Meet Taco, 2/3 yr old Hermann (now Greek) living in South of France

Polli

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Sep 18, 2018
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Location (City and/or State)
Latour Bas Elne, France
Can Taco be left outside in his enclosure this winter? Or is he too young?

He has an approx 1.5 m square enclosure with 2 dry shelters. One of which shows signs of digging.
Any suggestions please.?
We live 5 mins drive from Mediterranean, so natural habitat area I suppose?

Any tips would be very much appreciated,

Thanks
Polli (aka Tacos Mum)
 

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Gillian M

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What a gorgeous little tort! God bless.

And welcome to the forum.
 

Polli

New Member
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Sep 18, 2018
Messages
27
Location (City and/or State)
Latour Bas Elne, France
Hi everyone
after dkoing much more readin, I decided to improve Tacos enclosure.
For the last 7 months or so he’s been in a three foot x 4 foot enclosure, outside in the Mediterranean Sun, hence the ground was baked quite hard.
He appeared to be a little ‘unsettled’
Wandering around and looking like was trying to find a comfy place?
The weather has just started to cool at night ( only to around 10 degrees centigrade.)
So I decided to improve his substrate.
I dug up the hard layer, added a mix of topsoil, sand and bark.
After his initial wandering to re-acclimatize, he has now browned under the substrate in his dry shelter, for the last 72 hours!!
Should I be worried???!!!
I am!!
PLEASE advise....I think it’s too early for him to be hibernating....it’s still 35 - 40 degrees in the sun during the day....and he’s only 2 years old.
PLEASE advise whether I should uncover and soak him or leave him alone?
I am genuinely worried!
Or is this normal behavior bearing in mind that his previous substrate was hard and impossible to burrow into?

Thanks for reading
...worried Taco’s ‘Mum’
 

Ray--Opo

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I wish I had the knowledge for you. But hang in there. Maybe @Tom can assist you
 

Ella’s Gigi

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You can also look up Hermannihaven.com they have a lot of good information. This is where I got my Western Hermann’s. They have been raising them for a very long time.
 

Yvonne G

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It's probably just that he is worried. Being in a new "territory" he's unsure if he's safe, so he stays hiding. I would take him out daily and place in in front of the food. In fact, whenever you think about it several times a day, take him our and set him by the food. The more you make him walk around in the new area, the sooner he will get used to it and settle in.

As for your hibernating question, I don't allow my tortoises to hibernate (actually called brumate) until they're three years old. But I don't know anything about the Hermanni species, so @HermanniChris would be the one to answer that question.
 

Polli

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Sep 18, 2018
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Location (City and/or State)
Latour Bas Elne, France
It's probably just that he is worried. Being in a new "territory" he's unsure if he's safe, so he stays hiding. I would take him out daily and place in in front of the food. In fact, whenever you think about it several times a day, take him our and set him by the food. The more you make him walk around in the new area, the sooner he will get used to it and settle in.

As for your hibernating question, I don't allow my tortoises to hibernate (actually called brumate) until they're three years old. But I don't know anything about the Hermanni species, so @HermanniChris would be the one to answer that question.

Thank you so much for your reply Yvonne

I have since found our from @HermanniChris that he is a Greek not a Hermann but just to update you, I have been bathing him and also taking him out and placing him gently in different parts of his enclosure, along with his favorite foods, and gradually he seems to coming back to his ‘usual self’. Although he is still not eating as much as he did previously, and sleeping more, perhaps this is due to the cooler temperatures ?
During the day the temperatures are around Mid to high 20s (centigrade)
I have also decided not to Brumate him, but will bring him into the house on cool nights and throughhout winter. Allowing him to enjoy the sun though on suitable days.
Thanks for your support everyone!! It means a lot

Polli (aka Taco’s Mum)
 

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