New and have some questions

[Crazy1]

Samantha, sounds like your are off to a good start. Remember over time you will be tweaking your shelled babies enclosure as well as his lighting and food. We all do. I would not use a heat pad. Just the lights. I leave my (uvb) on for about 12 hrs.. A temp and humidity gauge will tell you what the temps are. This will help you determine if you need a night heat source or not. Make sure you put them at tort level. I wouldn't give him a blueberry every other day. Fruit tends to be hard on their digestive tracts. They don't digest sugar well and it caused diarrhea which could dehydrate and cause your baby to lose valuable nutrients. Variety of greens is one key to his diet. Next time you buy him food get something else, like on the list Anja listed in this post. Oh and as for wood shavings. Shaved Aspen is fine. Make sure it is NOT pine. Pine gives off a toxic fumes when heated.

 

[Ozric]

Hi again Samantha

you are heading in the right direction and if you follow Chris's tips then you wil not wrong and thats a promise. An open container is best.

The heat pad is just not a good idea at all.

Try and find a store that sells dandellion greens - it is a great Hermann food - full of calcium.

Your tort will eat the blueberry but he doesn't need it and personally I offer fruit very very rarely.

I would advise against spraying into the tank because that water will be trapped in there and it might be far too humid. I enjoy giving mine a bath and do it every day for my little ones.

Once you get those things sorted out then you might want to think about your lighting. Most of us use combined heat and UV lamps. A Hermann needs large amounts of UV and if kept indoors needs an artificial source. But I'd suggest doing other things first because he won't suffer greatly from a lack of UV in the short term.

Here in the UK most keepers would be quite confident about letting night time temps go a lot lower than the 65F Chris mentions. If your tort is in the house he won't need any heat above what you might want for yourself at night.

The great thing is you obviously care about this animal and want to do whats best.

If you are going to the petstore for that thermometer, get some tortoise food supplement. Its got added calcium and D3 in it. The one I use is Neutrobal.

 

[Puffer21]

Again thanks for all the help. and i have been feeding reptocal by tetrafauna to the tortoises everyday on his food.
Anyways here is my idea for a cage for him...it would be about 3feet by 3feet and about 1foot tall.

Would this work? The green area is supposed to be like plants or something for him to hide in. Is there live plants i can put in there that he wont eat so that it looks nice? Or should i put plants he will eat? Thanks again for everything.
~Samantha

 

[JustAnja]

You can find a list of edible plants here, you just have to make sure they have not been treated with chemicals.

http://africantortoise.com/edible_plants.htm


The Reptocal is a good supplement so continue using that. Also when you go to the grocery store, ask to speak to the produce manager. You can ask him to order Dandelion greens for you. One bunch of dandelion greens per week will be a good staple along with the Spring Mix for your diet. If you have a Whole Foods store anywhere near you, you can buy organic Dandelion greens there, they usually have them in stock.

 

[Crazy1]

Samantha, that looks good to me. The only thing I do is put the uvb and heat lamp in the same area. That is my personal preference. I try and simulate what they would have in the wild. And in the wild the sun would be producing the heat. and a 3 ft x 3 ft should be big enough to last him for some time. I commend you on your efforts to make a good home for your shelled baby.

 

[TestudoGeek]

Is there live plants i can put in there that he wont eat so that it looks nice? Or should i put plants he will eat? Thanks again for everything.
~Samantha

You can plant weeds he will eat, providing shelter, food & moisture at the same time.

I do this with dandelions, vetch, trefoil, and other common mediterranean weeds.

Here's a link to a post I made a while back on my enclosure. http://tortoiseforum.org/new-setup-good-read-for-beginners-t-661.html

You can also use a rabbit cage. I think it was Anja who posted some pics on a good rabbit cage enclosure.

 

[JustAnja]

Yup here is an indoor rabbit cage used for a tortoise.

Here is a rubbermaid sweater box setup I had for a hatchling Leopard tort last year, but would work great for the hatchling Hermanns as well.

 

[TestudoGeek]

Thanks Anja, that was precisely it

 

[JustAnja]

Thanks Anja, that was precisely it

Anytime

 

[Puffer21]

Hey thanks for all the info. TestudoGeek how did you attach the two tubes? I would love to make a setup like that.

 

[TestudoGeek]

Hey thanks for all the info. TestudoGeek how did you attach the two tubes? I would love to make a setup like that.

Actually they're not attached at all. They just sit next to each other. This way the whole enclosure is easier to clean since it breaks appart in two seperate pieces.
With the weight of the rocks, pots and dirt it's impossible for the tort to seperate them.

I also have 1 of my lamp fixtures clamping both sides:

 

[Puffer21]

ok thanks again for the info.

 

[Puffer21]

also could anyone tell me how old my tortoises is?

 

[Puffer21]

??? Just wondering on the age ???

 

[Ozric]

Hi there

it's just a guess really but maybe two years old. I'd say this tortoise is a small juvenile and not a hatchling but its really difficult to say just from the photos. Did you get any papers with the tortoise? Here in the UK you would usualy get CITES papers with a Hermann when you buy and this states the date of hatching on it.

 

[Puffer21]

no i didnt get any papers on him at all. so i dontreally know anything about his age.

 

[wayne.bob]

it is usually very hard to tell a torts age because they grow at different rates. the best you could get is probably an estimated age.

 

[Puffer21]

Also heard of Flucker's Digital thermomter and hydrmeter. Is this a good one?

 

[Puffer21]

Are the digital ones better than the non digital.

 

[Crazy1]

I have both. I love my Fluckes. It is easy to read and I have found they are fairly accurate.