Meet Fred

[MrsO09]

Hi everyone. Meet Fred, he is 10 months old. Can I get some advice? Fred has a few days where all he does is sleep, and only wakes for a small amount of time. Then other days he’s very active. The days he’s quiet he doesn’t eat a lot and does go to the toilet for days either. Is this normal. He’s diet is normally a mixture of kale, peppers, rocket, tomatoe, cucumber, spring greens. Then he has calcium powder and another vitamin powder which I do on alternate days. He also has dried flowers and fresh dandelions when I can find them. Am I doing anything wrong? Thanks ☺️

 

[MrsO09]

Hi everyone. Meet Fred, he is 10 months old. Can I get some advice? Fred has a few days where all he does is sleep, and only wakes for a small amount of time. Then other days he’s very active. The days he’s quiet he doesn’t eat a lot and does go to the toilet for days either. Is this normal. He’s diet is normally a mixture of kale, peppers, rocket, tomatoe, cucumber, spring greens. Then he has calcium powder and another vitamin powder which I do on alternate days. He also has dried flowers and fresh dandelions when I can find them. Am I doing anything wrong? Thanks ☺️

He is a Hermann tortoise. 🐢

 

[Ink]

Welcome to the forum. What are the temperatures, lights and substrate you are using? Also what do you feed your tortoise 🐢. Very cute tortoise.

 

[MrsO09]

He has a basking lamp that goes on for 10-12 hours a day. The temp is always between 95-100f. The foods I feed him are listed below.

 

[Ink]

He has a basking lamp that goes on for 10-12 hours a day. The temp is always between 95-100f. The foods I feed him are listed below.

Do you soak Fred in warm shallow water? What is the substrate and vitamin powder?

 

[MrsO09]

Do you soak Fred in warm shallow water? What is the substrate and vitamin powder?

Yes everyday, he loves a bath, and he generally stays in it for about 20 minutes, absolutely loves it. He has a calcium powder and another vitamin powder made by Arcadia, it was in the set up when I brought him

 

[Ink]

I'm familiar with calcium powder but not vitamin powder. Can you take a picture of the vitamin container? Tortoise's usually don't need vitamin powder. Also, what is the wood chip substrate made of? Some can irritate tortoises. Some certain lights bother tortoises too. That is why I am asking. You can always post a picture of the lights

 

[zolasmum]

Hello and welcome from Devon. We have a Hermanns tortoise too, who will be 24 in July. Fred is lovely !
He shouldn't be having peppers or tomatoes - and not a lot of cucumber either. Spring greens and rocket are fine - Zola likes pea shoots and watercress, and his favourite food is radicchio, which is difficult to find in the depths of Devon ! But we manage it !
I think you might be overdoing the calcium and vitamins a bit - a very small pinch once or twice a week, rubbed into his food to make it more palatable.
I'm so glad you have found this forum, as there are people here who are really knowledgable and are happy to help you, whatever your question or problem - I wish it had been around when Zola was a baby.
All best wishes from Angie

 

[MrsO09]

I'm familiar with calcium powder but not vitamin powder. Can you take a picture of the vitamin container? Tortoise's usually don't need vitamin powder. Also, what is the wood chip substrate made of? Some can irritate tortoises. Some certain lights bother tortoises too. That is why I am asking. You can always post a picture of the lights

Here is a picture of the light/ heater, it’s an all in one, but it’s off now. He has wood chippings at the bottom and a picture of all the supplements. All supplied in my set up package from the pet store

 

[MrsO09]

Hello and welcome from Devon. We have a Hermanns tortoise too, who will be 24 in July. Fred is lovely !
He shouldn't be having peppers or tomatoes - and not a lot of cucumber either. Spring greens and rocket are fine - Zola likes pea shoots and watercress, and his favourite food is radicchio, which is difficult to find in the depths of Devon ! But we manage it !
I think you might be overdoing the calcium and vitamins a bit - a very small pinch once or twice a week, rubbed into his food to make it more palatable.
I'm so glad you have found this forum, as there are people here who are really knowledgable and are happy to help you, whatever your question or problem - I wish it had been around when Zola was a baby.
All best wishes from Angie

Thank you for the tips. The guy that sold me the tortoise from the pet store told me cucumber, peppers and tomato’s are ok. Also told me to do the vitamins everyday.

Perhaps I am over doing them then. I have given Fred watercress before, never pea shoots or radicchio though, to be honest, I just had to google that one as I’ve never heard it. But thank you, I will try these

 

[Ink]

@wellington @Yvonne G should be able to help you more. I think the light is hung to low, however I can't see the bulb itself.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hi everyone. Meet Fred, he is 10 months old. Can I get some advice? Fred has a few days where all he does is sleep, and only wakes for a small amount of time. Then other days he’s very active. The days he’s quiet he doesn’t eat a lot and does go to the toilet for days either. Is this normal. He’s diet is normally a mixture of kale, peppers, rocket, tomatoe, cucumber, spring greens. Then he has calcium powder and another vitamin powder which I do on alternate days. He also has dried flowers and fresh dandelions when I can find them. Am I doing anything wrong? Thanks ☺️

I’m noticing what looks like beech wood chip substrate? That’ll do nothing for your humidity and as a hatchling he needs around 80% 24/7, orchid bark would be better.

Theres things in his diet you need to stop like the peppers and tomatoes.
If on a good enough varied diet he shouldn’t need any added vitamins, just maybe a pinch of calcium powder on 3 feeds a week. This is a good site to check out for the diet side of things

The Tortoise Table - Home

The Tortoise Table plant database and resource site for Tortoise owners

www.thetortoisetable.org.uk

When you say the temps are always between 95-100f, do you mean just under the basking light? Because as an overall ambient that’d be too high, the rest of the enclosure during the day needs to be between 75-80, What light are you using for the basking? I’ll attach a picture of the type it should be. What are your night temps?
How are you humidity levels? Is he soaked daily?
What uv are you using?

Could we possibly get a photo of your set up? It’s super helpful! Welcome to the forum🙂

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Also this link might be useful to look through🙂

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

 

[MrsO09]

I’m noticing what looks like beech wood chip substrate? That’ll do nothing for your humidity and as a hatchling he needs around 80% 24/7, orchid bark would be better.

Theres things in his diet you need to stop like the peppers and tomatoes.
If on a good enough varied diet he shouldn’t need any added vitamins, just maybe a pinch of calcium powder on 3 feeds a week. This is a good site to check out for the diet side of things

The Tortoise Table - Home

The Tortoise Table plant database and resource site for Tortoise owners

www.thetortoisetable.org.uk

When you say the temps are always between 95-100f, do you mean just under the basking light? Because as an overall ambient that’d be too high, the rest of the enclosure during the day needs to be between 75-80, What light are you using for the basking? I’ll attach a picture of the type it should be. What are your night temps?
How are you humidity levels? Is he soaked daily?
What uv are you using?

Could we possibly get a photo of your set up? It’s super helpful! Welcome to the forum🙂

Hi, yes this is the type of bulb I’m using, agin this was all provided in the set up package for him. The beech wood chipping also came with the set up. Yes it’s only that temperature directly under the lamp. He is soaked daily, he loves a bath and stays in there for around 20 minutes.

Noted about the peppers and tomatoes. I was just going off what the pet store told me to give him, I’ll have a look at your link.

Humidity levels etc, I honestly have no clue, he is in a table top set up.

 

[zolasmum]

The pet shop isn't likely to give you the best advice , however well-meaning they may be - stick with what people here tell you, and you will be ok !
As for radicchio, you wil probably find little bits of it in bags of mixed salad -this is what complete ones look like !

Zola loves it.
Angie

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hi, yes this is the type of bulb I’m using, agin this was all provided in the set up package for him. The beech wood chipping also came with the set up. Yes it’s only that temperature directly under the lamp. He is soaked daily, he loves a bath and stays in there for around 20 minutes.

Noted about the peppers and tomatoes. I was just going off what the pet store told me to give him, I’ll have a look at your link.

Humidity levels etc, I honestly have no clue, he is in a table top set up.

Unfortunately you’ve been given all the common misinformation that comes from reptile stores, their care so outdated and some never appropriate in the first place. They just simply want to make a sale. Don’t feel bad though, so many of us started this way before making our way to this forum, you’ll find all the most up to date care information here and it’s very important to follow so your guy doesn’t deteriorate or suffer life long consequences.

Do you know your temps throughout the enclosure and what they are at night? A good way to check is to have both monitors and a temp gun(you can find them a reasonable price on Amazon) just to make sure they’re reading correctly. You can use it to make sure the height of the bulb isn’t making the basking spot too hot and check all the parameters.
Do you have a photo of the package of the bulb you’re using? It should be an incandescent floodlight. It’ll need putting on a 12hr timer. I can’t see the bulb type in your picture, only the dome fitting.
I’d also recommend some ambient lighting, a regular screw in led will do the trick, something in the 5000-6500k colour range. You can hang this in the middle, high enough so it’s lighting to the entire enclosure, then create shady areas with safe live plants and hides.

That water dish you have is a potential drowning hazard, people have had their baby tortoise accidentally flip themselves and are unable to flip back due to the lack of grip on these types of dishes. A terracotta saucer sitting flush with the substrate is considered safest, again can be found pretty cheap. I’d definitely swap that as soon as possible.

I’m also not seeing any UV? you’ll need a t5 strip light 12%, mounted about 18 inches from the substrate(I’ll attach some pictures on how some people secure the uv with your kind of set up) I personally recommend the aricadia brand, lots of people here use it. That will need to be on a separate 4 hour timer from noon🙂I can attach a picture of the uv I’m on about too if you need?

This table size will do for now but won’t last long, this guy will eventually need a 8x4 foot enclosure to roam, it’s fundamental to a tortoises health to have a large enough area to roam, it aids in their digestion and strength, they’d walk for miles in the wild. You could do a ‘inbetween’ size once he’s a but bigger, but again he will outgrow it quite quickly. Just something to bare in mind.

This set up isn’t ideal for a hatchling as you’ll find it impossible to retain humidity with an open top like that, you need a ‘closed chamber’ set up. To achieve this for the set up you have here, I’d personally recommend adding a greenhouse topper, again I’ll attach some photos.
Because your base is wood, I’d line it with some pond liner, to keep your humidity up, simply pour some luke warm water into the corners of the substrate, not loads! Just enough to dampen the bottom layer of substrate and keeping the top layer dry, to avoid it getting too dry and dusty on top though, mix the substrate every now n then. Definitely get yourself a monitor that can measure your humidity, it’s important to know what it is so you aren’t over or under doing it.
Get the substrate switched to orchid bark asap too🙂
For the topper, hopefully you can find a fit for your table that allows it to be secured to the base, don’t worry if it’s a little bigger though, place it over like in the photo of the one with the white base, I’d put a liner under the base and cover though to avoid condensate getting on your floor.
Some people use the greenhouse frame to hang their lights too! To do this I’d wrap the wire round so it’s at the height you need(again check with gun) and 18inches for the UV, then maybe put some cable ties round the wire to secure them in place🙂

Also just a thought for the future when it comes to a size upgrade, an easy way some people go about it is getting a flower bed base, and either lining it to put substrate in if indoors or straight onto the grass if you have a safe grassy, pesticide and fertiliser free area.
Hope all this helps!! Any more questions please ask!😊

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Oh also I’d say before future purchases, post them on here to double check, we could save you getting the wrong things, shops only care to make the sale, we’ll advise on the appropriate equipment, saving you money in the long run🙂

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I’m just seeing you’re from the uk like me btw! Always nice seeing new uk members😊

Obviously our climate is less than ideal to house tortoise outdoors year round, so when I mentioned an outdoor set up, always make sure you’re checking the temps outside, this little guy is going to need a pretty big indoor set up as our sun is so unpredictable lol.

I hope I’ve not put you off with all the information so far! I know it can be a lot to take in, trust me I felt so lost when first coming here, take things one step at a time and they’ll always be someone here to offer free guidance, we’re all tortoise lovers here and just want the best for them🥰

 

[TammyJ]

Welcome to the forum! You've been given really essential advice. Please try to follow it all for the health of your tortoise! Thank you!

 

[MrsO09]

Unfortunately you’ve been given all the common misinformation that comes from reptile stores, their care so outdated and some never appropriate in the first place. They just simply want to make a sale. Don’t feel bad though, so many of us started this way before making our way to this forum, you’ll find all the most up to date care information here and it’s very important to follow so your guy doesn’t deteriorate or suffer life long consequences.

Do you know your temps throughout the enclosure and what they are at night? A good way to check is to have both monitors and a temp gun(you can find them a reasonable price on Amazon) just to make sure they’re reading correctly. You can use it to make sure the height of the bulb isn’t making the basking spot too hot and check all the parameters.
Do you have a photo of the package of the bulb you’re using? It should be an incandescent floodlight. It’ll need putting on a 12hr timer. I can’t see the bulb type in your picture, only the dome fitting.
I’d also recommend some ambient lighting, a regular screw in led will do the trick, something in the 5000-6500k colour range. You can hang this in the middle, high enough so it’s lighting to the entire enclosure, then create shady areas with safe live plants and hides.

That water dish you have is a potential drowning hazard, people have had their baby tortoise accidentally flip themselves and are unable to flip back due to the lack of grip on these types of dishes. A terracotta saucer sitting flush with the substrate is considered safest, again can be found pretty cheap. I’d definitely swap that as soon as possible.

I’m also not seeing any UV? you’ll need a t5 strip light 12%, mounted about 18 inches from the substrate(I’ll attach some pictures on how some people secure the uv with your kind of set up) I personally recommend the aricadia brand, lots of people here use it. That will need to be on a separate 4 hour timer from noon🙂I can attach a picture of the uv I’m on about too if you need?

This table size will do for now but won’t last long, this guy will eventually need a 8x4 foot enclosure to roam, it’s fundamental to a tortoises health to have a large enough area to roam, it aids in their digestion and strength, they’d walk for miles in the wild. You could do a ‘inbetween’ size once he’s a but bigger, but again he will outgrow it quite quickly. Just something to bare in mind.

This set up isn’t ideal for a hatchling as you’ll find it impossible to retain humidity with an open top like that, you need a ‘closed chamber’ set up. To achieve this for the set up you have here, I’d personally recommend adding a greenhouse topper, again I’ll attach some photos.
Because your base is wood, I’d line it with some pond liner, to keep your humidity up, simply pour some luke warm water into the corners of the substrate, not loads! Just enough to dampen the bottom layer of substrate and keeping the top layer dry, to avoid it getting too dry and dusty on top though, mix the substrate every now n then. Definitely get yourself a monitor that can measure your humidity, it’s important to know what it is so you aren’t over or under doing it.
Get the substrate switched to orchid bark asap too🙂
For the topper, hopefully you can find a fit for your table that allows it to be secured to the base, don’t worry if it’s a little bigger though, place it over like in the photo of the one with the white base, I’d put a liner under the base and cover though to avoid condensate getting on your floor.
Some people use the greenhouse frame to hang their lights too! To do this I’d wrap the wire round so it’s at the height you need(again check with gun) and 18inches for the UV, then maybe put some cable ties round the wire to secure them in place🙂

Also just a thought for the future when it comes to a size upgrade, an easy way some people go about it is getting a flower bed base, and either lining it to put substrate in if indoors or straight onto the grass if you have a safe grassy, pesticide and fertiliser free area.
Hope all this helps!! Any more questions please ask!😊

Well you’ve well and truly scared me that’s for sure, but thank you for this information. I do not have the box for the lamp, stupidly I threw it away. He’s light has just come on, so not sure if you can see the photo of the bulb properly, but they said to me that it’s an all in one bulb and I didn’t need anything else. This is also Arcadia, everything I had was that make. Currently this is a 4ft box, I was told he’ll eventually need a 5ft box. So should I buy him an enclosed glass tank?

Orchid bark, not a problem I can get that straight away. Water dish I can change.