Kimi the tortoise

[pimudh]

Hello everyone, I'm Pim and I live in Porvoo, Finland. Since last Sunday (26/2/2023) I can call myself the proud owner of Kimi, a Testudo hermanni hermanni.

Kimi is 6 months old and is named after Kimi Räikkönen. My girlfriend and I had thought a while before getting him/her on what we should pick as a name. I will continue to say he/him until we can be sure by sexing him, but he was incubated to be a male.

Anyways, once I picked the him up from the breeder and had put him in the car, I texted her "It's gotta be Kimi!" (For those that might not know, Kimi Räikkönen is a now retired Formula 1 driver. He is known for being stubborn and you should let him do his thing, because he knows what he's doing.)

Not 10 minutes into the car ride home he had started munching away on the lettuce the breeder gave him in his transport box. He didn't care he was in a new environment, he didn't care about this big new face looking at him and he didn't care about the sometimes bumpy roads. Kimi knows what he's doing. Kimi wanted to eat.

As of writing this, he has been with us for 2 days. Sunday and Monday were mostly spent hiding away under dried moss. It is Tuesday now and his lights come on at 8, it is almost 10am now and he has been extremely active so far. He is not shy and very food motivated.

I will probably encounter some things that will make me nervous and I will probably ask a million questions that I have already read answers to and asked the breeder as well, just to be sure. Kimi is my first reptile pet and I want to do it right.

Looking forward to meeting everyone and hearing everyone's advice!

 

[TammyJ]

Welcome to this great forum! I call @Tom who will give you the best possible help and advice to ensure that Kimi thrives in your care. @wellington too.

 

[Tom]

Hello everyone, I'm Pim and I live in Porvoo, Finland. Since last Sunday (26/2/2023) I can call myself the proud owner of Kimi, a Testudo hermanni hermanni.

Kimi is 6 months old and is named after Kimi Räikkönen. My girlfriend and I had thought a while before getting him/her on what we should pick as a name. I will continue to say he/him until we can be sure by sexing him, but he was incubated to be a male.

Anyways, once I picked the him up from the breeder and had put him in the car, I texted her "It's gotta be Kimi!" (For those that might not know, Kimi Räikkönen is a now retired Formula 1 driver. He is known for being stubborn and you should let him do his thing, because he knows what he's doing.)

Not 10 minutes into the car ride home he had started munching away on the lettuce the breeder gave him in his transport box. He didn't care he was in a new environment, he didn't care about this big new face looking at him and he didn't care about the sometimes bumpy roads. Kimi knows what he's doing. Kimi wanted to eat.

As of writing this, he has been with us for 2 days. Sunday and Monday were mostly spent hiding away under dried moss. It is Tuesday now and his lights come on at 8, it is almost 10am now and he has been extremely active so far. He is not shy and very food motivated.

I will probably encounter some things that will make me nervous and I will probably ask a million questions that I have already read answers to and asked the breeder as well, just to be sure. Kimi is my first reptile pet and I want to do it right.

Looking forward to meeting everyone and hearing everyone's advice!

Hello and welcome.

Most of the care advice you find out in the world is all wrong, unfortunately. For example, you need to get rid of the moss. They eat it and it can cause impaction.

Here is the correct care info:

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

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

 

[pimudh]

Hello and welcome.

Most of the care advice you find out in the world is all wrong, unfortunately. For example, you need to get rid of the moss. They eat it and it can cause impaction.

Here is the correct care info:

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

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

Hello Tom, I have read many of your posts during my research before getting Kimi and I read the care sheet as well that you wrote. I also read the part about moss, but I have decided to keep it for him. Both the breeder and other sources of information, such as this forum, thetortoisetable.org.uk, Kamp Kenan and iirc (not 100%, will try to find it after posting the reply) Garden State Tortoise say it is okay in the enclosure, even if ingested.

I have observed him for many hours now (which I know is nothing compared to your years of keeping) and he has not taken a bite out of the moss. It makes him feel secure, as he likes to burrow under it. If I ever see him so much as nibble on it, I will immediately remove it and look for an alternative cover.

I just wanted to introduce Kimi here and I made the account to ask questions once I come across stuff that I haven't thought of before. In my experience with pets over the years, you can read all you want about them prior to their arrival, but the real stuff is learned while you have them and come across things along the way.

I don't want to immediately upset the forum expert, but I just thought I'd be honest about not removing the moss (yet) instead of saying "sure, I'll do it right away!" And then potentially hide it in future posts of Kimi, I'm not that kind of person.

 

[Tom]

Hello Tom, I have read many of your posts during my research before getting Kimi and I read the care sheet as well that you wrote. I also read the part about moss, but I have decided to keep it for him. Both the breeder and other sources of information, such as this forum, thetortoisetable.org.uk, Kamp Kenan and iirc (not 100%, will try to find it after posting the reply) Garden State Tortoise say it is okay in the enclosure, even if ingested.

I have observed him for many hours now (which I know is nothing compared to your years of keeping) and he has not taken a bite out of the moss. It makes him feel secure, as he likes to burrow under it. If I ever see him so much as nibble on it, I will immediately remove it and look for an alternative cover.

I just wanted to introduce Kimi here and I made the account to ask questions once I come across stuff that I haven't thought of before. In my experience with pets over the years, you can read all you want about them prior to their arrival, but the real stuff is learned while you have them and come across things along the way.

I don't want to immediately upset the forum expert, but I just thought I'd be honest about not removing the moss (yet) instead of saying "sure, I'll do it right away!" And then potentially hide it in future posts of Kimi, I'm not that kind of person.

I appreciate the honesty. I'm not upset about it. Some people need to learn things the hard way. I am that way some times. I hope no harm comes to your tortoise.