starting to worry about this. As far as I'm aware I am not doing anything wrong, yet his shell is definitely not completely smooth. Hopefully the photos can show what I mean.
What do people think? Do you think Tilly's shell looks okay? As I said, he seems completely happy and fine, but if there is anything I am doing wrong I really want to know what it is as I want him to be as healthy as possible!
Thanks for taking the time to read this
