Meet Edward!!

[tortoise tree]

Edward in the garden.

 

[bouaboua]

Hello Edward: Welcome to the forum.

 

[JoesMum]

Hello. He's lovely. Could we see a photo of his plastron including tail and back legs please?

It's all part of my education into differentiating species from photos

 

[Rue]

Nice shell!

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

Welcome

 

[tortoise tree]

He got a bit annoyed at me interrupting his sun bathing.

But a got a picture as requested.

Theresa

 

[Rue]

I loved a stretched out tortoise...not sure why. It's just somehow so incongruous ...

 

[JoesMum]

View attachment 176379View attachment 176380View attachment 176382
He got a bit annoyed at me interrupting his sun bathing.

But a got a picture as requested.

Theresa

Thank you. It's useful to see the underside of a mature one for a change. Please apologise to him for me

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

is he an eastern hermann's?

 

[tortoise tree]

I think he is. I thought he was just a Hermann's and didn't know there was an eastern and western type. But looking at the forum there is a difference. Edward seems bigger that the western type so i think he must be the eastern type.

Theresa

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

Honestly, I'm no pro. Like JoesMum, I'm trying to get good at Identifying tortoises. There was a video a member posted about the differences so I wanted try & see. lol

 

[MPRC]

Man, that's a boy tail if I've ever seen one. Welcome guys!

 

[Carol S]

He looks so happy and content.

 

[tortoise tree]

Edward is a house tortoise and is now in my living room. He has the run of the ground floor and finds dark corners to sleep in. I fit is cold he'll go under the sofa. When it is warm he goes and stands by the back door, when he wants to go into the garden. If it is not warm enough he'll find a warm spot in the hall or sometimes in the utility room. He has has the run of my garden for the pas 27 years. We have had some incidents like the time he fell in to pond. But he does like to investigate all the garden so over time we have made it completely Edward proof. He can't get to the very bottom of my garden as he may get under the decking, so that bit is out of bounds to him. But it does not stop him looking through the gate, or making a run for it if I leave the gate open.

 

[JoesMum]

Edward is lovely, but the best place for him is outside. Torts have a bad habit of eating non food items when allowed to roam free indoors

 

[JoesMum]

Edward is lovely, but the best place for him is outside. Torts have a bad habit of eating non food items when allowed to roam free indoors

Also, is Edward able to bask indoors? He must be able to bask at 35C/95F in order to raise his core temperature. If he cannot bask, then he cannot digest his food and he will become ill.

I am also concerned about the UVB exposure of a "house tortoise". Does he get outside for a few hours every week? This is essential for him to create vitamin D3 and thus be able to process dietary calcium thus preventing metabolic bone disease (MBD)

This is about getting torts outside in the UK
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/outdoor-accommodation-in-a-colder-uk-climate.140866/